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Support Practices Health Books Artists Sites

Disclaimer: I don’t endorse everything in these offerings, but have found good value there. I know many personally. I discuss specifics on various articles on the blog. You can follow provided links or search them on the upper right.

Support Services:

If you’re looking for Support for your journey, people I know that I can suggest:

If you’re looking for support to awaken or post-awakening, I suggest Lorn and Lucia. They offer free weekly webcasts, retreats for awakening, and retreats for the awake.

If you’re looking for energy healing and clearing out old drivers, I can suggest Malika, Eva Muller, Dorothy Rowe, or Kristin Kirk. All work from source, enabling the support of natural law and getting to the root of the issue. Kristin offers healing via group sessions and retreats. Malika offers personal & group healing, and retreats. Eva has personal, group sessions, and retreats. Dorothy uses personal sessions and webinars. (based on feedback, I no longer recommend Rosetree students.)

If you’re having energy or kundalini challenges, Kundalini Care recommends these people. (Joan has retired so the org itself is less active.) A Facebook group formed around a film project on “kundalini awakenings or other spontaneous, life altering spiritual emergencies.””find friends and allies who understand what they’re going through as well as a sense of safety and belonging.”

If you’re a Sensitive person (HSP) or moreso an empath, you want to become conscious of those dynamics so they’re a gift and not a burden.

If you’re facing psychological challenges or a spiritual crisis, I can suggest Craig Holliday. He’s a spiritually oriented therapist.

If you’re struggling to get at the root of cause of issues that are holding you back, I can recommend Life Coach & RTT Practitioner Kristine Irving.

If you’re looking for some insight into work that brings you meaning and aliveness, you may find the free Sparketype test and/or the free PrinciplesYou test useful. The broader MB-type 16 personalities test can also be useful. Your Jyotish and Nadi (below) are other available tools.

If you’re looking for a good jyotishi (Vedic astrologer), I can recommend Dayanand, Prasannan, or Andrew Foss, PhD.   (Phyllis has retired.) Some background on Jyotish.

For a Nadi reader, try Green Tara Canada (related article).

Some of the above offer live group calls, books, videos, and other info on their web site. Check the links for details.

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Practices:

I recommend a regular, effortless mantra meditation for clearing stress and connecting to source. This helps prepare the ground of awakening. (related article)

The most widely available and well-researched effortless meditation is Transcendental Meditation (TM). It’s now available with graduated pricing in some of the West.

Malika offers online instruction, either to start an effortless practice or to upgrade to a more personalized mantra. She also activates the shakti of the mantra. That’s a powerful upgrade for those with an established effortless practice.

You can support this practice with effortless yoga asana and pranayama. This combination is Raja Yoga, the Yoga of Patanjali. TM teachers offer instruction or you can learn free online. Just be sure it’s effortless – most yoga studios teach exercise, not Yoga. (related article)

A devotional practice to culture the heart when that arises. This improves quality of life and helps facilitate the refined stages. (related article)

Occasional supplementary retreats can speed up the process. Many TM Centers offer retreats. When the process ripens, retreats with the awake can help catalyze a shift. LuciaLorn offer them online. (related article)

It’s important to favour a balanced lifestyle so the process can integrate and ground. Irregular practice will slow progress and excess practice will make us ungrounded. See more in the Health section below.

I recommend learning the basics of energy healing to help resolve the harder nuts and shift our long habits of resistance. Then our activity supports the results of our practice (related article). Some people have found value in Byron Katie’s The Work (example) or The Sedona Method (example). This is much less effective if it’s not grounded with an effortless meditation that is softening the bindings.

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Health:

The typical western diet has led to widespread obesity. This causes a cascading series of health issues. Science has found that a whole-foods plant-based diet is the healthiest, what we’re designed for. This doesn’t mean vegetarian but means less meat and dairy-centric. (related article)(Brazilian Food Guide)(Half Your Plate)

When you eat also makes a difference. Ayurveda and science both recommend most calories be consumed in the first half of the day when we need the energy.

A healthy diet also cultures a healthy gut microbiome. Those microbes have an enormous influence on our mood, appetites, skin, and immune system. If you’ve taken antibiotics or been sick or very stressed, that can affect your microbiome causing side effects. Probiotic foods can help restore gut balance, improve the above, and lead to weight balancing. (related article)

For weight loss, ketogenesis is the bodies fat burning mechanism. While exercise can lead to weight loss, the effort required to burn the needed calories is high. If you instead eat low-calorie, healthy plant foods while maintaining a healthy protein level, the body will shift into fat-burning and the pounds will roll off. Modern Keto diets are designed for this. For more moderate change, a low-carb approach is helpful. A list of low-glycemic (sugar impact) foods (pdf). A list of low, moderate, and high for comparison (pdf). A good TED talk on the chemistry.

Your body is designed to move. If you sit all the time, it will deteriorate and reduce quality of life. Optimized activity is of 3 types: daily stretching activity like effortless yoga (above), cardio like walking, swimming, and dancing, and strength building activities like weights, push-ups, and sit-ups. Establish a routine and build fitness gradually, without strain. A standing desk and ways of changing your position can help with desk jobs. Vigorous exercise can take you out of ketosis so is better for maintenance, after weight loss. 

I recommend discovering your bodies dosha (constitution) through Ayurveda, then adjusting your diet and routine to support your body systemically. (Dr. Lad’s book below is a good introduction.) Some healthy foods can cause imbalance in some constitutions while others support it. For example, fresh ginger can help with digestion, but if there is already an excess of fire it will make it worse. Heartburn, skin inflammation, sore joints, or eye troubles can result. A balancing and pacifying diet for our dosha is helpful. An introduction. A short constitution quiz (pdf). Vata: pacifying, diet. Pitta: pacifying, diet. Kapha: pacifying, diet.

If you have the opportunity, an Ayurvedic cleanse can be very beneficial. It’s an approach to rebalance your body and restore health. Even better is panchakarma in a good Ayurvedic clinic. (related article)

Health isn’t complicated but we live in a culture that promotes lifeless manufactured foods, addictive sugar & caffeine, and a sedentary lifestyle. It can take time to learn about your body and what supports it. Yet the quality of life that results is very worth it.

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Books:

Vasistha’s Yoga by Swami Venkatesananda (not the abridged) – is the most accessible translation and captures the essence of the entire text in a single volume (the full text is 4 volumes). This is the essence of the teachings of the Ramayana, told mostly in example stories. It is missing a lot of detail, like the stages of enlightenment and details of yogic flying.  (related article)

The Ramayana: A New Retelling of Valmiki’s Ancient Epic – Complete and Comprehensive by Linda Egenes and Kumuda Reddy. This is the larger arc of the story of Rama in an abridged form that is clear and comprehensive. (related article)

Bhagavad-Gita, translation and commentary by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The most insightful translation I’ve seen. While he sometimes repeatedly mentions Transcendental Meditation, at the time this book was written he defined this as anything that brings you to transcendental consciousness (samadhi). This is the key to enlightenment, as the text describes. The Gita is the essence of the teachings of the Mahabharata. (related article, another)

Maharishi Patanjali Yoga Sutra, translated by Thomas Egenes – this is the foundation of Yoga, properly presented in it’s Sanskrit text with word by word translation and English result. Without the misunderstanding of concentration or the limbs as steps of a ladder. Dr. Egenes is a Sanskrit scholar. No commentary. (related article)

Conversations with Maharishi, Volume 1 and 2, by Vernon Katz – transcribed conversations on points related to the unpublished translation of the Brahma Sutra by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. (related article)

The Upanishads, A New Translation by Vernon Katz and Thomas Egenes – the first 9 principle Upanishad, translated in light of Maharishi’s teaching and translations. They plan a second book with the longer principle ones. (related article)

All Love Flows To The Self by Kumuda Reddy and Thomas and Linda Egenes – a beautiful compilation of some stories from the Upanishad for a lighter read. (related article) (Kumuda has taken sannyasi and is now called Mata Brahmanandamayee.)

Kundalini Vidya by Joan Harrigan – a decent understanding of kundalini energy and it’s awakening. Joan is both a PhD and a lineage holder in her tradition. (web site) (related article)

Answers Part 1 by Mother Meera – a Q&A format of answers she’s given, organized by general topic. She’s one of the Mother embodiments.

Adyashanti’s books I recommend: The End of Your World (related articles),  Falling Into Grace (related articles), Emptiness Dancing (related article)

Mantra Yoga and Primal Sound, by  Dr. David Frawley – an excellent introduction to  mantra and it’s relationship to Sanskrit. (related article)

The Yugas by Joseph Selbie & David Steinmetz – the cycle of ages based on the correction of Sri Yukteswar (Yogananda’s master). Reframes history in remarkable ways and offers a vision of the future. (related article)

American Veda, by Philip Goldberg – an excellent overview of the history of eastern ideas being brought to the west and the major proponents. And the surprising ways the western worldview has changed as a result. (related article)

Ayurveda, the Science of Self Healing by Dr. Vasant Lad – an excellent introduction to the world’s oldest natural health modality. Doshas, disease, diagnosis, and treatment. (related article)

The Soul of Money by Lynne Twist – an exploration of the myths of scarcity, the truths about Sufficiency, and creating a legacy of enough. (related article)

Critical Path by R. Buckminster Fuller – a vast vision of Fuller’s perspective on the development and evolution of human civilization, global energy grids, and an original economic model of shared resources. The book is also surprisingly prescient. (related article) (available online)

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Artists:

Ananda Vdovic: TM background in Croatia, Devi and Christian art
Fine Art America      YouTube chants    

Frances Knight: Holy Tradition and some iconic images, Maharishi, Guru Dev, Devata 

Suzanne B. Stryker: landscapes and abstracts

Peggy Weiner: floral, still life, portraits, devas, abstracts

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Sites:

Sanskrit
Sanskrit Devanagari (PDF, 113KB, 5 pgs) – the Sanskrit alphabet, foundation of mantra.
From the article Mantra Use. See also Sanskrit Keyboard.

Interviews
Buddha at the Gas Pump – interviews with the “Ordinary Awakening” by Rick Archer. Have been on several times.
Science and Nonduality – Interviews and articles by scientists and spiritual teachers. I’ve spoken at several of the conferences (see the Media tab) and have written a few articles for their blog.

Blogs and suchConsciousness blog
For Now  – my other blog, on science and tech
Top 75 Consciousness Blogs – a Feedspot listing of assorted web sites that talk about consciousness, including this one.

Tech
ProWritingAid – I run all the posts here through this software as grammar isn’t a strong skill. It doesn’t catch everything but really helps. A good company too.
Cryout Creations WordPress Themes – many free themes with decent customization. I’ve used them for some years on various sites.
Some icons on this site are from the WPZoom Social Media set. Thanks, Pavel!
WP

Last Updated on February 28, 2024 by Davidya

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