Category Archives: Spirituality

Finding the God of your understanding

My friend Juliana is a remarkable woman in recovery from alcoholism. Juliana has been in recovery for many years and helps other women to get the life they truly deserve because there is only one life, ‘it ain’t no practice run’. In her blog she shares her spiritual journey, and in her most  recent article she describes her construct of the God of her understanding.

I was told that I needed to find a power greater than myself, a God of my own understanding. Oh bother, I was stumbling at the first fence. As a cradle catholic, and years of subjugation and church attendance, I had no more idea of God than the man in the moon. … Nowadays, I choose to call my higher power, God; and I have developed a different understanding, one that works for me. – Finding God

Two of many constructs of God

bible and gavelA masculine construct of God calls one to adhere to God the Father’s laws. It includes the concept that God commands all to obey his laws, and at the end of time will ultimately punish unbelievers sending them to a  living hell, but will forgive and reward believers with eternal life in heaven with him.  This construct is embraced by those who say their understanding of God comes from reading the Bible.

skyA feminine construct of God calls one to be aware that for every thought and action there is a reaction, a consequence, an outcome regardless of the law.  Those who embrace this construct of God say their understanding of God is comes from their experience that the universal laws of nature are impersonal. Reactions are outcomes flowing from natural law (karma) ie. the result of their own past actions and present doings and not punishment or reward from God.

My construct of God

woman in contemplationMy understanding of God does not come from scripture. I don’t think we humans can ever have a true understanding of the nature of God until we recognize we are in charge of our selves and nothing more. When I reached the point in my life where I recognized I had no control over anything or anyone but myself, I came to understand that God was in everyone and everything.

Once I freed my mind from grasping and following every transient thought I experienced in meditation, I  awakened, became conscious and experienced bliss.

I started seeing nature  and the world in the way I had seen  nature as a child, stripped clean of the religious brainwashing I received.  God was in the sunlight, the clouds, rainbows,  the ocean, the forests, the meadows,  flowers and snow topped mountains.

When bliss descends, the insecurity of the heart, the frustration of the mind, the depression of the vital and the limitation of the body disappear. A seeker, an aspiring soul, carries with him two divine weapons: God-love and world-embrace. When we love God from the very depths of our hearts, we feel that our inner existence is inundated with bliss. And when we embrace the world as a divine manifestation of God, again our inner being is inundated with bliss. — Scri Chinmoy

God was within me and the experience of homecoming; the experience of  bliss that moved me beyond words. The God of my understanding is pure consciousness and my purpose in life was revealed to me.

To live consciously and courageously in the now moment, to resonate with love and compassion, and to leave this world in peace.

Below is my comment on Juliana’s  article which contains a description of my seeking and finding the God of my own understanding.

I too love the ocean in all weather and in all seasons. I also love the forest just as much. I live on a small forested island so I’m continually witnessing and influenced by the ever-changing face of the ocean and the tides, and the changes within the forest too.

I think the construct of God refers to a person’s cognitive or theological understanding of God and that the God construct develops is two ways. The first way is through what an individual has been taught and told to believe about God. The second is by what the individual experiences and attributes to the God of their own understanding.

When what an individual is taught and told to believe about God and what they experience are not internally consistent they may become spiritual seekers. I became a spiritual seeker and I too found the God of my own understanding.

As I sought I began to draw even more distinctions based on what I was taught and told to believe about God, and what I learned about God through my own experiences. As a trod the spiritual path I came to realize that my mind was not the tool to analyze God. I came to believe more and more deeply with even greater conviction that I need to let go of constructs of God and simply experience all there was just as it was. So I did that. I learned how to just be and how to be okay with just being.

Over time I developed my own construct of God which is quite different from the God I was taught about and told to believe in as a child. Based on my own experience through meditation I found the God of my understanding deep within me. succinctly stated I believe God is LOVE and when I meditate I feel like I am coming home to God.

My construct of God is neither male nor female, neither good nor bad, neither light nor darkness but containing all there is and situate everywhere: the universal stream of consciousness flowing through all is God – LOVE. Hence, God is found in everyone and in everything; God just keeps on being LOVE.

I believe I have only one life in this body at this point in time, but it’s possible that the essence of me may be returned to live in a new body without a recollection of previous lives, until I stop clanging like a cymbal, and actually become one with God – one with the universal stream of consciousness flowing through all – one with LOVE.

That being said I find the most difficult part of my life is to be still within, at peace and one with God when I am in the company of others. However, when I am in nature and sitting on the beach watching the waves roll in, or when I am in the forest seated on a mossy stump I am still within, at peace, and one with my construct of God. In other words, what I struggle with is remaining in that loving and peaceful state once I leave meditation.

Have you found the God of your understanding?

Yoga, Aging, Intimacy & Sexuality

thekissTouching is a vital human need and an essential ingredient for healthy relationships. Studies have shown that without touching, many animals – including humans – will die in childhood. Being caressed also lowers blood pressure and releases natural opiates in the brain, as well as the chemical oxytocin, which is essential for human pair-bonding.

Sexuality and Intimacy

A lack of sexual intimacy can destroy a couple, and if you value your relationship,  focusing on creating deeper intimacy with your partner could be the best investment you ever make in your relationship. In successful relationships, couples learn to adapt and change together. They accept that change is an inevitable part of human life and support each other. Change due to illness and aging can provide opportunities for growth and intimacy.  It may mean adjusting to a new way of thinking, letting go of things that have been familiar and safe, and adopting a new approach.

Sexuality and aging

Middle-aged and older adults no longer accept such myths as “Sex is only for young people” and “Sex isn’t important to older adults.” A study conducted by AARP, “Sexuality at Midlife and Beyond,” illustrates this. These are some of the findings:

  • Five out of six of the respondents disagreed with the statement that “Sex is only for younger people.”
  • Six out of 10 people stated that sexual activity was a crucial part of a good relationship.
  • Only 10% of adults reported that they don’t particularly enjoy sex, and just 12% agreed that they would be quite happy never having sex again.  Source:  Sexuality in Midlife and Beyond

Greater experience, fewer inhibitions, and a deeper understanding of your needs and those of your partner can more than compensate for the consequences of aging. The physical changes of aging can provide an impetus for developing a new and satisfying style of lovemaking. When partners harmonize their breath and bodies, an effortless sense of intimacy is established.

Sexuality and Yoga

Yoga through its various asanas and breathing techniques help one relieve stress and relax and revitalize one’s body.  Selected yoga asanas increase flexibility and stamina and the regular practice of them can redefine your sex life at any age.  Unlike the western focus on single orgasms,  tantric  sex focuses on the benefits of prolonging the sex act for more intimacy, more and better orgasms,  and for health benefits.

Aside from the obvious physical benefits Arthur Jeon, author of Sex, Love and Dharma: Finding Love Without Losing Your Way maintains that a regular yoga practice adds to your sex life in a variety of ways.  Yoga can enhance your connection to the muladhara (root) chakra at the perineum and the base of the spine, and the svadisthana chakra of the hips, sacrum, and genitals, a connection that makes you more receptive and stimulates your libido.

Related post: Kegel Exercises are Sexy

Sleep better and improve your sex life with yoga -  a 2004 clinical study at Harvard Medical School showed that just eight weeks of a simple at-home yoga practice significantly improved sleep quality for the toughest audience — chronic insomniacs.  It’s a simple exercise to connect the dots — practice yoga, sleep better, have more sex and better orgasms. Recommended asanas – Upavista Konasana (Wide Straddle Forward Bend) and Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose, also known as Cobbler’s Pose).

In a small preliminary study published in Journal of Sexual Medicine, Feb. 2010, women ages 22 to 55 who were enrolled in a 12-week yoga program experienced improvements in several aspects of sexual function, including desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and pain. For one hour a day, the women practiced 22 yoga postures (asanas) believed to have positive effects on abdominal and pelvic muscle tone, digestion, joint function, and mood. The specific asanas used in the study are listed in the chart below.

Yoga postures (asanas) breathing  exercises  & bandhas
Sanskrit name Also known as
kapalabhati -cleansing exercise cleansing breath
vajrasana diamond throne
yoga mudra symbol of yoga
marjariasana cat’s posture
pavanmuktasana hanging in the air
viparita karani mudra legs up the wall
matsyasana fish posture
halasana plow posture
ardha matsyendrasana half spinal twist
paschimottanasana back stretching posture
parvatasana mountain posture
bhujangasana snake posture
shalabhasana locust posture
naukasana boat posture
dhanurasana bow posture
bhushirasana preliminary headstand
hamsasana swan posture
chakrasana wheel posture
trikonasana triangle posture
uddiyana bandha -energetic lock abdominal lock
pranayama -breathing exercise breath control
shavaisana dead posture

In Sexy Yoga: 40 Poses for Mindblowing Sex and Greater Intimacy, Ellen Barrett, popular author and instructor for New York’s Crunch studios, offers the modern yoga student a specific program designed to transform and heighten sexual pleasure and lovemaking.

Barrett’s program includes a series of asanas (postures) that use yoga’s combination of movement, breathing, and focus to release sexual power. Sensual, erotic, and guaranteed to improve sexual performance, the poses are also designed to improve one’s ability to navigate both the physical and emotional demands of intimacy. Rooted in the rich tradition of yoga but far from an esoteric Indian practice, the program in this book is suitable for everyone from new students to experienced yoga practitioners.

Alan Watts – Death

white flowerAlan Watts had profound insights into the nature of life and existence that have affected millions of people. “My point was, and has continued to be, that the Big Realization. . . is not a future attainment but a present fact, that this now-moment is eternity and that one must see it now or never,” he said.

When the life force — heat and consciousness — ceases to exist, then that is called death. Death can occur: 1) when one’s own kamma is exhausted, 2) when one’s own life span is exhausted, that is, the span allotted for that particular life (one can only live so long and after that one has to die). 3) when both kamma and life span are exhausted together, or 4) when life ends due to accidental, unnatural causes. These are the ways that death can come. So death in Buddhism is not the end of total existence. Death is just closing one chapter and the next chapter is opened immediately after that. These two always go immediately together-death and rebirth.  Continue reading →

Eckhart Tolle – Stillness Speaks 1

leaf on waterStillness Speaks is a gentle journey, one that could take you to a spectacular and very special place of new awareness and deeper understanding. Yet one that leads nowhere in particular.

Tolle is very much aware that it is in the nowhere that the everywhere exists, that it is in the nothing that everything is found. This is not an easy concept for most people to grasp.

The trick with Tolle’s work is to not think about it. Most people, the author says, are lost in thought. The idea is to be out of your mind and into your experience of exactly what is happening, right here, right now.

We think of death as being the opposite of birth. Life, in it’s essence has no opposite. The opposite of life is non-life, just living without consciousness is opposite to living life consciously.  — Neale Donald Walsch, Author of Conversations with God

Stillness Speaks

When you lose touch with inner stillness, you lose touch with yourself. When you lose touch with yourself, you lose yourself in the world.

Your innermost sense of self, of who you are, is inseparable from stillness. This is the I Am that is deeper than name and form.

When each thought absorbs your attention completely, it means you identify with the voice in your head. Thought then becomes invested with a sense of self. This is the ego, a mind-made “me.” That mentally constructed self feels incomplete and precarious. That’s why fearing and wanting are its predominant emotions and motivating forces.

When you recognize that there is a voice in your head that pretends to be you and never stops speaking, you are awakening out of your unconscious identification with the stream of thinking. When you notice that voice, you realize that who you are is not the voice — the thinker — but the one who is aware of it.

Knowing yourself as the awareness behind the voice is freedom. True freedom and the end of suffering is living in such a way as if you had completely chosen whatever you feel or experience at this moment.

This inner alignment with Now is the end of suffering.

Is suffering really necessary? Yes and no.

If you had not suffered as you have, there would be no depth to you as a human being, no humility, no compassion. You would not be reading this now. Suffering cracks open the shell of ego, and then comes a point when it has served its purpose.

Suffering is necessary until you realize it is unnecessary.

If you haven’t read this collection of thoughts on stillness I highly recommend it to you.