Spiritual Learning Blog - Tips and Ideas for Spiritual Growth

To bring the sacred into everyday life, start with a sacred kitchen

To find the heart of any home, the place where joy is born, where people feel nurtured and healed, nourished and comforted, look no further than the sacred kitchen.

Not being much of a cook, I never had much appreciation for kitchens. Living alone, I usually only have to cook for myself and always keep it simple.

When I attended Native American gatherings where women were typically involved in food preparation, I always demurred and preferred physical outdoor labor such as chopping wood and carrying water.

But that all changed after a profound experience I had while attending a Sun Dance ceremony in the southwestern U.S. some years ago.

A Native American Prayer to Manifest Your Heart’s Desire

If you’re like me, you may have found that sometimes your prayers are answered and other times they aren’t. Particularly if you pray for money.

So what’s the secret to a successful prayer?

My teacher Bear Heart taught me a prayer for money many years ago. The prayer isn’t so much how to pray for money as how to pray to make your living doing what you love.

It works. But you have to be clear that it’s what you want.

Here’s how the teaching came about: While I was working on writing The Wind Is My Mother, I had a full time job in a law firm.

My new Video course: Meditations on the Natural World

I’m really excited to tell you that my new meditation course, Meditations on the Natural World, is now available.

Meditation can help anyone struggling with:

Stress and anxiety

Health issues

Productivity

Sleep

Pain

And much more

Having taught meditation for years, I’ve learned that most people who have struggled with meditation just need to:

A Healing Meditation from Molly

This four minute healing meditation is a great example of the fact that meditations do not have to be long to be effective in bringing peace of mind. It is followed by a 20 minute talk I gave at Unity Church of Grand Rapids entitled “Is the Invisible World the Real World?”

Falling off a horse and ho’oponopono

How does falling off a horse relate to ho’oponopono? My riding instructor explained it to me.

“Horses don’t throw you, you fall off.”

Those were the words of my riding instructor every time I landed on the ground uttering the oft-repeated phrase, “the horse threw me.”

What she meant was that if I went off the horse, it was because I wasn’t paying attention to signals the horse was giving, or wasn’t seated well. Because if one is paying attention, and is well-seated, you will stay on no matter what the horse does.

I find this an apt analogy for how to go through life well.

An exciting new book about Maya shamanism!

My teaching partner, John Kralovec, has just released his book about his 35 years experience with Maya and Native American shamanism: Pathways to the Divine; One Man’s Journey Through the Shamanic Realm of the Ancient Maya. If Maya shamanism is of interest to you, I highly recommend it.

Here is the book description from Amazon:

Over the course of his thirty-five-year spiritual journey, Otto John Kralovec III has studied and participated in ceremonies with shamans and indigenous spiritual leaders throughout North America, Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras.

Now, he vividly captures his inspiring personal shamanic odyssey toward his encounter with the Divine, supplemented by the latest anthropological findings on the ancient Maya, to guide us on a path back to the Source.

Breathe to reduce stress!

LightHearts UK is offering a free online course that is a wonderful resource for relaxation of body, mind and spirit. If you want to reduce stress, I highly recommend it.

Week 6 features breathing as a relaxation technique and talks about Bear Heart, which is why I’m sharing it with you. Bear Heart was a big believer in the benefits of daily breathing exercises for stress reduction.

You can check out their FREE course here: https://www.lighthearts-uk.com/mental-wellbeing-course/

Enjoy!

Why should we celebrate the spring equinox?

On Monday March 20, at 6:20 a.m. EST, the northern and southern hemispheres of planet earth are equally illuminated. This marks the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere and the autumn equinox in the southern hemisphere.

It’s a day of equal balance of the hours of light and dark before the sun continues its journey towards longer daylight hours and warming temperatures in the northern hemisphere.

The equinox energy is strong for four days before and after March 20th, giving us time to bask in the opportunities and lessons it brings.

Where I live, in Michigan, it’s still gray and dreary, and it’s snowing as I write this. But a few days ago I saw a red-winged blackbird, and local lore says they come back when spring is just around the corner. So I took heart!

Ancient cultures throughout history have celebrated this time of rebirth of Mother Earth. But what does it mean for us?

Are these 9 Meditation Myths holding you back?

As a teacher of meditation, I’m always perplexed when I find people who don’t want to meditate, because the benefits are so enormous. I finally realized that it may be that some meditation myths are holding them back.

So I’d like to address them here:

THE 9 MOST COMMON MEDITATION MYTHS

1. It’s hard
2. I can’t stop my mind entirely
3. It takes too long
4. I have to sit on a pillow in the lotus position
5. I have no time
6. I’m not calm enough to meditate
7. I’m not spiritual enough to meditate
8. It will take years to reap benefits
9. It’s a religious practice

None of the above is true, but let’s address them one at a time:

Try Vegan Bone Broth to stave off hunger and even lose weight

This is a guest post by Niketha Thomas on vegan bone broth

There are many diets out there that are tailored to multiple ways of eating: low carb, low fat, high fat, high protein, no protein, high carb…the list goes on and on. However, articles are just now starting to come out of the woodwork and inform people on the advantages of a no-animal cruelty whatsoever diet called a vegan diet. And a vegan bone broth diet has many, many positive impacts on the body.

Read on for the health benefits and a recipe

Decluttering: are we our things?

I’m an imperfect practitioner of decluttering. I try, but it’s hard. Which raises the question: Are we our things? Do our possessions define us?

For some, the answer may be yes. I think that was true of me for many years.

But perhaps the “things” evoke memories that go far beyond the physical representations.

I’m much less attached to stuff than I used to be, but I still struggle with my annual decluttering extravaganza.

How do you do?

Start before you’re ready!

“Start before you’re ready” may be the best advice I’ve ever gotten.

As a child I was afraid to start any undertaking, for fear of doing or saying the wrong thing.

Afraid of failing.

I think a lot of people can relate to that, and it causes us to be overly cautious about taking risks or starting work or projects that would make our hearts sing, if it weren’t for the fear.

“Do not fear mistakes. There are none.” ~ Miles Davis

Goal setting: how to make 2017 your best year yet!

The concept of making “new year’s resolutions” has been a bit of a joke in our society for about as long as I can remember — the joke being that people never follow through so the “resolution” will never come to fruition. And for reasons that escape me, very few people talk about the key to success, which is “goal setting.”

And that’s a shame because the start of a new cycle [of anything, not just a year] is a chance at a new beginning.

“Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination.”Fitzhugh Dodson

How often in our lives have we wished for a “do over?” Well, we can “start over” any old time. And setting specific goals, instead of making resolutions, is an excellent way to do it.

But you have to know the right steps.

Season’s Greetings!

Need a holiday gift idea?

In a world where many have too much “stuff”, what to gift at the holidays is often a perplexing problem.

I love to gift experiences, often in the form of books, and you might consider doing the same.

Whose God is it, anyway?

That’s the question I asked myself when I received a letter from a reader who was concerned that her prayers to God might be rejected because she’s not a Christian.

Whoah!

That’s a heavy thought, but I immediately reassured her that her prayers would not be rejected by a compassionate, wise, good and just God just because she isn’t a Christian.

The reason is that God is not Christian.

God is not Muslim.

God is not Jewish, or Buddhist or Native American…

There is just one God and whatever your beliefs, your prayers are heard. Period.

My heart broke Tuesday night

My heart broke Tuesday night, as I watched the unthinkable happen. Hillary Clinton, the most qualified presidential candidate ever to run in my lifetime, was defeated by a racist, sexist, mysoginist, bullying, pathological liar.

Of course, it didn’t help that Clinton was a woman.

Ironically, she won the popular vote, but our antiquated electoral-college system gave it to the other guy.

What has happened to our country? What is happening in the world?

I have always known the U.S. was a racist, sexist country, but never knew just how racist and sexist until now. Yet when there is an infection, a festering wound, the puss that comes out also leads the way to healing.

Hopefully that is what will happen here. Seeing what is wrong in our country is the first step to fixing it.

Native American Wisdom from Bear Heart

We live in a world full of stress, war, ecological disasters, and financial upheaval. Sometimes it even seems that the world situation may be hopeless.

But the fact is that we don’t have to look far for solutions. Indigenous peoples from around the world have much to teach us about living a balanced life.

Decades ago, as I struggled with fear of an uncertain future, money woes and a high stress job, I turned to the simple teachings of my spiritual mentor Marcellus “Bear Heart” Williams and they have transformed my life.

Here are twelve life tips from Bear Heart:

How to celebrate the Autumn Equinox

This year, autumn officially begins on September 22, 2016, at 10:21 a.m. EST.

Our ancestors celebrated all equinoxes and solstices, but the autumn equinox seems to have been a little less celebrated than the others. I’m not sure what the historical reason is, but for myself, I’m sad to see summer coming to an end and am not quite ready to say goodbye to summer and welcome in the fall.

But it happens. It’s part of the cycle of life, and to be in tune with the natural world, it’s important to honor these special “natural” events.

The Sacred Art of Smudging: Sacred Smoke, Sacred Life

Many people have heard of “smudging,” and may even practice it, but there’s great value in knowing its history, and understanding the true sacredness of it.

There are three primary herbs used in the Native American tradition for smudging: sage, cedar and sweetgrass.

Sage is used to dispel negative energy.

Cedar is used for an overall blessing or to cleanse where there has been illness.

Sweetgrass draws in positive energy.

I have been taught the importance of burning only one herb at a time for smudging, otherwise you are giving mixed messages.

Sage is the most commonly used for cleansing the energy field of a person, place or thing, so I will focus on it for this post.

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