by Angela Blaha | Jul 18, 2014 | Spiritual
by: Deepak Chopra, M.D.
Without taking a poll, it’s safe to say that people who believe in God also believe that he answers prayers. If he didn’t, one would be left with an indifferent, distant deity who pays no attention to human affairs. This alternative is hard to reconcile with faith, and so believers are left with a God who seems to answer prayers selectively. It’s as if there’s an invisible telephone line to Heaven, and when you call, sometimes God picks up and sometimes he doesn’t.
I’ve simplified the scheme—the theology of prayer gets very complicated—because for most believers, praying is simple. You entreat God to do something special for you, and you take your chances. For every answered prayer, millions go unanswered. God must be a selective listener, or else there’s something wrong with the person who is praying.
Despite this frustrating and irrational setup, who hasn’t turned to prayer in times of greatest need?
To get to the heart of this question, we should start with a blank slate. Set aside your image of God as a father sitting on his throne somewhere above the clouds. Such images differ from one religion to the next and are clearly projections of the human mind validated only by cultural myths and traditions. Second, lose the notion of the invisible telephone line. If God is omnipresent, there is no distance between you and the one you pray to. Finally, strip God of all human attributes, including gender. Whatever God is, the reality must be superhuman, however you define the term.
Mundane Intentions Versus Deep Desires
In the Indian spiritual tradition, these first steps were taken thousands of years go. The slate was completely clean, and therefore one could ask the most basic question: Why does any desire come true? For a prayer is essentially a desire or intention. It differs from mundane intentions like wanting a candy bar or intending to do a good job in one thing only: the desired object seems out of reach. We invoke a superhuman power when human powers fail.
This is where the Indian sages had a brilliant thought. What if mundane intentions are not different from prayers? This possibility defies the logic of prayers if you think you are telephoning God. What links all intentions, no matter how extraordinary, is that they happen in consciousness. So the mystery of prayer turns into a more fundamental investigation into how consciousness actually works. Clearly the intention to eat a candy bar or to do a good job at work brings the mind into contact with reality in such a way that intention is connected to outcome. So why isn’t this true when you pray for a friend to recover from cancer or for peace in the Middle East?
Samyama
The answer, according to the Vedic rishis, who explored consciousness more deeply than anyone else, comes down to three aspects that enter into any intention, indeed into any thought.
- How deep into the mind is the intention coming from?
- How steady is your focus?
- How fluid is your intention?
In Sanskrit these three elements are known as Samadhi, Dharana, and Dhyana, and when all three are fused, the entire mechanism is called Samyama. There’s no need to dwell on these terms, only to point out that the success or failure of an intention depends on the effective use of one’s awareness, not on a request to a deity who may or may not be listening. Samyama basically means to bind or hold together, and when all three of these components are unified, that’s what makes for the strongest intentions. You have gone deep enough into your own self-awareness that you can affect what happens in the outer world; your intention is one-pointed rather than scattered; and your mind is steady while remaining fluid and flexible.
The Obstacles in Prayer
If this explanation is correct, it describes unanswered prayers as the product of a mind that is restless, shallow, conflicted, or unable to focus. All of us suffer from these obstacles.
Answered prayers, on the other hand, represent a kind of total clarity that may come at any moment, like the sudden parting of the clouds, and at such a moment the mechanism that fulfills intentions works smoothly. Although Samyama is identified in the tradition of Yoga as a high attainment, it seems reasonable to say that the same mechanism exists in everyday consciousness. After all, to live is to carry out intentions.
Once you understand how the mechanism works, you have a choice. You can meditate or pursue other spiritual techniques that bring the three elements of intentionality together. The results will not be the same on every path. Some people will experience a prayer coming true, others will be able to live in the present moment, and others still may feel that they are connected to God.
As straightforward as this description of intentions is, it gives rise to its own questions, which we’ll explore in the next post. To be continued …
by Angela Blaha | Jul 11, 2014 | Meditation
When you read the word above what did you think? Do you have a regular meditation practice? Do you pray, write, daydream? Then you already meditate!
Meditation is not just sitting on a pillow with your hands in om mudra, being silent for half an hour. My meditation practice changes almost daily. In the beginning it was hard to sit for even a few minutes and even today it was hard to sit for more than 10 minutes. Instead of feeling guilty, which I did in the beginning, I just simply tell my logical mind that my practice is what it is. No judgment, no guilt!
There are many types of meditation. My favorite is mantra meditation because it gives my logical mind something to do while my creative mind creates. An easy mantra to use while meditating is, “SO HUM”. It is used with the breath, so on your inhale you hear “so” and on your exhale you hear “hum”. When using a mantra we do not use our lips or tongue to say the mantra, instead we simply hear the mantra being repeated.
Mantra’s are vibration’s or sounds that are heard in nature, they have no real meaning! This is important to be aware of so that we do not attach any meaning to them, as mantra’s can induce specific vibrations in our mind. Mantra’s are known to be instruments of the mind and can be used to enter deep states of meditation.
What has meditation done for me? Meditation has been a life savor for me, keeping the stress over the last several years to remain at bay. It has allowed my mind to remain clear so when some of the big decisions were to be made, I could make them and not attach emotions to the decisions or the process.
My story begins approximately 10 years ago; although I have always meditated in one shape or form, stumbling upon mantra meditation has been the best for me. Around this time there were many changes in my life. I chose to have a career change, taking on more responsibility that I thought would be a joy turned out to be miserable. I was helping my aging parents make financial and medical decisions that were life changing not only for them but for all my family. They decided to enter the nursing home because my Mom had Alzheimer’s and my Dad was too sick to take care of her. I became their Power of Attorney, making all financial and medical decisions almost by myself. Shortly after my parents entered the nursing home my mother-in-law was diagnosed with lung cancer, had surgery and started chemo treatments. Only to discover two months later that my father-in-law also had lung cancer and his prognosis was grim.
My Father died in September, my Mother had a stroke the day after my father’s funeral and we were told she would probably not live more than a few days. Four months later, she passed. My Father-in-law passed about a year later. In the mean time, I had to help sell my parents house and all their possessions, clean out and sell all the possessions of my in-laws home and help with moving my mother-in-law to another town where she now lives with my sister-in-law.
My personal life was just as rocky with a major job change, buying and selling of my mother-in-laws business. And creating this new business, which I love!
I can honestly say that the one constant was my meditation practice! Of which I will never abandon. So when life throws you many curve balls, give yourself the gift of meditation!
Want to discover the benefits and joys of a daily meditation practice? Check out the Events page for upcoming classes and events or contact Angela to make a special request.
by Angela Blaha | Jun 4, 2014 | Coaching
Lately I have been feeling a shift in energy. It is not a familiar shift in energy and has been stirring for a good part of this year. It doesn’t hurt or feel weird in any way, just different. In the past several weeks I have noticed a change in my energy level, my taste has changed as well as my allergies. The energy seems to move me up and down in vibration several times a day. My dreams are also different, with some nights dreaming all night and other nights not at all. Not that that is entirely different, however the dreams are different, filled with messages and things I am not familiar with.
Generally when I go through a shift in energy/vibration it happens fairly quickly, within a week. I checked in with my guides about two weeks ago to find they weren’t within chatting distance. I found it odd, considering they are there all the time and when my guides change or leave they usually tell me so I can prepare for the new ones. This time it was a total shock! I have been checking in to see if they have stepped forward and they continue to be absent. I do feel a very large presence around me, nothing I have ever felt before. I have tried to talk with this new energy to find out what or who it is… and nothing, it has simply surrounded me with an essence, which is totally unfamiliar to me.
So why would I write about my guides and energies that I work with, usually I keep these types of things semi private, a relationship that I have not felt compelled to share with the world. Again, this time it is different and I seem to have a need to share, to confirm or to engage with you about changing energies.
I have been talking this week with several of my mentors because of my ego’s wanting to know what is happening. They have been having some of the same things happening, feeling of new energy, not sure what it is or why it is happening. They talked a lot about Goddess/God energy and star people energy. I found this all so intriguing. I also found it to be a synchronicity with my last visit to the Chopra center where I met Vamadeva Shastri who channels Kali. Kali is a Goddess of Shakti, information for another blog post. Vamadeva Shastri is one of the most intriguing women I have met, she talked a lot about bringing feminine power of love, compassion, peace and joy back to women. I found my conversations with my mentors to be a very strong confirmation that the energy that has been surrounding me is a form of this beautiful Goddess energy of love, compassion, peace and joy. Words I try to use frequently!
I find it difficult to express this type of energy since I have been predominantly taught and am comfortable with masculine energy. Even when I was younger my Dad would make me do the carpentry work at home. I worked equal to my brother with the farm work. I grew up during a period where women wanted to be equal with men, both psychically and mentally. So to engage and encourage this new energy is taking a complete overhaul of perception, a mind shift in my thinking patterns.
My message is to hang in there when there is a shift in energy or vibration. To find an ebb and flow with the transition, try to treat it like you do any other shifts in your life. The point is to be aware of the energy/vibration shift and to enjoy the anticipation of something new. When I fight against the new energy I create pain and suffering for myself, so will allow this energy to take form. If you are having similar shifts I would love to hear about them!
by Angela Blaha | May 29, 2014 | Coaching
During the sorting out of my parents belonging, I came across my Dad’s metal water witching rods. I was immediately drawn to them, I held them and wondered why I touched the rusty old things. I am not a collector of old items, but for some reason these rods called out to me and I just had to have them. Not knowing why I would even want such rusted old things, I placed them on a ledge in the sunroom of my house. I remember my Dad bringing them out of the shed once in a while to find water and to show off his unbelievable talent in using them, they were very intriguing to me.
Not to my surprise I found myself in a dowsing class and now dowse homes and businesses, clearing out or transforming energy that does not serve the owners of the buildings.
Dowsing goes beyond reading bio electric field maps, beyond finding water or oil under the grounds surface.
In my practice, Dowsing is changing energies and vibrations from negative to positive fields of healing energy.
Understanding thoughts and actions and how energy works in the creation of our life is my working definition of dowsing. When we allow stress to come into our lives we fill and surround ourselves with weakening energies. When we fill and surround ourselves with positive thoughts and actions we fill our lives with healing, joyful energies.
There are different tools that can be used to dowse, I prefer the L-shaped rods because they give the most feedback to both the dowser and the observer. The tool used is really only a means, an object to measure the energy fields around us including the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual fields.
Once the energy is detected, I can begin to question where the energy came from, who it belongs to, etc. working to change or transform the energy. This transformation allows the family or business to regain his or her energetic power.
Dowsing is an ancient practice, alluded to in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, and has been used continually through modern history. Now I am using this ancient practice in a “new age” approach to solve problems and to transform energy.
Dowsing like many other vibration or transformational energy techniques are painless and will allow you to explore any barriers you may have created that limit your souls journey through life.
by Angela Blaha | May 13, 2014 | Shamanism
The term Psychopomp originates from the Greek works “pompos” meaning conductor or guide and “psyche” means breath, life, soul or mind. A psychopomp is a guide, who escorts souls to the afterlife, however they may also serve as guides who help work through the various transitions in life.
As part of my Shamanic practice I have trained with The Foundation for Shamanic Studies in the transition of souls (Psychopomp) and have had some pretty amazing experiences in helping people transition to the spirit world or after life. I became interested in the death and dying process with the transitioning of my parents and have not looked back since. My parents were able to teach me more than I thought I would ever know about living and dying and the process of the soul on its journey.
I believe doing psychopomp work is a great honor. I also believe that the soul never ends; when we leave the physical body the soul continues on its journey. The dying process is really not a scary thing like I had been taught. It is a beautiful transition of simply leaving the psychical body behind and a continuation of the soul’s journey in the after life.
As a shamanic practitioner I can provide vital comfort and support in the dying process. First, I can help those who are dying to reduce a great deal of their fear of the dying process and can help them understand what they may encounter once death occurs. Throughout this process I can teach all involved to journey (meditate) where they are shown the after life landscape and where helping spirits await them. Helping spirits are often loved ones who help them in the process.
Likewise, I can help the living with any messages being given during the process of dying or loved ones who have already crossed over to the after life. Teaching about the death and dying process is
Another important function of psychopomp work is to locate souls who have died but have not crossed over. This may happen in a sudden or traumatic death and the soul is confused as to what happened or where to go. After locating the soul I safely escort the soul to the after life.
This may sound like a grim task; however, for me it is a great honor to care for the souls of the dead. We can all transform our relationship with death, it is possible to become comfortable with the end-of-life transition and celebrate a life well lived as we support each other on their final journey.
