May Angles Watch Over Us All

Healing Power of Creativity

Creative thinking solves problems as an expression of Mind, but also as an expression of Spirit and the emotions. The creativity of the Mind and Spirit can heal the Body. Many hypnosis techniques are based on the creative aspect of Mind and Spirit to heal the Body.

A key concept in achieving vitality and well-being is to realize Life is an act of creation. We are the creators of our own lives. Every aspect of life is important and sacred and we are meant to master it all.

At times life tasks seem overwhelming. Each job is a microcosm of another. Whether you are a national president, state governor, city mayor, school principal, or a mom with children, you share the same basic tasks. You are responsible for housing, feeding, health, safety, transportation, and problem solving.

In Creativity - Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, describes two types of creative people. The word creativity refers to

“1. Persons who express unusual thoughts, who are interesting and stimulating - in short, people who appear unusually bright, or 2. People who experience the world in novel and original ways. These are (personally creative) individuals whose perceptions are fresh, whose judgments are insightful, who may make important discoveries that only they know about.” (Pages 25-26)

“Characteristics of the creative personality:

• Creative individuals tend to be smart, yet also naive at the same time.
• Creative individuals have a great deal of energy, but they are also often quiet and at rest.
• Creative individuals have a combination of playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility.
• Creative individuals alternate between imagination and fantasy at one end, and rooted sense of reality at the other.
• Creative people seem to harbor opposite tendencies on the continuum between extroversion and introversion.
• Creative individuals are also remarkable humble and proud at the same time.
• Creative individuals to a certain extent escape rigid gender role stereotyping and have a tendency toward androgyny.
• Generally, creative people are thought to be rebellious and independent.
• Most creative persons are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well.
•    The openness and sensitivity of creative individuals often exposes them to suffering pain yet also a great deal of enjoyment.” (Csikszentmihalyi, pages 58-73)

It is important to honor and respect the creative aspect of self and your unique individuality. In certain cultures and societies, roles and expected, acceptable behaviors are rigidly defined. This is a sad occurrence by my thinking as rigidity strangles creativity, innovation, beauty and well-being. While other cultures, such as the Hindu yoga practitioner, embrace the empowering energy of creativity:

Yoga postures, breathing and meditation can create a positive energy that energizes creativity and motivation. As the breath, body, mind and Spirit come into balance so do our ideas and thinking. Meditation clears the mind of chatter, and the flow of prana (life energy) increases causing thinking to become easier and focused. 

There are many yoga postures and meditations that help remove mental or emotional blockages that stifle inspiration and creativity. Yoga meditations create a state of awareness, which opens us up to unknown possibilities and answers residing in the subconscious Mind.

I believe meditation is an effective tool for, 1.) Opening one’s self to creativity, 2.) Developing creativity, and 3.) Finding hidden aspects of mind where creative answers rest waiting to be discovered. I identify with the following statement as the writer describes his creative insecurity. If you are struggling with your creative nature his blog can be inspirational.

“I’ve always had an extremely powerful imagination and regularly come up with great ideas. You probably know how that feels. You may also have experienced the judgmental attitude that limited me for a long time. I used to come up with ideas all the time, but a lack of self-confidence and an overly analytical nature led me to pooh-pooh my idea before I’d even begun to create them. So it was that minute after minute, I’d come up with a new idea, decide it wasn’t good enough and doing nothing with it. This went on for a long time, thousands of ideas, no results. Then, years ago, I started meditating. Meditating put me more in the present moment, such that, the moment I came up with a new idea I would start to create it.” http://thedailymeditation.com/meditation-for-creativity/

To put my belief in the creative energy of meditation to the test, I created a meditation challenge for myself. My goal became to meditate and find stories hidden in my Mind, and not to actively create the story as I do writing this article. I would meditate and allow the story to tell itself and I would write it down without judgment. To get the conscious mind to step back and be passive was a discipline, yet I was amazed by the stories that were resting in my subconscious Mind.

These are my basic assumptions:

1.     Mind’s purpose is to creatively construct and enhance one’s life and well-being

2.     Mind has many layers (conscious, unconscious, pre-conscious, subconscious, etc.)  

3.     Mind is not limited to the brain but interfaces with the body

4.     Mind is energy storage and like a computer is constantly processing  

I am influenced by the theories of Carl Jung, and the writings of the anthropologist Joseph Campbell. The central idea of their work is that all humans share the same life experiences and each person is the hero of his own story. The following story was found in my Mind through the process of meditation. I can read the story as a metaphor for my life. At times in my life I am the bear, at other times I am the flower.

The Bear’s Story

There was a Bear. He was large, golden-brown and shaggy. There was kindness in his eyes. This bear had a very sad and lonely history. He loved the Earth Mother desperately but he felt jilted by her. She had taken another lover.

The Bear went off into the woods to live alone. The wood was dark and dank. The light there was an emerald green, which gave the place and you really feel.

He had wanted so desperately to live his life with the Earth Mother that he had never conceived of life with out her. His plans for a home and children were now gone. He did not hate the Earth Mother or her lover for he was an honorable bear. His love for her transcended the moment and he wished her joy and life.

But now he was here alone sitting on a hollow log. Not even honey helped. He was at a loss as to what to do. The purpose and productivity of his life had been based on his desire to care for the Earth Mother, building her a home, and establishing a family. He sat for a long time meditating on a yellow Flower. The Flower did nothing but follow the sun with its face. “What a pointless thing to do,” thought the bear.  He became bored and fell asleep.

His huge bear body began to cast a shadow on the Flower, blocking the golden-yellow rays of the sun.

“Wake up! Wake up!”

Bear heard the urgent small voice. He turned his head left, then right and looked all around him. But he saw no one and nothing seemed amiss. He yawned a huge bear yawn and stretched out his mighty arms. He enjoyed feeling the strength and power of his own being.

“You block the sun! You block the sun! Have you no concern for others?” said the small voice.

"What others?" exclaimed the Bear quite taken aback.

“I am living my life and I die in your shadow with out the sun,” said the Flower.

Bear said, “What is it that you do that is so important to life? I was to be the mate of the Earth Mother, her protector, and father to earth children. That is a destiny worth having. But now, I am jilted with no purpose and no children.”

“Indeed that is a sad story,” said the flower. “But my contribution continues for inside of me I hold the essence of life, mine and yours.”

“What do you mean by that,” demanded Bear. “My power is greater than yours. With a swipe of my hand I could tear you from the ground where you stand. You would be no more.”

The Flower said,  “My friends would mourn my passing, and their lives would be diminished for our lifeblood is the pollen we pass the between us. The death of me is the death of my seed yet unborn. The death of the Flower is the death of the Bee for do we not share the sweet nectar of life with our brother the Bee. And will not the Bee die with my passing. And is not the quality of your life brother Bear diminished with the passing of the Bee. Does not the Bee in his generosity make an over abundance of honey for he knows it is sweet nectar of life to the Bear?”

“Everything you have said is so,” said the Bear. “I did not think. The dark emotion of the moment had blinded me to the rays of the sun. The truth is, the sweetest nectar of life and my destiny have only begun. I shall follow your example, meditating on the sun and honoring the cooperation of my brother beings.”

* * *

The process of meditating and then writing allows us to tap into creative aspects of Self that tend to remain hidden. These aspects of Self work for our healing, Mind/Body/Spirit, and well-being at deep levels of Mind. If a story seems to be to big of a goal, start with a poem, or write simple phrases (even single words) that emerge from your mind. If you are not a word person draw, paint, or make a collage from magazine pictures. "The journey of a thousand miles begins beneath one's feet." Lao-tzu

http://www.zenworlds.com/inspire-creativity-meditation

http://www.csun.edu/~vcpsy00h/creativity/define.htm

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-5032/6-Yoga-Poses-to-Boost-Creativity-Inspire-You.html

http://thewritersjourney.com/hero%27s_journey.htm

Chakra Health Reflects Your Wellness

“Chakras are large nerve centers aligned to the spinal column that code messages to the brain.” (Griffin, 1997). This precise definition says it all. I have been searching for a way to express the importance of the Chakra System to the Western mind and culture.

We sometimes get lost in discussions of Chakra energy and the topic sounds foreign. We need to consider that our bodies are biochemical engines and our nerves are very like metal wires transferring messages using molecules that contain metals such as copper, iron, and zinc that have an electromagnetic charge. We use the EEG to track the brain’s electrical processing. So why are we adverse to the discussion and reality of other energy systems in the body? Body heat represents energy movement in the body for the destruction of bacteria, and dozens of other processes.

The Ayurvedic system of traditional Indian medicine has identified and described the Chakra energy hubs. Ayurveda is a holistic system that uses a constitutional model to provide guidance regarding food and lifestyle. So healthy people can stay healthy and those with health challenges can improve. A basic principal is to live in harmony with nature and utilize the Laws of Nature to create health and balance within one’s being.

The Chakras are not located in the physical body but exist outside the physical body. To work with charkas is to accept that all of life is intertwined mind, body and Spirit. Mind, body and Spirit are energy systems and charkas are nexus points where these systems touch and connect. Learning to understand the Chakra system gives us one more tool as we manifest good health and well-being.

There are basic principles of energy healing. Everything is energy and we are energetic beings. Because energy follows thought and our attention is like a beam of energy, we affect whatever we focus on in mind, body, or Spirit. We have an energy anatomy just as we have a physical anatomy and they interact with each other.

The physical body is the densest expression of the human energy field. As an analogy consider the states of water. Water is H2O; two hydrogen atoms bonded by energy to one oxygen. It is the energy bonds of all the elements in the body that create the seeming denseness of the body.

For example consider water. As more energy affects the water molecule through heating, the heat energy activates the water molecule. And as the molecules move faster this creates steam. When we reduce the energy the water becomes cooler. The water changes in state of being to mist, then fluid rain, snow and finally hard ice. In ice the energy of the water molecules is barely moving making the ice dense. We know that when the body is exposed to cold, the energy slows down in our own body and the water in the body will freeze, which can lead to death. Man’s natural state is to have an energetic equilibrium equal to the fluidity of water.

The point to remember is the body is biochemical in nature. And all Nature is created and held together by energy. We can learn to purposefully use the existing energy of the body for healing and enhanced well-being.

The human energy field is expressed in the body and changes occur over time reflecting the well being of mind, body, and Spirit. Healing is facilitated by greater rhythm, flow, and balance in the energy field. The free flow of energy is essential to maintain mind, body, and Spirit well being.

A basic understanding of the Chakra System allows us to take proactive action in self-healing. There are many in-depth books and websites on the Chakra System. This is a brief introduction to the charkas, their locations, associated emotional issues, and dietary needs related to the Chakra.

To use this outline first work with what you know. For example if you have stomach issues think about the emotional issues outlined for the solar plexus Chakra. Are you feeling confident in your ability to live life effectively? When one works with the interconnectedness of Spirit, mind and body the opportunity for healing is increased because one is addressing the whole life plan.

1. Allow your Mind to objectively understand the concern—write it out and identify flaws in your thinking. 2. Meditate and reflect—allow your Spirit to guide you to positive thoughts and actions. 3. Feed the Body foods that are consistent with the Chakras dietary needs. Before making extreme changes in your diet discuss them with a nutritionist, or physician---do your self-responsible homework. Research has confirmed that hopeful, proactive action contributes to healing potential.

The 7 Chakra Hubs

1. Root Chakra represents our foundation and feeling of being grounded. Location: Base of spine in tailbone area. Emotional issues: Survival issues such as financial independence, money, and food, as well as sexual identity, personal power, and self-acceptance. Dietary needs: oxygenating foods high in iron, B12, folic acid, vitamin E, phosphorus and zinc.
2. Sacral Chakra represents connection and ability to accept others and new experiences. Location: Lower abdomen, about 2 inches below the navel and 2 inches in, and is related to the urinary, genital, and adrenal organs. Emotional issues: Sense of abundance, well being, pleasure, sexuality, a sense of direction/purpose and stress response/immunity. Dietary needs: B3, niacin, magnesium, B6, and pyridoxal phosphate (enzyme needed for B6 metabolism).
3. Solar Plexus represents the ability to be confident and in-control of our lives. Location: Upper abdomen in the stomach area (effects metabolic process for heat and energy). Emotional issues: Self-worth, self-confidence, self-esteem, a sense of community, and vital coping energy. Dietary needs: VitaminsC/K/P/B5/B17. Pantothenic acid, PABA, para-amino benzoic acid, choline, and biotin.
4. Heart Chakra represents our ability to love. Location: Center of chest just above heart. Emotional issues: Love, joy, inner peace, self-trust, faith, intimacy, breathing easy. Dietary needs: Increase green plants, chlorophyll, inositol, vitamins D and F, calcium, copper, potassium
5. Throat Chakra represents the ability to communicate. Location: Throat. Emotional issues: Communication, self-expression of feelings, speaking self-truth, creativity, heart-brain balance. Dietary needs: iodine, vitamins A/B1/B2, thiamine, riboflavin, chromium
6. Third Eye, or Brow Chakra, represents our ability to focus on and see the big picture. Location: Forehead between the eyes. Emotional issues: Introspection, intuition, imagination, wisdom, ability to think and make decisions, motives and actions. Dietary needs: vitamin K, manganese, sunlight
7. Crown Chakra is the highest Chakra and represents our ability to be fully connected spiritually. Location: The very top of the head. Emotional issues: Inner and outer beauty, our connection to spirituality, pure bliss, and the union of spiritual ideals with physical realities. Dietary needs: Lipoic acids from flowering plants.

There are many good books and websites on the Chakra System which discus the many ways to work with Chakras for well-being. This knowledge is not new or foreign it is a system developed over centuries of observation. Many of the techniques we have intuitively found for ourselves.

The Ayurvedic Chakra System also identifies colors, sounds, and types of music, flowers, flower essences, oils, jewels and minerals that have resonant energies for healing. Does a yellow room make you feel energetic? Does the smell of cinnamon calm your nerves? When you wear a diamond or pearls does your confidence increase? Does music set your spirit free?

https://www.educate-sustainability.eu/kb/content/characteristics-water

Griffin, Judy.  Mother Nature’s Herbal. (1997) Random House. New York.

http://heartofhealing.net/energy-healing/human-energy-field/chakras/

http://eocinstitute.org/meditation/meditation-chakra-healing/?bingads18253

Winter: The season for reflection

Greetings for the New Year!! St. Louis has been very cold this month and I have been hibernating. Actually, I have been obsessed with a 1,000 piece puzzle of Klimt's "The Kiss."

As I worked on the puzzle, I realized that working through the puzzle was a metaphor for living. I have in mind a picture of what I expect from life---a picture of the outcome. I want my life to be beautiful like Klimt's painting filled with gardens, love, relationships, harmonious, rhythmic patterns, and perfect edges. I loved my basic design art class that is where learned one can create a universe of beauty within seeming rigid  parameters and boundaries.  

I set a plan. I separated the background pieces from the garden; his clothing from her clothing; his skin from her skin. I set the edges and then worked in from edge pieces. I especially liked the boundary pieces that have the colors of two sections. Sometimes I focused on color patterns, sometimes on puzzle piece shapes, sometimes on the big picture content, and sometimes I talked to the puzzle pieces. I would ask the puzzle pieces, "Where are your friends? Where do you belong?" 

Sometimes when nothing in the puzzle seemed to fit together, I would work outside the puzzle. I would find a pair of pieces that fit together nicely and I would build on them outside the boundaries of the puzzle. Then I would take this pattern and place it inside the puzzle boundaries and move it around until the perfect placement presented itself.

When everything was correctly placed, the puzzle had a beautiful seamless quality. It was rhythmic with harmonious colors and no ruff edges. If I was forcing the shapes together the picture edges would loosen threatening the beauty of the picture. I feel sad for the pieces I ripped---but there are only three that look really worn and tired.

The process was not perfect. I had several false starts. I had to redo sections of the edges on three sides as what seemed to be perfect decisions were actually misplaced pieces. When I tried to incorporate the pattern section I completed outside the puzzle into the puzzle, it seemed not to fit. I was really frustrated as the pattern section had internal integrity and the puzzle was 80% complete with beauty and symmetry.

I asked myself, what is my best tactic for dealing with problems that seem intractable? Flexibility of thinking works---change my point of view, turn my choice---90 degrees, 180, 270, 360. My last puzzle pieces I struggled with for days. At last I realized they did not belong to the right side of the puzzle but belonged to the six isolated pieces missing from the left side of the puzzle. Like life, I didn't understand these outlier pieces until I stepped back and accepted the reality. The picture is only complete when I incorporate the outliers in the open spaces. They slipped in quietly, comfortably. They blend in perfectly. One piece looks like a little man with shovel feet and the other piece looks like a house with handles on the sides.

I remember that my guidance once told me every season has a focus and winter time is a time for reflection. After honest reflection, one knows what seeds to plant in the spring. This winter seems endless. My puzzle gave me a focus for reflection and I reclaimed my excitement and anticipation. The kiss of Spring will be glorious and brings with it great potential. Now I have thoughts on the seeds I hope to plant.

Benefits of Mindfulness Training

According to the Huffington Post scientific research has shown the benefit of Mindfulness training in these areas:

• Lowers stress chemicals in the body
• Lets us get to know our true selves--you choose your behaviors your are less reactive
• Can make your grades better—better focus and attention
• Could help our troops—helps PTSD
• Help people with arthritis—helps with pain management
• Changes the brain in a protective way—increases emotion al hormone balance
• Works as the brain’s “volume knob”—one gains psychological perspective
• Makes music sound
• Helps even when we’re not practicing it—a generalized calm when not meditating
• Has four elements that help us in different ways—socially, mind, body, spirit
• Could help your doctor be better at his/her job—he is focused, you are calm
• Makes you a better person—your decisions are better thought out
• Could make going through cancer just a little less stressful
• Could help the elderly feel less lonely
• Could make your health care bill a little lower—strengthens the immune system
• Comes in handy during cold season-- strengthens the immune system
• Lowers depression risk among pregnant women
• Lowers depression risk among teens
• Supports your weight-loss goals
• Helps you sleep better

Mindful meditation takes many forms. Some individuals such as Christian monastics, or Buddhist monks spend years perfecting their meditations. Many of us would like a meditation recipe book---Americans love “how to” recipe books. I have been doing my own brand of meditation for years, which tended to be more like an interior monolog. This monolog became real meditation when I gave up rehashing negative emotions and experiences and chose to listen for insight. Prayer is a form of meditation. Someone once asked Mother Teresa of Calcutta what prayer she said. Mother Teresa responded she no longer said prayers---she listened to hear what God was saying.

I’m not saying we should be able to match Mother Teresa’s meditative abilities. But the choice to develop mindful meditation practice brings with it a lot of mind/body/spirit benefits just through an honest effort. Who doesn’t want the best life you can have?

The book Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom, does have many step by step activities and, meditations to help you develop your mindfulness skills. You may not agree with all of the author’s philosophical insights. But the science is real, although the discussion of brain structures was at times tedious. The author has a true desire for you to know and accept that you can change your brain chemistry, emotional outlook, and physical well being for the better.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/08/mindfulness-meditation-benefits-health_n_3016045.html

http://www.wikihow.com/Do-Mindful-Meditation

http://www.ehow.com/how_2319093_do-mindful-meditation.html

Nicholas and Helena Roerich: The Spiritual Journey

 I am reading the book Nicholas & Helena Roerich: The Spiritual Journey of Two Great Artists and Peacemakers, R. Drayer (2005). Years ago I was introduced to the work of Nicholas and Helena Roerich at a spiritual retreat. I was totally captivated by Nicholas’s painting Mother of the World (1930). To me it represents all concepts of mother love—the Creator for the Creation, Mother Mary as mother of all humanity, and the ensouled nature—Mother Earth, Mother Nature.

Life is often blessed with enlightened people, individuals of great spirituality, talent and intuition. Such individuals would be Siddhartha, Pythagoras, da Vinci, John Donne, William Blake, Carl Jung, Catherine the Great, Thomas Jefferson and The Dalai Lama. Some are widely recognized and others are treated with disdain. The Roerich’s contribution is not often recognized—most likely because their roots were in Czarist Russia.

The Roerichs were upper-middle class in a time and place where most people were peasants. At that time Russia, which lies on the border of Eastern and Western culture, was deeply religious and spiritual. Nearly everyone has heard the story of Rasputin, the "mad monk" mystic and faith healer who was introduced to Russian Czar Nicholas II and his wife. Supposedly Rasputin healed  Czar Nicholas II's heir Alexis of hemophilia. This is the Russian culture that impacted the Roerichs. They were nationalist with a great love for Russia and it’s cultural history but also idealists and artists that believed in the enlightening power of art, music, and the essential spiritual truth in all religions—there is only one Creator and he created all that is. When studied with a discerning eye all religions strengthen each other. Religious separate-ism is the politics of power.

Information from the Nicholas Roerich Museum website:

Nicholas Konstantinovich Roerich was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on October 9, 1874, the first-born son of lawyer and notary, Konstantin Roerich and his wife Maria. He was raised in the comfortable environment of an upper middle-class Russian family with its advantages of contact with the writers, artists, and scientists who often came to visit the Roerichs. At an early age he showed a curiosity and talent for a variety of activities. When he was nine, a noted archeologist came to conduct explorations in the region and took young Roerich on his excavations of the local tumuli. The adventure of unveiling the mysteries of forgotten eras with his own hands sparked an interest in archeology that would last his lifetime. Through other contacts he developed interests in collecting prehistoric artifacts, coins, and minerals, and built his own arboretum for the study of plants and trees. While still quite young, Roerich showed a particular aptitude for drawing, and by the time he reached the age of sixteen he began to think about entering the Academy of Art and pursuing a career as an artist. His father did not consider painting to be a fit vocation for a responsible member of society, however, and insisted that his son follow his own steps in the study of law. A compromise was reached, and in the fall of 1893 Nicholas enrolled simultaneously in the Academy of Art and at St. Petersburg University.

Helena Roerich was an unusually gifted woman, a talented pianist, and author of many books, including The Foundations of Buddhism and a Russian translation of Helena Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine. Her collected Letters, in two volumes, are an example of the wisdom, spiritual insight, and simple advice she shared with a multitude of correspondents — friends, foes, and co-workers alike. …Later, in New York, Nicholas and Helena Roerich founded the Agni Yoga Society, which espoused a living ethic encompassing and synthesizing the philosophies and religious teachings of all ages…. Prompted by the need to provide some income for his new household, Roerich applied for and won the position of Secretary of the School of the Society for the Encouragement of Art, later becoming its head, the first of many positions that Roerich would occupy as a teacher and spokesman for the arts.

Nicholas Roerich was involved throughout his career with the problems of cultural preservation. From an early age, when, as a teen-age amateur archeologist in the north of Russia, he unearthed rare and beautiful ancient artifacts, he realized that the best products of humanity's creative genius were almost always neglected, or even destroyed, by humanity itself…. In the earliest years of twentieth century, he traveled through the historic towns of Northern Russia, making paintings of their crumbling walls and deteriorating architecture. He then made appeals to the Russian government for efforts to maintain and restore these priceless links to the past.

Nicholas Roerich spearheaded the concept of an international pact to protect the best of world culture and worked with the US administration of Franklin Roosevelt to accomplish this. It was called the Treaty on the Protection of Artistic and Scientific Institutions and Historic Monuments (Roerich Pact). Washington, 15 April 1935.

“The High Contracting Parties, animated by the purpose of giving conventional form to the postulates of the resolution approved on 16 December 1933, by all the States represented at the Seventh International Conference of American States, held at Montevideo, which recommended to "the Governments of America which have not yet done so that they sign the 'Roerich Pact', initiated by the 'Roerich Museum' in the United States, and which has as its object the universal adoption of a flag, already designed and generally known, in order thereby to preserve in any time of danger all nationally and privately owned immovable monuments which form the cultural treasure of peoples, "have resolved to conclude a Treaty with that end in view and to the effect that the treasures of culture be respected and protected in time of war and in peace, have agreed upon the following Articles:” The entire pact is located on the Roerich Museum website.

Helena Roerich was inspired and received the spiritual teaching called Agni Yoga. Followers of the teaching believe the Roerich family and their associates were in communication with Master Morya, the teacher of Helena Blavatsky, one of the founders of the Theosophical Society. Seventeen volumes of Agni Yoga have been translated from the original Russian into English. Agni Yoga is sometimes called the Teaching of Living Ethics, the Teaching of Life, or the Teaching of Light.

Modernists who pursue Agni Yoga, also called Inner Light-Fire Meditation and Actualism Lightwork, view Agni to be a joyous exploration into life, consciousness for personal and planetary awakening. Agni Yoga is a meditation process that makes ancient Eastern beliefs of inner Light-Fire accessible to the current Western consciousness. Agni Yoga is considered to be active meditation, practical, grounded in the body and comprehensive. The practitioner works to engage the source of limitless life energy within to decode one’s soul language, and to release spiritual blockage to the free the flowing life energy that makes up one’s consciousness and soul competence.

As I read Nicholas & Helena Roerich: The Spiritual Journey of Two Great Artisits and Peacemakers, I am impressed by the spiritual dedication of Nicholas, Helena, and their sons Yuri and Svetoslav. The Roerichs were often naive and controversial. Sadly the idealistic spiritual seeker is often misunderstood by those who are inherently materialistic and power seekers. For myself I would rather seek inner spiritual fire and universal Christian brotherhood, rather than bind my soul to lifeless religiosity—but that’s just me.

The Roerich’s lives read as a spiritual adventure story; we should all be so lucky. Perhaps we are all heroes in our own great adventure story.

http://www.roerich.org/

 http://agniyoga.org/ay_info.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agni_Yoga

http://www.awakenment-wellness.com/agni-yoga.html

http://en.icr.su/

http://www.amazon.com/Nicholas-Helena-Roerich-Spiritual-Peacemakers/