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Living Spirit Show – The Masculine / Feminine Polarity
November 27, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 3 Comments
In this episode Alison Miller and I talk about the masculine / feminine polarity. We cover it’s radical imbalance in humanity at this time and the potential consequences of this imbalance. Naturally we also go into being men and women and the challenges of overcoming social conditioning and integrating and harmonizing the masculine and feminine in us.
I also talk about now being in the role of a father with a young boy and how I approach parenting to instill a healthy relationship to both his masculine and feminine energies. We also discuss some of the causes of wounding in both masculine and feminine polarities that we all carry and can all be part of healing now.
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“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out more
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Mahatma Ghandi, Yoko Ono & Seva Art
November 25, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
What do Mahatma Gandhi, Yoko Ono and Doctors without Borders have in common? a: 5yearplan.org.
Yoko Ono will be one of 20 artists whose work will make up a unique silk screened, hand bound, handloom khadi cotton cloth book. Each book comes with a handloom khadi jhola shoulder bag.
65 copies will be signed by all the artists and only 500 copies total will be made. All profits from sales will go to Doctors without Borders (MSF) and to fund the next 5yearplan project.
The 5 year plan is an ongoing effort to re-orient art and art production towards generosity and participation, while bridging cultures. In honour of Mahatma Ghandi the 5 year plan is undertaken as ’seva’ (selfless service). The cloth for the books comes from the Ghandi Ashram Collectives, which help millions of rural villagers survive by sustaining local industries and agriculture.
The 5yearplan website is in itself a work of art – check it out.
5 Year Plan from swirly byraloo on Vimeo.
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out more
What Is Living Liberation?
November 25, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 1 Comment
What is Living Liberation? In essence it is the culmination of 20 years of spiritual practice and working with hundreds of clients doing Spiritual healing. It is the understanding of life itself as a spiritual process, that there is in fact nothing else going on.
But,,, you may be thinking….. there are thousands of things going on and not very many of them look like a spiritual development. And you are quite right, they do not ‘look like’ spiritual evolution if we don’t understand it’s principles. And let’s face it, most of us don’t look at life that way, but then, we have probably never been taught how.
Living Liberation will show you exactly what the principles of life as a spiritual process are, and more, will give you tools to integrate this understanding into how you live your life.
At it’s heart Living Liberation teaches you a meditation practice. It’s purpose is to practice the principles of conscious healing and awakening – the spiritual process of life. This is done in six components, designed to be added weekly. This is not because the meditation is complicated, but to give time for each component to be understood and integrated.
Accompanying each meditation component is a commentary and workbook to further connect your understanding of the principle being practiced into everyday life.
Living Liberation has been both a workshop and course since 1992. I have taught it in England, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia and the USA. On the web page you will see testimonials from people who have learnt it, real people, honest feedback so don’t just take my word for it that this course works.
Not being American I do not have much association with the celebration of Thanks Giving, but living here now it has become part of my life.
So in the spirit of the occasion I am offering a $30 discount on the Living Liberation™ home study course.
To get your $30 discount use code THANKFUL
Have a blessed Thanks Giving
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out moreThe Living Spirit Show – Authentic Self – Authenitc Spirituality
November 16, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
I am joined again for this show by Alison Miller. We start by discussing the article I wrote about new findings that support my view that a culture of always putting on a happy face and having positive thoughts is unhealthy.
We delve further into the nature of love and our relationship with it, how our ideas about it are conditioned and how we can grow into a more authentic relationship with love and ourselves and arrive at a grounded and authentic spirituality.
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“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out moreLiving Spirit Show – Love, Ego & Relationships
November 6, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
In this weeks show we talk about how the wounding of separation consciousness shows up as ‘the critical parent’ our inner critic and the common ego polarity between power and powerless. We look at some ways we will all be familiar with through which these issues show up in life. We also discuss the ego’s disposition to manipulation and discuss how we can overcome these tendencies of the ego and become more conscious.
I have to confess that I do most of the talking this week, in part because a large part of how the conversation began was Alison sharing something she had recently experienced. On reflection we felt this part was too personal for public release, and it was edited out. Don’t forget to share your thought with us and send us issues, questions you would like to see addressed in future editions.
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“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out moreGet Real! – Learn Meditation
November 3, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 3 Comments
It has become an increasingly dominant belief that positive thinking is necessary for health, wealth and success in all things. But a new study* by psychology professor Joseph Forgas at the University of New South Wales, says ‘it ain’t necessarily so’.
The study has found that feeling sad makes people less gullible, improves their ability to judge others and also boosts memory. It seems that people in a negative state are more critical of, and pay more attention to, their surroundings than happier people. The happy folk it seems are more likely to believe what they are told.
Dr Forgas said "Whereas positive mood seems to promote creativity, flexibility, cooperation, and reliance on mental shortcuts, negative moods trigger more attentive, careful thinking paying greater attention to the external world,"
He went on to add "Our research suggests that sadness … promotes
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out moreThe Living Spirit Show – Separation Consciousness
October 30, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
This is the first edition of The Living Spirit Show Conversations on how to integrate spirituality and personal development into everyday transformation and living. I am joined by Alison Miller of AlisonMillerCoaching.com.The conversations are not scripted or even planned in advance, we just let it flow.
With the abundance of spiritual information available today, it is easy to become confused and unfocused. The Living Spirit Show cuts through the mumbo jumbo to how we can most easily integrate spiritual transformation into our everyday lives.
This epsiode begins unfortunately 15 minutes after the conversation began (technical mishap) being unscripted and spontaneous in nature the conversation continued from the point we realized there was a problem. At that point we were discussing what I call ’separation consciousness’ and how it affects every aspect of human life and culture. I believe when we can see this clearly and understand how it has arisen, we can consciously choose the spiritual process of healing and unification.
The discussion moves on to practical application of this understanding using a real life example. We also discuss the nature of spirituality and how it awakens in our lives, the difference between feelings and emotions
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“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out moreThe Language Of Yoga – Not!
August 7, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
Here is an extract from an excellent article by an ex card carrying member of the Ashtanga cult, Lauren Cahn. For those who have not ventured into the often competitive world of Ashtanga Yoga it is a revealing read. Lauren’s take on all 5 words that do not belong in yoga are right on, below are the two I think are applicable to all yoga asana practice.
Ashtanga yoga (a type of traditional Indian yoga that is based on the linking of breath with movement) is notorious for its rules. From which days on which to practice which poses, to not daring to show up in the yoga room while menstruating, to when you should exhale and when you should inhale, to how many breaths should be taken in each pose, to what to eat and when to eat and exactly how many bites to have, to when and under what circumstances sex is appropriate (something about not having sex when one of the nostrils is clogged, but I can never remember which one), the rules are so numerous that countless books with hundreds of pages apiece are devoted to them. And endless discussion by Ashtanga practitioners. Endless, circular, sometimes angry discussion.
This linear approach to yoga teaching can be appealing to those who have a tendency to enjoy a little competition, whether with themselves or with others. This is odd, considering that yoga is essentially the practice of "stilling the mind", which would seem to subsume such distractions as thoughts of "when will I get the next pose" and "what can I do to get my teacher to love me enough to give me the next pose" and "why does my teacher give poses to so-and-so, but not to me?" and "I think my teacher hates me/I think I hate my teacher."
One of the potential effects of the "rules" of Ashtanga is a need to detail one’s adherence to the rules in the form of blogging. Indeed, this is how my own blog, Yoga Chickie, was born. If you go back to the early days of Yoga Chickie, you will see many references to the Five Words That (I now believe) Do Not Belong In Yoga Practice. I was a card carrying member of the Ashtanga cult, after all. Now, since I’ve managed to extricate myself and find some balance in what was always, essentially, my workout routine (that’s right, for me, the "ugly" truth is that the yoga has always been, first and foremost, a workout for me), I feel kind of embarrassed about that. Nevertheless, I feel the need to confess. So here goes, the Five Words That Do Not Belong In a Yoga Practice (but which I admit, I used all the time in the past):
3. Bad.
In conversations amongst Ashtangis, you will often hear the word "bad", as in "bad lady" (a phrase coined by the beloved Ashtanga guru grandaddy, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in jest) or I am "bad" at hip opening. I am "bad" at backbends. Look, I can’t stand bogus yoga blather like, "there’s no such thing as doing it ‘badly’", but really, it’s true (it just needn’t be said in the middle of a yoga flow). How can anything about practicing yoga be bad, except not practicing? (or being cranked?)
5. Pain.
Ashtangis often talk of pain like it’s a good thing: "If it hurts, you’re doing it right" or "Something snapped, but I think it was a good pain". Some use the word "opening" instead of "pain", as in, "I felt a real opening in my hamstring."
Sorry, but there is no good pain. All pain is a warning from your body. Pain contains no magic. It does not mean you are doing it right. It means you need to stop what you are doing. Pain is not an opening. It means something is being torn or broken. Pain has no place in a yoga practice.
Yoga should be an uplifting experience. It should provide a vacation from the thoughts. If it causes one to conjure up new ways to beat oneself up, then, well that’s criminal.
You can read the whole article on the Huffington Post
“Living Liberation - Meditation Training, and so much more" "It changed my life"Find out more
I Open Myself
July 31, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · Leave a Comment
~
The rock hot
against my skin
I open myself
to embrace the sky,
in my heart
an eagle soars
gazing down
on the brown earth
the wind sighs
in the pines
the golden light
touches all
like a flower blooming
sitting still
in abundance
all is good.
~
Can Meditation Be Harmful?
July 30, 2009 by Ray Baskerville · 2 Comments
These days it is pretty common knowledge that meditation is good for you, it’s scientifically proven. But is there any way in which meditation can be harmful for you?
Meditation is a form of self exploration. Because the majority of who we are lies in the subconscious mind, meditation is in many ways a bridge between the conscious and subconscious. As our subconscious mind contains all past experience – meaning every life we have ever lived, there can be, and in my experience, both personally and professionally, is, an array of dark and painful experiences in there. And herein lies the potential hazard of meditation.
Let me clearly qualify how and why this hazard can become harmful.
If you are dabbling in meditation and trying out all kinds of different practices and techniques without really understanding what you are doing. Worse than this is if you actually start mixing them together.
Hazard because you are basically playing with your own mind, and it’s vast array of hidden unknowns. There are many esoteric meditation techniques designed to access, stimulate, awaken even purge energies in your system. Your ’system’ is your subconscious mind, your body is your subconscious mind. These kinds of practices are not intended for beginners, many not even for those who are not exclusively dedicating their time to spiritual practice. Today in our potpourri of spiritual materialism, when such practices can be found by anyone in books, this is a real issue.
If you are new to meditation or haven’t yet done much inner work and self exploration, and you start meditating for long periods of time.
The potential harm in this is that dark and painful things hidden in the subconscious mind can surface suddenly and with great force. This can be very challenging to one who has already done much inner work, to one who hasn’t, it could cause serious mental imbalance. You might think I am exaggerating, but in India I have seen it happen. It can be exacerbated when the person stops taking care of the basic necessities of food and sleep as well.
Meditation is also a bridge to the core of who we are, our inner wisdom, higher self, soul, spirit, call it as you will. When we are able to access this deeper truth of what we are and follow it’s intuitive guidance, we are unlikely to run into such problems as I have outlined. We are also unlikely to get caught in the rigidity and rules that can also accompany spiritual teachers and practices, when they do not align with what is helpful and healthy for us. Each one of us walk a unique path of spiritual evolution, besides perhaps a perfect master, only our own true nature knows the precise process of that unfolding. Meditation can be one of the most useful tools on this journey.
