would love to credit the artist, if you know who it is, please let me know!

I can’t seem to get the words out today. So much I want to tell you about the morning meditations, and how I’ve realized that they are more than meditation. It is about healing.

I connect to this art piece so deeply. I feel very much like the woman, receiving information, guidance, and teachings, yet I notice that she is not resting. It’s like she is taking in all the energy for service. For me it’s about being of service to those who feel connected to my energy and what I offer.

All I can come up for what I want to say: The Priestess within invites your inner Priestess

More specifically: http://www.birthofyourlife.com/6ammeditation.html

and http://www.birthofyourlife.com/oneday.html

Blessings,

Asha

–The Spirit Midwife

www.birthofyourlife.com

this post is influenced by this article:

http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/s_es/s_es_fitz_ahimsa_frameset.htm

A couple of years ago, I started to embrace my Indian roots. Now, since I grew up in South America, where nothing Indian resides and where people butchered by name, literally, they would pronounce my name Acha. ( in spanish it means axe, nice, right?)

Really? Must you butcher my name so?

Anywho, in my embracing my Indianess, I started following a spiritual teacher who’s energy I admired. It was clear that she was the embodiment of Divine Mother and I wanted some of that! So, I thought I would take it to the next level and enrolled my kid into the brain washing line.

Me, embracing my Indianess.

Lucky for me, she would not go to the class unless I was there. And I’m so glad I was there. I got to see how they indoctrinate young minds into worshiping another human being. And it rubbed me the wrong way. Hey, I get that spiritual teachers are a good thing, but when we forget that Divinity also resides within, then I have a problem with that. When we forget that we have the ability to become a master of our own lives, I have a problem.

So, I said to my daughter as we left the class one day (it turned out it was the last time we were there) Take what works for you, and leave what doesn’t at the door.

I’m grateful for that experience & my little girl because now I know that everyone and everything has Sacred Teachings, and also human conditioning (or what I call human patterning), and we get to be discerning in which is which.And which we accept into our life and into our influence.

I am overwhelmingly curious about Hinduism these days, mostly thanks to my trip to the Homeland and my obsession with Asthanga yoga. And I take the same approach because I have to remember that the Patriarchy took over all the Teachings in the world, and the male dominance or male perspective is infused everywhere. And so I use my guidance to take what works, and leave the rest at the door. I invite you to do the same here & in your life.

In the Yoga Sutras by Patangali (yogic teachings) there are 8 limbs, the first one being Yamas (or Universal Morality). The first Yama is : Ahimsa-

1. Ahimsa – Compassion for all living things
The word ahimsa literally mean not to injure or show cruelty to any creature or any person in any way whatsoever. Ahimsa is, however, more than just lack of violence as adapted in yoga. It means kindness, friendliness, and thoughtful consideration of other people and things. It also has to do with our duties and responsibilities too. Ahimsa implies that in every situation we should adopt a considerate attitude and do no harm.

from Dr. Hope Kitz: Gandhi wrote: In its negative form it [ahimsa] means not injuring any living being whether by body or mind. I may not, therefore, hurt the person of any wrong-doer or bear any ill-will to him and so cause him mental suffering. This statement does not cover suffering caused by the wrong-doer by natural acts of mine which do not proceed from ill will . . . Ahimsa requires deliberate self-suffering, not a suffering of the supposed wrong-doer. . . In its positive form, ahimsa means the largest love, the greatest charity. If I am a follower of ahimsa, I must love my enemy or a stranger to me as I would my wrong-doing father or son. This active ahimsa necessarily includes truth and fearlessness.¹⁵

Based on what has been said so far, for Gandhi, ahimsa means: non-injury, nonviolence, non-harm, the renunciation of the will to kill and the intention to hurt any living thing, the abstention from hostile thought, word or deed, and compassion for all living creatures.

Yeah, I know this is all basic stuff. But I invite us all to remember that violence is not just outward, it is inward ( when we are hard on ourselves) or when we think, I want to kill him! or when we are in challenging situations and because of moral conduct we don’t say what we think, and explode the situation in our minds & body. Violence can be silent too.

What would our world look like if for one minute, hour or day we practiced a softening into compassion for ourselves, those in our lives, and the world?

Thinks that make you go hmmm….

Blessings,

Asha

The Spirit Midwife

www.birthofyourlife.com

Mahatma Gandhi- photo credit http://www.thefamouspeople.com

“To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest…” – Mahatma Gandhi

To which my friend Meredith responded, “Yes, living a lie, been there, done that. lol”

I could not agree with her more, and yet I know so many of my fellow planet dwellers feel trapped in this thing they call life. When you ask some people how they are,  and the response is , “same ol’, same ol’ “… what a downer, right?

Apathy will kill the soul for sure, but admitting the lie, whether white lie or life lie, is the first step. The little thing we call Awareness…

I remember years ago when my father took me to see the movie Gandhi. Comical at best– the little Indian girl in South America is the only person under fifty in the movie theater.  I was WAY too young to sit through this lord knows how long of a movie, but he was so proud to take me; To show me his homeland (yes, my dad is from India- who would have thunk it, right?) even if just through a movie screen. The nostalgia filled his eyes, and perhaps a little smudge of sadness for the life he now had.  I very much think my father felt he was living a lie.

Let me explain… I just read this powerful little book, “Under Saturn’s shadow; the wounding and healing of men”. (Thanks Sao!) The author talks about how men (and now in our modern times, many of us women) have embraced the role of provider to the point of, yes, living not just a lie, but a futile life. I fell into that trap many moons ago, and I catch myself at times trying to place the responsibility and heaviness of a task unto  my husband. The reminder that this is ingrained programming  is a must!

In reading the book I was able to see the ways in which we take our responsibilities too seriously and we forget to live. I think my dad forgot to live. I don’t blame him. He did what he thought was right. He had more children than he knew what to do with (yes, I’m pretty sure we drove him crazy, all five of us!), was in a marriage that did not fulfill him, and was in a foreign land where they didn’t even begin to attempt to pronounce his name, and we won’t even talk about the lack of spices. Lonely, to say the least.

Yet, there is this beautiful Divine Masculine quality of providing, and I find that men who are able to provide for their families feel a sense of fulfillment and accomplishment. I also find that a lot of the women (not all, I get it) who feel they have to provide, have a tinge (if not a turd load) of resentment. Ah, yes, grasshopper, another opportunity to embrace Sacred Balance with this Divine Masculine quality of providing for ourselves and our loved ones.

I learned from my parents. I learned what to do and what not to do. But in this thing they call life, one thing I know for sure… if everyone else is doing it, then there’s a good chance, I should question it, and do the opposite!  And that my friends,  is how I live.

Like Meredith, been there done that, and now I’m brought to tears (yep, I’m a crier) every time I think about how I live what I know to be Truth. And I wonder… if we live our truth with the intention to provide responsibly, can  we can have our cake & eat it too?  I think so. Patience, grasshopper, keep at it!

Enjoy your (gluten-free) cake!

Blessings,

Asha

The Spirit Midwife

www.birthofyourlife.com