Tag Archive | yoga

The Hard Work of Enlightenment

Oct12

Two days ago I wrote about Shaktipat – the moment that we are awakened out of our ordinary existence and called upon the path of spiritual exploration, growth, healing and transformation.  What happens after Shaktipat?  GOOD HARD WORK – that’s what!!!


I want to thank my friend, Heidi for sharing the following quote from her spiritual teacher that she posted in response to Sunday’s blog on Shaktipat (spiritual awakening) and the path to enlightenment:

“Both my masters so thoroughly enbodied Sri (the most resplendent aspect of the Divine) that is would be easy to write off their accomplishments to a blessed birth or to the teachers that guided them.  Don’t kid yourself.  The heights they scaled reflect the sheer force they generated day after day through practice.  Yes, you reap what you sow.  Remember: practice is how the teachings breathe their sublime light into you.”

Amen.  Amen.  Amen.  Spiritual transformation does not end with Shaktipat.  In fact, Shaktipat, while frequently dramatic in its experience is perhaps the smallest and most insignificant portion of the spiritual journey.  We might have a moment of sublime awakening, but then what?  The image that springs to my mind is the perception that somehow the moment of Christian baptism or the moment we profess “Jesus to be our personal Lord and Savior”  the slate is wiped clean and we are now and forever saved.  Enlightenment does not end with a profession of faith, a sacred ritual or shaktipat.  These personally fulfilling moments are only the beginning.  Sound spiritual growth, healing and transformation only come about because of hard work and diligent practice.

The foundation of Spiritual growth, as we are reminded by Heidi’s teacher, is PRACTICE. Practice is the diligent attention to whatever vehicle we use to remember our intimate connection with the Divine/God.  In the Christian tradition practice is experienced as prayer, worship, mindful service, meditation and contemplation.  In the Eastern traditions practice includes these with the addition of movement (yoga, tai chi, chi qong, etc.).  The thread and crucial element that ties all of these forms of practice together and makes them effective  is ATTENTION.

Practice is focused attention on the Divine/Highest Self.  Practice transcends the activity of the mind and the restless actions of the ego and draws us into communion with the center of peaceful contentment that lies within.  It is in connection with this peaceful contentment that we remember our Oneness with God.  Sounds easy, right?  WRONG!  Spiritual practice, while simple, is NOT EASY!  In fact, diligent attention to our spiritual practice might be the most challenging thing we will ever do in our life.   The good news is that as challenging as maintaining a diligent spiritual practice may be, the rewards are well worth the effort!

Here are some of the  fruits of maintaining a diligent spiritual practice:

Healing – of spiritual, emotional, mental and physical wounds and disease

Release from spiritual fears

Recovery from compulsive behaviors and actions

Increased peace, contentment, joy, compassion

Deep and profound knowledge of love (Divine love)

Discovery of our unique giftedness and call to share these gifts in the world

Empowerment

Inner Strength

Balance

Trust

The ability to surrender

Inner fulfillment

Do these qualities sound appealing to you?  Then what are you waiting for?  Get to work!  Enlightenment only begins with our spiritual awakening.  The rest is up to you!

Lauri Lumby

Authentic Freedom Ministries/YourSpiritualTruth

http://yourspiritualtruth.com



 

Jesus and Shaktipat

Oct11

Shaktipat is a word in the Hindu tradition to represent spiritual awakening – in particular, spiritual awakening that is facilitated or initiated by a guru/teacher and conferred upon his or her students.  Did Jesus confer Shaktipat and can we still be recipients of this Divine energy today?

I am currently reading Where Are You Going? – A Guide to the Spiritual Journey by Swami Muktananda, now deceased guru of the Siddha Yoga tradition.  http://www.siddhayoga.org/  In this book, Swami Muktananda describes the highways and byways of the spiritual journey from the perspective of the Siddha Yoga tradition.  As I am reading this book, I’m seeing unfold before me all the parallels between the Hindu/Siddha Yoga tradition and the Jesus story.  Kundalini/Holy Spirit;  Meditation/Prayer; Mantra/Rosary and now today, Shaktipat and Jesus.

The Siddha Yoga tradition (which has its roots in Hinduism) defines Shaktipat as follows:

Spiritual awakening, or shaktipat, lies at the heart of the mystical journey. This infusion of energy from the spiritual master to the seeker brings about the awakening of the seeker’s own inherent spiritual power, called kundalini. Shaktipat is described by the yogic texts as an initiation that activates an inner unfolding of awareness that leads to progressively higher states of consciousness.   http://www.siddhayoga.org/

 

As I read about and seek to understand more fully the experience of Shaktipat, I cannot help but image that this is what it must have been like for Jesus’ own disciples.  Something in Jesus’ touch and/or presence startled them out of their normal everyday existence and awakened them to a higher path – the path to Oneness with God.  Many felt called to leave behind their former existence to follow Jesus and learned from him the path of spiritual awakening and enlightenment and many were healed of their spiritual fears and false perceptions – some through Jesus’ physical touch and some simply through being in the presence of this remarkable man.  The Jesus story certainly rings of Shaktipat to me.  

In the Siddha tradition, Shaktipat is conferred by a living guru within the lineage of the Siddha tradition.  Shaktipat is said to be conferred upon a seeker who is willing to receive it and can be received through touch or simply by being in the presence of the guru.  It is also said that Shaktipat can be received in the absence of the physical presence of the guru through desire and intention.  This is how Shaktipat is available to those who claim Jesus as their teacher and guru.  We no longer have the gift of the physical presence of Jesus among us, and yet this does not prevent those who follow Jesus from becoming spiritually awakened – all we need to do is desire to be awakened and be open to the spiritual lessons that will then unfold.  The gift in this spiritual awakening/Shaktipat, for those who claim Jesus as their guru is the same for those among the Siddha Yoga and Hindu traditions: 

Over time, through grace and our efforts in spiritual practice, the sense of separation from divinity drops away. We come to recognize the presence of God in ourselves and in the world around us. We experience the world as a play of God’s energy.   http://www.siddhayoga.org/

If this is true, why would we not all be open to receiving Shaktipat/Spiritual Awakening and celebrating our respective teachers through whom this has been made possible?  I for one, offer a profound prayer of gratitude for the experiences that startled me out of my normal everyday existence and set me upon the path of spiritual learning, growth and transformation…and I give the credit to Jesus, the Christ,  my personal guru (while thoroughly enjoying the teachings of all the great spiritual masters!) And I thank Swami Muktananda and Gurumayi Chidvilasananda of the Siddha Yoga traditions for giving me words  through which I have been able to more fully understand the experience.

Are you open to receiving Shaktipat/Spiritual Awakening?

Through what teacher do you desire to receive this awakening?

How can you be open to the unfolding spiritual path once this awakening has been facilitate?

 

Lauri Lumby

Authentic Freedom Ministries/YourSpiritualTruth

http://www.yourspiritualtruth.com

 

Forgiveness is God’s Work

Oct5

Today I explore the topic of forgiveness and ask the question….whose job is it really?



Each day that I come to my yoga mat at Inner Sun Yoga Studio in Oshkosh, we are invited to silently state an intention for our yoga practice.  Perhaps our intention is something for ourselves, a prayer of sorts, or maybe it is an intention for somebody else, or for the world at large.  I love this part of the practice because it reminds me that yoga (for me anyway) is prayer through movement and in participating in this movement, good things are being made manifest in my own life and in the lives of others.  I am grateful for Deb and the other teachers at Inner Sun for inviting us into this practice.


One day last week when Deb invited us to silently state our intention for our yoga practice, I closed my eyes and holding my hands in prayer position, began to explore the inner recesses of my mind for the intention of the day.  I was surprised by what showed up because I can most certainly say that this was not an intention of my own making.  As I was flipping through the cerebral file cabinet, there suddenly appeared, floating through conscious space the word FORGIVE! “Forgive” had quietly pushed its way past the files of other potential intentions and now stood up loud and proud, front and center, not willing to be ignored.  “Really?”  I asked.  “Yep!  FORGIVE,” is what she said.


Now, as a card-carrying Irish Catholic, forgiveness has never been an easy task.  Like my ancestors before me, I have made the cultivation of resentment and the harboring of ill-will an artform.  In developing this artform, I can now  completely understand why a dear Irish woman of my acquaintance (who is now deceased and who by the way is a second-generation immigrant), contributed funds, until the day of her death to the IRA.  For her entire life, she harbored ill-will against the British with whom she has never even had direct contact, but who have “done harm” (in her words) to her family of origin.   I can honestly say that I have never felt compelled to fund military interests due to my harbored resentments, but I know the power of those feelings and how they may drive you to do strange and irrational things.

So, when the invitation arrived to accept forgiveness as my intention for my yoga practice, I heard my ego scream at the top of her lungs, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.”  To make matters worse, along with the invitation to FORGIVE, came the image of the person to whom I was to direct this forgiveness.  With this awareness, my ego screamed even louder.  The good news is that no matter how much my ego thinks she is in charge…..SHE IS NOT!  Following close upon the heels of my ego came the still small voice of the true self.  Peeking around the giant of my ego, the small and vulnerable true self whispered in humility, “I can’t forgive this person.  They have hurt me too much.  I do not have it in me to accept this task.”   Then she offered a prayerful plea to the Divine, “God, I know that I do not have the power within me to forgive this person.  As such, I give it back to you.”  I then saw the small, wounded part of myself gather the intention for forgiveness into her hands and give it to God.  It was only in surrendering this invitation to FORGIVE into the hands of the Divine that I was able to agree to this intention and hold it in my mind and my heart during my yoga practice, knowing that God could accomplish what I alone could not.

This experience provided me with a powerful lesson.  There are intentions in our lives that we are invited to accept so that we can grow spiritually and sometimes these intentions are beyond our capability.  Forgiveness is often one of those intentions that are simply too difficult to accomplish on our own.  It is here that the awareness of a loving, caring and nurturing Divine Source becomes helpful.  When we surrender our journey into the hands of the Divine……ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.  So today, I offer the intention of Forgiveness and surrender all those past hurts, betrayals, disappointments, etc. into the hands of God and trust that God will work forgiveness on my behalf.


  • What are you being invited to Forgive?
  • What invitations to forgiveness are beyond your personal capabilities?
  • What intentions are you being invited to surrender to the Divine for assistance and accomplishment?

Lauri Lumby

Authentic Freedom Ministries/YourSpiritualTruth

http://yourspiritualtruth.com

The Gods Must Be Crazy!

Aug6

Taking a journey based solely on faith makes us wonder if we have lost our minds or if the gods must be crazy!   

Brothers and sisters:
Faith is the realization of what is hoped for
and evidence of things not seen.
Because of it the ancients were well attested.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place
that he was to receive as an inheritance;
he went out, not knowing where he was to go.

Hebrews 11

 

Today, I am taking another step on a journey that can only be described as  based solely on faith and faith alone.  This weekend, I am attending Kirtan camp, led by internationally renowned Kirtan artist and musician, Ragani.  http://www.raganiworld.com/  Kirtan is the practice of sacred chant from the Hindu and Yogic traditions, specifically Bhakti yoga.  I first discovered Kirtan through the yoga classes I attend at Inner Sun Yoga in Oshkosh http://www.innersunyogastudio.com/  and then had the opportunity to attend professional Kirtan events led by such names as Krishna Das, Durga Das, Wah! and Ragani.  The practice of Kirtan spoke to something deep in my soul and when I found myself at each and every event moved to tears, I knew that there was something in Kirtan for me.  I cannot explain why singing words I do not understand and can barely pronounce has had such a profound impact on me, I just know that it has.  Then at some point in my experience of Kirtan, I found myself desiring to learn more and in that desire, the idea of possibly leading and hosting Kirtan events locally.  Have I lost my mind or am I simply pursuing the unmet childhood dream to grow up and be Stevie Nicks? 

 

 

Here is where the journey of faith comes in.  I am not a professional musician, nor do I have any qualifications to call myself anything other than a hack musician.  I studied piano for 10+ years and sang in school and church choirs, but my piano talents are only fair and my singing pretty average.  Add to this two past traumas with performance anxiety and I am the last person who should even be thinking about leading or facilitating Kirtan.  But there it is…..something is compelling me to attend Kirtan camp with the idea of holding local Kirtan events sometime in the future.  I don’t think I have lost my mind,  but the Gods must be crazy! 

 

 

In each of our journeys, there are times when ideas, inspirations, visions, invitations show up that seem to make no sense at all, and yet we are compelled to follow those dreams.  Perhaps we are compelled to quit our job, end a relationship, pursue education, embark upon a new stage of learning.  Sometimes these visions show up with nothing to back it up, but faith.  Faith is what compels us to follow these ideas even in the absence of logic, evidence or proof.  This is when all we can do is step into the journey and trust that the gods know what they are doing – even risking ridicule, rejection or even failure.  This is where I step as I enter into this weekend of Kirtan camp and all I can do is follow the trail to where – I do not yet know….but follow it I will.

 

 

This weekend, I invite you to reflect on your own journey of faith.  What are the inspirations, dreams, visions you feel compelled to follow based solely on faith and faith alone?  Enjoy the ride! 

 To see a clip of Ragani’s Kirtan:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GkVsyIay-g

 

Lauri Lumby

Authentic Freedom Ministries

http://www.authenticfreedom.net