After I said yes, and learned more of the details about the week, I began to settle down inside. Over the next few days, I began to hear something, not in the way we hear things through our ears, but on a different level, a hearing that’s like a knowing at the same time. I kept the ears of my heart open and simply listened. And what I came to hear was a calling of the land that holds Feathered Pipe. I could hear the land calling to come, to be there in relationship with it, to listen with the ear of my heart to the ground.

This isn’t the first time that a place has called me. For whatever reason, I’ve been guided to go to places in different parts of the world – India, Ireland, and Hawaii to name a few.  Much to the chagrin of my rational mind, I’ve said yes every time. And, each time I’ve come to not only open to deeper and richer layers of the inner teacher, but also to awaken to a more vibrant and alive relationship with the earth.

In India, I came to know that every cell of life is awake with the divine. In Ireland, I came to feel the immensity of spirit that the body holds, an immensity and timelessness that was mirrored to me through the grand vistas and the sponginess of the peat of Connemara. In Hawaii, I sunk down into the ripeness of the earth as I felt the sensuality of the land through the mud on the side of the volcano, the wetness of the air, and the succulence of the fruit.

Each place called me by name, and as I spent time there I realized each place has its own song. Each place seems to share its own unique qualities. Each place teaches me something about the earth and about who I am. I guess I could say that each place has the power to awaken us to particular qualities of Self.

I trust that the land of Feathered Pipe will do the same. I can feel it. The relationship with the land begins before we step foot on it. It begins when I hear the call to come and I answer the call with a yes.

I know these days of Empowerment Camp 2013 will be full of surprises and awakenings. The inner teacher moves from wholeness, from the intelligence of life itself, and so our time together will do the same. And as facilitators, we are purposely leaving the schedule open so we incorporate this intelligence into what we do each day. We’ll bring in what is being offered by the land, and incorporate what is brought by each of you who will be joining us there.

So put the ear of your heart to the ground and listen for the land of Feathered Pipe. Listen to see if it is calling you to come waken the inner teacher within you, alongside your fellow campers. If you hear a Yes, I‘ll see you there.

Don’t Forget: Julie along with Dr. Michael Lennox and Karen Chrappa will be at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, June 15 – 21st for the empowerment camp, “Awakening the Inner Teacher.”

Bring your friends from your community and save $100 each on registration and accrue retreat credits for your community organization via the Feathered Pipe Community Discount Program. (See Details here.)

About Julie Daley:

Julie Daley is a teacher, coach and writer who works with clients in the area of creativity, leadership and embodiment. She is a certified Creativity in Business teacher, and teaches this course at Stanford University Continuing Studies. Her work varies with each community and setting, from one-on-one to groups and businesses. She received her coaching certification from The Coaches Training Institute and has been credentialed by the International Coach Federation.

Julie has studied and worked with top teachers and trainers (including Andrew Harvey, Adyashanti, Lynn Barron) from around the world. With them and others, she has undertaken rich dives and explorations in emotional intelligence, conscious embodiment, spontaneous awakening, the sacred feminine, healing the pain of the past, and disconnecting from negative conditioning. She brings this wisdom and experience to her clients as she helps them connect to the divinity within and to bring this creative sacredness into form. She has also coached people directly impacted by 9/11, guiding them through the healing process. She is currently based in San Francisco.

LEARN MORE ABOUT JULIE: www.unabashedlyfemale.com

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One way I like to teach pranayama is to have students lie on their back with their knees bent, letting the body release and surrender.  When they notice that point of surrender they then begin to observe the breath as a witness.  Imagine the body is like a house with two or three floors, a basement, perhaps an attic; each house is imagined differently for each student.  There can be front rooms, back rooms, rooms on the left, rooms on the right, hallways, etc.  Begin to notice which floors of the house the breath easily moves through, which rooms feel like the door is wide open and the room is airy and clean.

Then imagine which rooms are dark, musty, filled with cobwebs, or perhaps the door is completely closed and blocked to the breath.  Once you discover what your house looks like (to the breath), begin to open doors and invite the breath in to previously closed-off rooms.  Invite the breath in to peek at the rooms that feel musty or dark.  Avoid pushing or pulling the breath.  Instead just send an invitation out and see if the breath accepts.

See if the breath will go into musty rooms and clear them out a bit.  Feel as though you are playing with the breath.  Anytime the nervous system becomes agitated, the invitation has been refused.  In that case, permit your guest (the breath) to leave with dignity and even close off those dirty rooms once again.  Perhaps another day you can try again, play again, by inviting the breath in again to do its job.

We can also discover where in the nasal passageway the breath is most apparent, and then adjust accordingly.  We can also learn if we breathe more in the front body or the back body, and adjust accordingly.   We can discover if we think of the breath filling the lungs from the top down or from the bottom up and play with experiencing the opposite direction.  We can detect if our inhalation or our exhalation is longer and begin to play with it.  When we pay attention, we find many ways we can play with this, learning the habitual patterns we have.

Don’t Forget: Chase along with JJ Gormley will be at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, July 20 – 26th for “Breath and Movement: Exploring the Healing Power of Yoga Therapy.”

Bring your friends from your community and save $100 each on registration and accrue retreat credits for your community organization via the Feathered Pipe Community Discount Program. (See Details here.)

About JJ Gormley:

JJ Gormley is a skilled yoga educator and therapist who began her practice in 1979, studying with many of the foremost teachers within the various traditions. She continues to study, most recently from her travels to India. In her teachings, she draws from what she loves from the many traditions and styles of yoga she has studied. In 1994 she began teaching teachers and currently runs training programs across the US from basic certification programs (300 hours) to Yoga Therapists Certification (1200 hours).

She is the Executive Director of Surya Chandra Yoga Sanga, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing yoga to different types of communities – from prison systems to specialized therapy areas such as yoga for multiple sclerosis.

LEARN MORE ABOUT JJ: www.SuryaChandraHealingYoga.com

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I am subject to hyperbole.  Everything is the biggest, the most incredible.  My favorite word is extraordinary, with the third syllable so elongated that this five syllable word turns into a six or seven syllable experience. So, hyperbole aside, this has been the most extraoooooordinary wormhole I’ve ever witnessed.  We have all been yanked up where we were at the very beginning of spring and are in the process of being dropped off into totally brand new territory.

There are a number of astrological phenomena participating in this cycle making it particularly enormous.  Undoubtedly, however, the biggest player in this has been the most recent push of the ongoing three year dance of Pluto and Uranus squaring each other.  They will do this seven times in total and the third of these connections was exact just yesterday.  Having begun in the spring of last year, it will complete itself in the spring of 2015, changing every aspect of life, both the inner landscape and the outer world, for truly they are one and the same.

Pluto and Uranus are the only frequencies of change in astrology.  Pluto changes through destruction and the capacity for a thing to be leveled completely and something new constructed.  Uranus changes through lighting flashes.  A square is an obstacle that forces growth.  We are experiencing this differently, but we are all being squeezed in ways that are compelling us to expand.  The fact that this latest square happened within the confines of the wormhole is part of why these past few weeks have been as unsettling as they have.  It has been a magnificent opportunity to practice acceptance and faith on a very deep level.

The Sun has moved into Gemini, where Venus and Mercury have already set up camp.  In fact, the ruler of the Mind and the ruler of the Heart will be conjunct on Friday, making the Mind/Heart connection a significant part of the energy of this eclipse.  The twins of Gemini invented duality and so it is in this very archetype where duality will be healed.  The Moon is in the opposite sign of Sagittarius, which is the archetype of Higher Truth.  Duality and separation consciousness are a thing of the past; the alchemizing power of a wormhole eclipse has ensured that this is so.  When the Mind and the Heart are congruent with each other, living in this sense of integration is actually very easy to do.  This does not mean that there are no challenges; it simply means that the suffering is optional.

Full Moons are culmination points; the moment of harvest when we can reap the benefits of our past efforts.  This is a wonderful opportunity to take a look and see how far you’ve come since May of last year.  I suspect for most of you, there has been enormous change.  I trust the territory you find yourself in now includes if not everything you desire, at least the willingness to accept what is with more grace and ease than ever before.

When we honor the Full Moon with a ritual, we want to make sure we are practicing gratitude for what we have.  It is a perfect moment for taking inventory and preparing yourself for the dynamic future you are creating.  This Full Moon is conjunct the North Node of Dharma, which means we are all being ushered into the future of our own making.  The truthful nature of the Sagittarian archetype will help you see with clear eyes what you are bringing to the table.

Sagittarius is a fire sign, so make sure you include that element in your ritual this weekend.  Rather than burning things in the spirit of combustion, think of the creative use of fire and light a candle.  Better yet, light a bunch of candles as Sagittarius responds to lots of stimulation.  Consider this moment as the birthday celebration of your new life.  And don’t forget to make a wish before you blow the candles out.

Don’t Forget: Michael along with July Daley and Karen Chrappa will be at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, June 15 – 21st for the empowerment camp, “Awakening the Inner Teacher.”

Bring your friends from your community and save $100 each on registration and accrue retreat credits for your community organization via the Feathered Pipe Community Discount Program. (See Details here.)

About Michael Lennox:

Psychologist, Astrologer and Dream Expert Dr. Michael Lennox has been helping people have a deeper understanding of their unconscious mind for almost twenty years. In workshops, in the media, for private clientele and on the internet via his popular website www.michaellennox.com, he guides people through life’s mysteries with a deep and profound wisdom delivered through a humorous and extemporaneous style that has become his trademark.

A highly sought-after media expert, Dr. Lennox has been seen internationally by millions of viewers on many television shows, beginning with the Sci Fi Network’s The Dream Team with Annabelle and Michael, for which he filmed 65 episodes beginning in January 2003. Since then he has also been featured on numerous network and cable television venues as well as on the radio talking about the power of dreams.

He obtained his Masters and Doctorate in Psychology from The Chicago School. His second book, Dream Sight: A Dictionary & Guide for Interpreting Any Dream was published by Llewellyn Worldwide Press in 2011. An Internet staple, Lennox hosts a weekly radio show on Unity Online Radio; Dream Interpretation with Dr. Michael Lennox. He leads workshops and retreats around the country and conducts a worldwide private practice based in Southern California.

LEARN MORE ABOUT MICHAEL: www.dreaminginterpretation.com

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A part of the path of yoga (of which there are eight in all) is the practice of breathing, called pranayama.  Various breathing techniques, like variations in poses, tend to reflect the idiosyncrasies of the many different schools of yoga.

Some schools say that the right way to breathe is to expand the ribcage with the breath.  Others argue that the breath should move the belly.  Still others assert that the breath should move both the belly and the ribcage.  These arguments can rapidly degenerate into greater and greater detail and subtlety of technique.  For example, you might hear that the breath expands the ribcage from the bottom up, while another school may say from the top down.  More often than not, one is left perplexed rather than lucid.

Having studied from many of these schools of asana and pranayama myself, I’ve developed one simple unifying principle.   It is that we should apply the same discovery process that we employ in our asana practice to our breathing practice.  That is, we must first observe what our breath naturally does—in other words, we must discover the habitual pattern of our breathing.  In order to bring balance to our breath, we must begin to move it in a new way.  This literally means creating a new pattern of breathing.

We discover from our asana practice what our habitual way of moving has done to our body and that we must move in a different way to increase flexibility in the tight places and increase strength in the weak places in order to bring about balance to our physical body.  Hence, our pranayama practice must also be looked at similarly and changed in order to bring about balance to this other system of the body linked with the nervous system as well as many other systems in the body.  In fact, our breath pattern can affect what ailments we are likely to get as we age.  For example, belly breathers are more likely to get ailments affecting the lower areas of the body:  lower back issues, incontinence, bowel issues including: irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, etc.

Yet, while belly breathing is good for some things, it’s not the breath of choice to do all the time.  Discovering that you are a “belly breather” is the first step, making a change is the next and this will begin to balance the pranic (energy) system of the body.  When the pranic system of the body is in better balance, overall health and healing can take place.

Don’t Forget: Chase along with JJ Gormley will be at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, July 20 – 26th for “Breath and Movement: Exploring the Healing Power of Yoga Therapy.”

Bring your friends from your community and save $100 each on registration and accrue retreat credits for your community organization via the Feathered Pipe Community Discount Program. (See Details here.)

About JJ Gormley:

JJ Gormley is a skilled yoga educator and therapist who began her practice in 1979, studying with many of the foremost teachers within the various traditions. She continues to study, most recently from her travels to India. In her teachings, she draws from what she loves from the many traditions and styles of yoga she has studied. In 1994 she began teaching teachers and currently runs training programs across the US from basic certification programs (300 hours) to Yoga Therapists Certification (1200 hours).

She is the Executive Director of Surya Chandra Yoga Sanga, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing yoga to different types of communities – from prison systems to specialized therapy areas such as yoga for multiple sclerosis.

LEARN MORE ABOUT JJ: www.SuryaChandraHealingYoga.com

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It seems curious that we should have to practice breathing.  But many a yogi would argue that developing a breathing practice is one of the healthiest things we can do.  The reasons why merit our attention.

We appreciate that moving the body around in many positions positively affects our health.   It should therefore come as no surprise that doing the same with the breath can achieve similar results.  Just consider how your breath is affected the next time you’re experiencing a stressful challenge.  Today’s fast-paced lifestyle presents all too many such circumstances, so for some of us accelerated breathing is the unfortunate rule, not the occasional exception.  Still others may know the difference between normal and stressful breathing and feel compelled, without thinking, to invoke the palliative “take a deep breath.”

It’s important to remember some things about our asana practice.  Practicing yoga postures balances the body by enhancing our flexibility and developing strength.  When we are truly practicing yoga, we are in touch with our body.  We know though discovery where the body is strong or tight and where it is more open or flexible.   That knowledge is enormously valuable, indeed essential, to bring balance to our body.  We then can turn to strengthening areas that are weak and bringing flexibility to areas that are tight.  However, moving toward more balance by paying attention as we move in our body is only one dimension of the path of yoga. Next, we’ll consider the relevance and value of having a breathing practice.

Don’t Forget: Chase along with JJ Gormley will be at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, July 20 – 26th for “Breath and Movement: Exploring the Healing Power of Yoga Therapy.”

Bring your friends from your community and save $100 each on registration and accrue retreat credits for your community organization via the Feathered Pipe Community Discount Program. (See Details here.)

About JJ Gormley:

JJ Gormley is a skilled yoga educator and therapist who began her practice in 1979, studying with many of the foremost teachers within the various traditions. She continues to study, most recently from her travels to India. In her teachings, she draws from what she loves from the many traditions and styles of yoga she has studied. In 1994 she began teaching teachers and currently runs training programs across the US from basic certification programs (300 hours) to Yoga Therapists Certification (1200 hours).

She is the Executive Director of Surya Chandra Yoga Sanga, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing yoga to different types of communities – from prison systems to specialized therapy areas such as yoga for multiple sclerosis.

LEARN MORE ABOUT JJ: www.SuryaChandraHealingYoga.com

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Who am I? Am I Judas, am I Jesus? Out of fear and out of desire, I betray myself. I am who I am not. I cover my face with many masks, and even become the masks. I am too busy performing who I think I am to know who I really am. I am afraid: I may be nothing other than what I appear to be. There may be no face behind the mask, so I decorate and protect my mask preferring a fanciful something over a real nothing.
I cling to the herd for comfort. Together we weave varied garments to cover our nakedness. We guard the secret of our nothingness with anxious agility lest we should be discovered.

Occasionally, I hear a voice uttered in some dark recess of myself.  Sometimes it is the soft sobbing of a lonely child. At other times, it is the anguished cry of a witnessing conscience. At yet other times, it is the thundering command of a king. “Who are you?” I ask. I AM.

What am I asking when I ask ‘Who am I?’? What sort of answer would be acceptable? Do I want a chart of my genealogical and social relations? A list of my racial and biological characteristics? A catalog of my psychological features‑-my likes and dislikes, desires and fears? These are all the things that shape my personality. But whose personality is it? Who wears this mask? In response to a little knock at the door of my consciousness, I ask ‘Who is it?’ No naming is sufficient. What I seek is to see and touch the face of the one who calls.

‘Who am I?’ does not ask for an enumeration of scientific facts: it expresses a certain restlessness, groping, and exploration. It is the beginning of a movement towards light, towards seeing things clearly, as a whole. It is the refusal to remain in the dark‑-fragmented and on the surface of myself. It is a state of searching for meaning, comprehensiveness, and depth. It is the desire to wake up.

Soon I betray this impulse and am lulled back to sleep by comforting caresses and fairy tales. I sleep, dreaming of great adventures and of quests for hidden treasures. I dream of many journeys, many peaks, and of lions guarding the mountain passes.   Sometimes for a moment I wake up to find myself a prisoner of what I know and what I am. Even finding the door of my little prison open, I stay in it, afraid to leave, counting and recounting my possessions and my testimonials.

I share many walls with others. With vigor and imagination, I collaborate with others in building castles of science, art, philosophy, and religion in which we may rest secure, unmindful of our ignorance of who we are, why we are here, and why we do what we do. But the silent witness inside me asks ‘What do you seek?’

This blog article is an excerpt from Dr. Ravindra’s book, Whispers from the Other Shore.

Don’t Forget: Dr. Ravindra along with Kira Ryder of Lulu Bandha’s and the Ojai Yoga Crib will be returning to the Feathered Pipe in the summer of 2013, July 27 – Aug. 2nd, deepening the journey with the retreat, “Surrendering to the Subtle.”

Bring your friends from your community and save $100 each on registration and accrue retreat credits for your community organization via the Feathered Pipe Community Discount Program. (See Details here.)

About Ravi Ravindra

Dr. Ravi Ravindra is Professor Emeritus at Dalhousie University in Halifax (Canada) where he served for many years as a professor in three Departments: Comparative Religion, Philosophy, and Physics. He was a member of the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, a Fellow of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study in Shimla, and the Founding Director of the Threshold Award for Integrative Knowledge.

Ravi’s spiritual search has led him to the teachings of J. Krishnamurti, G. I. Gurdjieff, Zen, Yoga, and a deep immersion in the mystical teachings of the Indian and Christian classical traditions. He is the author of several books on religion, science, mysticism, and spirituality, including:

• Heart Without Measure: Gurdjieff Work with Madame de Salzmann
• Krishnamurti: Two Birds on One Tree
• The Gospel of John in the Light of Indian Mysticism
• Science and the Sacred
• Pilgrim Without Boundaries
• The Spiritual Roots of Yoga
• The Wisdom of Patañjali’s Yoga Sutras.

LEARN MORE ABOUT RAVI: www.ravindra.ca

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Indigenous Perspectives

In my work as an anthropologist, I have heard a singular statement regularly repeated in various forms among the indigenous peoples across the years—that we are actually dreaming 24 hours a day. I have also been assured that the dream world is the real world, and that this physical world we know so well is a manifestation of the dream, not visa versa.

This perception among the traditional peoples is always accompanied by a conviction, strongly held, that everything dreams—humans, animals, plants, rocks, rivers, mountains, oceans, the planet itself, our sun, and even the Universe in all its incredible diversity.

This implies that everything here, including ourselves, was sourced into existence by the collective dreaming and that we are actually dreaming ourselves into existence…together… and all the time.

This gives rise to an interesting question: who is dreaming?’

The answer can be found in one of my essays posted under ‘Shaman Wisdom’ – the one called the Matrix of the Self… for it was here that I discuss the Hawaiian kahuna view that each of us possesses not one, but three functionally distinct souls – a spiritual soul, a mental soul, and a physical/body soul.

These three self-aspects are actually distinct souls as they all originate from the same source but they exist in very different levels of quality.

The Three Souls

The Mental Soul

The mental soul, the one that we tend to call the ego (after Freud) or the conscious mind (after Jung), is the soul that thinks, analyzes, integrates information, makes decisions, revealing it to be our intellect that serves us as our overall inner director. It is also the source of our will forces, our intentionality, and our creative imagination.

But the mental soul does not dream. Rather it can receive what is perceived in dreams, and it can think about them, analyze them and categorize them, then create thoughtforms of things or goals that it wants to achieve in response to them.

The mental soul actually receives information about our dreams through the body soul—the self aspect that we call the subconscious (after Jung) or the id (after Freud)… but that soul-aspect does not dream either.

The Physical Soul

In summary–the subconscious/body soul is the self-aspect that serves as the source of our emotions and feelings, our memories, as well as all our learned and habitual behavior. As the interface between us and the other, it perceives both what is seen as well as what is sensed, and it sends what it perceives to the mental soul/ego which thinks about it, analyzes it, assigns meaning to it and categorizes it.

What is important to understand here is that the body soul is where the doorway into the hidden worlds is located. To be precise, this portal is positioned within our heart, revealing the heart to be the gateway into the mystical experience. Seen from this perspective, the portal is much like the modem built into your computer.

The Spiritual Oversoul

The gateway itself is none other than that spark of light that we received from our immortal self—the oversoul—when we drew our first breath. That seed of light that resides within our heart serves as the conduit that links us to our oversoul that resides always in the spirit world, and as we have revealed in our book, the spirit world and the dream world are the same—the level of the dreaming.

You will notice that I used the word ‘dreaming’ rather than ‘dream.’ This is because ‘dream’ is a noun and refers to a specific and usually idiosyncratic dream that we may have… but ‘dreaming’ is a verb, implying a continuous flow of ongoing process. This is a good way to describe the spirit world, which in fact it is.

So the question returns for our consideration, who is dreaming?

The Dreamer

It is none other than our higher self, our oversoul who dreams, and who is dreaming right now… the one who dreamed us into this current life existence and thus served as our personal creator. It is also the repository to which our soul complex returns at the end of each reincarnational cycle.

This is why I believe the information on the three souls is so important. It is very definitely an upgrade in our understanding of the nature of our self. The keys to the kingdom are ours to claim when we understand who we are and where we are… and how we are put together.

And so, with profound apologies to the various eastern meditation masters who deny the existence of the self, let alone the existence of an immortal oversoul aspect, allow me to say that I feel that they missed it, virtually all of them.

This world was dreamed into existence… yes… but who dreamed it? Our oversouls dreamed it, and this includes the oversoul fields of every living thing that makes up Nature.

And our solar system? From the informed perspective of the modern mystic, this is and was and will always be sourced by the dreaming of the solar being that we call the Sun. And since our star’s dream also includes the dreaming of everything within its system, ultimately our dreams are our Sun’s dreams.

This world (created by our Sun) is ephemeral because of the law of evolution on the physical plane—that everything changes. The fabric of the spirit world on the other hand, is eternal. And once some thing has come into being both here and there, it is woven into the tapestry of the dreaming forever… and forever is a long time.

The Spirit Teacher

Our personal oversoul is also the wise being who may provide us with instant downloads about what we need to know at any given point in time. It may do this through sending us dreams, visions, slips of the tongue, and ideas that pop into our heads in response to need. It is the source of what we call our intuition or inspiration.

This reveals that our oversoul is our primary spirit teacher, yet in that capacity, it never tells us what to do or where to go. That is the ego’s job–our mental soul that serves as our inner chief and makes informed decisions. The body’s soul–the subconscious–is the servant who does what it’s told according to the directives it receives from that inner director.

But the oversoul, our immortal spirit, is the dreamer who dreams, and the one through whom we perceive the dreamtime or spirit world.

Who knew that the mystery could be this immediate?

As we come to the end of our cycle of ages and the beginning of the next cycle approaches, there is no question that we, as sentient, self-aware beings, are world class dreamers, and this conveys to each of us an awesome responsibility.

The time has come for us all to dream well.

And so today, allow me to invoke the spirit of the kahuna nui Hale Makua, my great Hawaiian friend… and with his blessing (and his words), I extend to each of you the Light and the Love of the Ancestors, The Source of Life, rejoicing in the Power and the Peace, braided with the cords of Patience, revealing the tapestry of the strongest force in the Universe.

Don’t Forget: Dr. Hank Wesselman will be at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, August 10 – 16th for the first level of his three-part Visionseeker series, “Spiritwalker Teachings on the Shaman’s Path.”

Bring your friends from your community and save $100 each on registration and accrue retreat credits for your community organization via the Feathered Pipe Community Discount Programs. (See Details here.)

About Dr. Hank Wesselman

Hank Wesselman, PhD, holds advanced degrees in anthropology and zoology from the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Colorado at Boulder. A native New Yorker, he has spent much of his life living and working among traditional tribal peoples, primarily in Africa and Polynesia. He served in the US Peace Corps in the 1960s, living among people of the Yoruba Tribe in Western Nigeria for two years. It was there that he first became interested in indigenous spiritual wisdom.

Beginning in the early 1970s, he conducted research with an international group of scientists, exploring eastern Africa’s Great Rift Valley in search of answers to the mystery of human origins – fieldwork that allowed him to spend much of his life living and working with traditional peoples, rarely, if ever, visited by outsiders. In addition to his scientific papers and monographs, his books include his autobiographical trilogy: “Spiritwalker: Messages From the Future” (Bantam, 1995), “Medicinemaker: Mystic Enounters on the Shaman’s Path” (Bantam, 1998), and “Visionseeker: Shared Wisdom From the Place of Refuge,” (Hay House, 2001). These extraordinary books focus on a series of altered state experiences that document his investigations into a hidden reality that most of us have heard about, but few have experienced directly.

His most recent books are: “The Bowl of Light: Ancestral Wisdom from a Hawaiian Shaman“ (Sounds True, 2011), and (co-authored with Sandra Ingerman) the award-winning: “Awakening to the Spirit Worlds: The Shamanic Path of Direct Revelation” (Sounds True, 2010). Hank currently lives on the Kona Coast of Hawai’i Island with his family, where they are involved in sustainable food production on their farm in Honaunau.

LEARN MORE ABOUT DR. WESSELMAN: www.sharedwisdom.com

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Dear Ones,

I have been back from India for two months now.  I came back and jumped right into the UN work with Jean Bolen and it was incredible.  One of the most wonderful things is that there were so many people from our Feathered Pipe groups.  There were 15 at Jean’s book signing, not all with Pathways to Peace.  Jean puts so much into her activism of visioning the future for women and girls.  It’s kind of a tough crowd at the UN – our resolution was voted down last year so we are mostly trying to keep people interested.

One of the things I enjoyed most was watching Jean do her magic – she has consistently kept her eye on the ring through the years.  She is never confrontational but at the same time she never backs down.  I got to be in the room while she was talking with the biggest opponent of the conference happening again, and Jean started from the point of paying respect to that woman for all the good she does and then made her case.  Even if the woman was not convinced, Jean kept the door open for change.

In our women’s circles over the years at the ranch, Jean has helped us to identify our primary goddess archetypes and learn to identify ourselves with those beings and take strength in facing our deeply held patterns.

Jean has taken us so far on our paths.  She has never wavered from her ideals concerning women’s equality and helping women find their footing in the world – helping women help women. So many professionals have come here for her classes and then gone on to help women in the world.

We have another week with Jean coming up and it will no doubt be incredible.

Everyone who wants to have their activism ignited, their internal fires fanned should come. I personally believe that our future depends on it. Come to the Feathered Pipe this summer and you will get the energy, love and force to carry your best ideas into the world. I have worked with Jean since 1984. Jean has helped me open up my own shadow areas and liberate the energy there for positive uses.

I would like you all to come and experience again, or for the first time, Jean Shinoda Bolen’s tremendous power of liberating our internal energies and finding our individual heart’s directions. She is doing exactly what Sai Baba taught me 44 years ago, training leaders to go out into the world and act on their own best ideas. So often all we need is that little spark to begin our journeys. Come to the Feathered Pipe this summer and get ignited.

If you’ve already registered, I’m waiting on the doorstep for you!

As Always,
India

Don’t Forget: Dr. Bolen along with Barbara McAfee will be at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, June 22 – 29th for the women’s retreat, “Times of Change and Creativity.”

Bring your friends from your community and save $100 each on registration and accrue retreat credits for your community organization via the Feathered Pipe Community Discount Program. (See Details here.)

About Dr. Jean Shinoda Bolen:

Jean Shinoda Bolen, M. D. is a Jungian analyst, author and activist. She is an internationally known workshop leader and the author of twelve influential books. Goddesses in Everywoman and Goddesses in Older Women resonated with readers who discovered goddess-archetypes were powerful patterns in themselves. The Millionth Circle, Urgent Message from Mother, Like A Tree, and Moving Toward the Millionth Circle (2013) inspire women to actively make a difference supported in circles with a sacred center. She is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a leading voice in women’s spirituality.

Dr. Bolen is a major advocate of a United Nations 5th World Conference on Women (5WCW) and a former clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco. She lives in Mill Valley, California in an urban-wilderness interface zone.

LEARN MORE ABOUT DR. BOLEN: www.jeanbolen.com

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Editor’s Note: Special thanks to the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) for allowing us to republish this article which first appeared in the “International Journal of Yoga Therapists (IJYT).” We encourage you to support and attend IAYT Annual Conferences in Boston June 11 – 16. Chase as well will be at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, July 20 – 26th. Spaces are limited but still available.

Violins Are Not Violins

The violin is a popular instrument in South India just as it is in the U.S. However, the way it is played in South Indian Carnatic music traditions is so different from the way it is played in Western symphonic traditions that it is practically unrecognizable as the same instrument. Even though the physical structure and strings of the violins are the same in each place, the systematization of sounds and the combinations in which they are played are so different that the violin is not the same violin. The theories and principles underlying Indian Carnatic and Western symphonic music are so different that, despite the use of similar techniques on a common instrument, the resulting music is very different. The perspective of the one playing the violin completely changes how it is played. So in important ways, a violin is not just a violin—what the violin is depends on who is playing it and how it is played.

Even though external objects (in this case a violin) appear to have fixed realities, in fact what they are is largely decided by what we (as the perceiver of the object) project on to them, which is largely a result of our own training and experience. The same holds true for the importation of yoga from India into our own countries, and for the practice of applying yoga for healing. The practitioner’s ideas regarding what yoga is, and especially what the human system of body, mind, emotions, etc., is, have a profound influence on how yoga for healing is practiced.

The human system is also like the violin. Different cultures have different therapeutic practices based on different understandings of what the human system is and how it operates. Consequently, these systems lead to different ways of responding to the same malady. What should be done, when, and how are different in different therapeutic systems. Conventional Western medicine, yoga and Âyurveda, Chinese medicine, and homeopathy treat the same symptoms in dramatically different ways.

Yoga in the West

As the application of yoga for healing becomes increasingly prominent in the West, we must remain conscious of how it is happening. Is the application of yoga for healing remaining true to its origins while being adapted to meet Western cultural contexts? Or, as is seemingly more common, is it being fundamentally changed and recreated by the familiarity of its Western practitioners with Western medical theories and principles? Is yoga for healing becoming assimilated into Western medicine, psychology, or physical therapy? Or is it still retaining the essential elements that compose its unique therapeutic perspective?

In musical terms, we might ask: Are we playing Carnatic music in the U.S., or are we introducing a few Carnatic notes into our Western symphonies? And are we claiming to play Carnatic music while actually playing Western symphony in what we imagine to be a Carnatic manner? In other words, are we really practicing yoga for healing? Or are we just introducing yoga-esque tools into conventional, Western models of therapy and calling it “Yoga Therapy?”

Theory and Principles: Yoga’s Indian Origins

To answer the question, “Are we adapting yoga for healing to Western contexts or are we fundamentally changing it into a system founded upon a Western episteme?” we need to look as closely as we can at the therapeutic application of yoga in its original context. Yoga has been developing in India for at least the last 2000 years, so we know that: (1) The origins of yoga for healing are Indian; (2) The epistemological foundations of yoga for healing are Indian; (3) Yoga for healing emerged out of, and in accordance with, Indian understandings of the body, mind, and human system; and thus (4) Yoga for healing is related to, and indeed the product of, these Indian anatomies.

To understand what yoga for healing is and how it works, we need to know how it views the human system (body and mind), and why it holds these perspectives. The answers to this question can be found, at least in part, by looking for traditional Indian anatomical models that have been influential in India at different times over the past 2000 years as yoga developed. It is from those anatomical models, and indeed in response to them, that yoga’s ideas about the body and mind—and how to deal with them—were developed.

Three Indian anatomies have been particularly influential in the formation of yoga for healing as both a philosophical and a practical medical system in India: (1) the pañcamaya model, (2) the prâna vâyus model, and (3) the model of the subtle anatomy. Together, they describe a single very rich and detailed geography of the human system that has important ramifications for the practice of yoga for healing. By briefly examining these three anatomies, we will see some of the fundamental principles underlying the application of yoga for healing. It’s worth acknowledging that Âyurveda is also an important and rich source of Indian anatomies that have deeply influenced the application of yoga for healing. However, a discussion of Âyurveda is beyond the scope of this article.

Yoga’s Holistic Model of Healing: The Pañcamaya Model from the Taittirīya Upanisad

One of the most important bases for yoga’s truly holistic model of the the human system is presented in the Taittirīya Upanisad*, in particular the Brahmânandavallī section. It is called the pañcamaya model. Pañca means “five” and maya means something “pervading.” The term pañcamaya thus indicates that the human system is composed of five fundamental dimensions (physical body, breath/prâna, intellect, personality, and emotions) that are completely interconnected and interrelated. Indeed, as the text says, they pervade each other.

Practically speaking, each of us has a body. The body breathes, and if the body stops breathing, then it becomes a very different body! So body and breath are inseparably related. Also, each of us has an intellect that has been trained in specific ways: a dentist, a carpenter, and a philosopher have received very different training. In addition, each of us has our own way of perceiving and communicating—we each have our own personality. Lastly, and most powerfully, we have emotions. None of these five dimensions by itself can completely describe who we are as individuals, but together they present a complete picture of the individual.

Through experience, the ancient Indians observed that each of these five dimensions is completely and inextricably interlinked with all of the other dimensions. When one changes, all the others change as well. For example, when someone gets angry (an emotional change), the way that person breathes also changes. It may become faster and shallower, or perhaps be held for long periods. The body also changes: the heart rate increases, the blood pressure increases, and the face turns red. The personality changes, too, as the person’s communication becomes more aggressive and perception of the situation gets increasingly negative. The understanding of how these dimensions are related is what is meant when we refer to yoga as “holistic.”

The word the Taittirīya Upanisad uses, “maya,” is a special word. It indicates that each dimension of our human system (body, breath/prâna, intellect, personality, and emotions) is one hundred percent present throughout the system. It is not that each dimension represents a separate layer distinct from the other aspects, but that all the five dimensions are completely present everywhere in the system at the same time. This interrelationship between the different dimensions of the human system can be approximately represented by the drawing by Mr. TKV Desikachar (shown below).

Each maya has five components, here represented by separate dots. The interrelationships between dimensions is expressed by connecting each dot to all the other dots.

The interconnectedness described by the pañcamaya model is the positive basis of yoga as a holistic system of healing and health. It is also the theoretical underpinning of almost all yoga practices. For example, by changing the length of a person’s breath (through âsana and/or prânâyâma), we can greatly influence that person’s mental and emotional state. The same is true of working on the mental level. By asking the practitioner to focus on a particular object, we can see that the breathing also changes, and over time so do the body and personality. This process takes time, but it is a key mechanism underlying the effectiveness of yoga for healing.

It is worth noting that this holistic approach is fundamentally different from the emphasis on specialization in Western approaches. Conventional Western medical and psychological models for healing often define specific fields of specialization, which focus on single dimensions of body or mind in great depth with less regard for other dimensions.

Since we see the importance of yoga’s holistic understanding of the human system, it is also worth making a clarification regarding the terminology of this pañcamaya model. Unfortunately, in the United States, the pañcamaya model is often referred to as the kosas, which in turn is most often translated into English as “sheaths” and graphically misrepresented as a series of ever larger areas surrounding the body as depicted in the diagram below.

This presentation (shown in the illustration) of the pañcamaya model is potentially misleading. The first problem is the word kosa, which does not appear in the Taittirīya Upanisad at all, and which literally means “bag.” The connotation of kosa as “sheath” or “bag” is very different from maya’s connotation as “pervading.” The former seems to indicate separateness, while the latter indicates inseparability. For example, in Sanskrit the internal organs are called kosas, which is correct when applied to the internal organs because the liver, the intestines, bladder, lungs, etc. are all discrete entities separate from one another. Essentially, they are bags containing specialized tissues that perform a function specific to that bag. However, when kosa is used to describe the interrelated aspects of the pañcamaya model, it can easily give the impression that each of the five dimensions is a “layer” or “level” or “sheath” different and somehow separate from the other dimensions.

As we’ve seen above, separateness is an idea inconsistent with the meaning of the text and indeed is nearly the opposite of what the text intended. The Taittirīya Upanisad specifically says that the prânamaya (breath/prâna), manomaya (intellect), vijñânamaya (personality), and ânandamaya (emotion) dimensions are in the same location as the annamaya (physical body). A graphic rendition that depicts the different sheaths as separate from one another, and existing outside of the body in ever increasing rings, is undesirable. This misrepresentation of the pañcamaya model is not useful in the application of yoga for healing because it does not explain how the five maya relate to one another. If we are not clear about how they are related, then how can we utilize their interconnection to bring about healing?

This is also why we should not think of any particular yoga tool as working on only one dimension (maya). Take âsana, for example. Âsana is not merely an activity of the physical body, but also of the breath and mind. In âsana we are actively moving the body in particular ways, but in doing so we must account for the fact that the body is already almost constantly moving (since it is breathing). Even if we stay in a single posture for an extended period of time, it is not possible to be absolutely still in that posture. At the very least, we must breathe, and with each breath the chest and abdomen cavities expand and then contract.

The same expansion and contraction of the chest and abdominal cavities occurs when we move in âsana: a forward bend contracts the chest and abdomen, and a back bend expands them. So moving the body in âsana is actually an extension of the movement already happening in, and created by, breathing. When we put the two together and move based upon our breath, we find that different âsanas facilitate different types of breathing. More specifically, some postures emphasize and support inhaling and some postures emphasize and support exhaling. In fact, âsana is specifically designed to function in this way. By doing so, it involves and thus affects the prânamaya dimension at the same time that it is working on the physical body dimension (annamaya).

In addition to working on the annamaya and prânamaya dimensions, âsana also works on the manomaya (mental dimension). Âsana requires attention and mental focus. If we’re not paying attention, we can’t coordinate the movements and breathing very well at all. In fact, if we don’t pay attention, our breathing changes and we end up with a different result. In other words, even something as seemingly straightforwardly physical as âsana was not conceived by the ancient yoga masters as working only on the physical dimension.

The point is that yoga’s understanding of the human system is holistic in specific ways. It is not accidental or mysterious, but, rather, concrete and definite. How and why the different dimensions of the human system interrelate to one another are described in texts like the Taittirīya Upanisad, and can be used in the application of yoga for healing. Moreover, the various Yoga tools and techniques are based on, and gain their effectiveness from, these principles.

Prâna Vâyus
The second anatomy worth examining is the model of the prâna vâyus. This model relates to the prânamaya (breath/prâna) dimension of the pañcamaya model, as it describes the functioning of prâna and breath. However, it is different from the pañcamaya model in both structure and origin. The prâna vâyus model is not described in the Taittirīya Upanisad, but in many other texts, including the Yogayâjñavalkya Samhitâ.

One way of understanding prâna is “that which supports the physiology of the body.” In this capacity, prâna is sometimes compared to the role of electricity in electronic machinery. Without the electricity, nothing in the machine works, but when electricity is present (assuming the machine is in operating condition) it enables the machine to perform all kinds of different functions.

In the prâna vâyus model, prâna in different areas of the body is known by different names because prâna in different parts of the body supports different functions.

For example, as shown in this illustration, prâna in the chest area is called prâna vâyu. This area is considered to be the seat of the mind and the emotions. Prâna in the abdomen is called apâna vâyu and is responsible for reproduction as well as the elimination of bodily waste. The prâna located in the area surrounding the navel is called samâna vâyu and governs digestion. The prâna in the throat region is called udâna vâyu and governs communication. Lastly, the prâna governing circulation and the transportation of nutrients throughout the whole system is called vyâna vâyu, and this prâna is located throughout the body, particularly the joints. These are only the five most important of the ten major prâna vâyus that are most commonly described in texts.

This anatomy is a critically important foundation for explaining how yoga works on different areas of the body and different functions of the human system through different breathing patterns and yoga techniques. For example, the ancient yogis noticed that different areas of the human system strongly respond to different types of breathing patterns. It was noticed that the apâna region responds to breathing ratios with an emphasis on exhalation, and that the prâna area responds to breathing ratios with an emphasis on inhalation. They also noticed that nyâsa and mudrâ affected the vyâna vâyu, and that different chanting could affect the udâna vâyu in different and predictable ways.

When we combine the perspective of the prâna vâyus with the pañcamaya ideas about the interrelatedness of the different dimensions of the human system, we can begin to see how these anatomies not only influence, but truly direct our treatment decisions. Different tools can be used to influence different parts of the human system in very specific ways. For example, we can generalize that if there is a problem in the apâna region of the body, then two tools that could be used to influence the apâna area of the body are exhalation and forward-bending âsanas.

Of course, this does not mean that all apâna area problems should be handled with forward bends and exhalation. There are many nuances and principles which a person must know before applying yoga for healing, and it is not the intention of this article to explain how to apply these principles in depth. Rather, the intention of the article is to show that the application of yoga for healing is built on yoga’s understanding of how the human system functions. These models of anatomy provide predictable guidelines for how the human system can be influenced through different yoga techniques and methods. In other words, applying yoga for healing is not primarily an intuitive practice, but rather a practical science (and art) following definite, well-defined guidelines.

Subtle Anatomy System

The subtle anatomy model is also related to the prâna vâyus model and the pañcamaya model. Like the prâna vâyus model, it too describes how prâna functions in the human system. According to the subtle anatomy model, prâna circulates in the human system through a series of tubes called nâdīs. These nâdīs are the passageways through which prâna is able to get to different areas of the system. Though there are many nâdīs throughout the human system, three are usually considered the most important.

As shown in the diagram, the susumnâ runs from a location near the base of the spine, up the back of the body (approximately near the spine), to slightly above the crown of the head. The pingalâ, which originates at the tip of the right nostril, and the idâ, which originates at the tip of the left nostril, run up through the forehead, where they cross (but do not intersect), and then down along the back of the body near the spine to the base of the susumnâ. As they move down the back, they cross each other (without intersecting) four more times until they join together with the susumnâ at its base.

The prâna in the pingalâ is called the “ha” prâna and the prâna that is in the idâ is called the “tha” prâna. According to this anatomical model*, one of the points of a yoga practice is to help move the ha and the tha prâna from the pingalâ and idâ nâdīs into and up the susumnâ nâdī. This, not incidentally, is where the word “hatha” yoga originates. What complicates this process is that the ancient yogis thought that at the base of the susumnâ nâdī is a blockage preventing the ha and tha prâna from entering the susumnâ nâdī.

The material that is blocking the base of the susumnâ nâdī is called many different names. In some texts, the name given to the material blockage at the base of the susumnâ nâdī is kundalinī , a word that literally means a circular or winding shape and comes from the idea that the kundalinī is coiled around itself 3.5 times. Another name for the material blockage is mala, which literally means “impurity” and signifies things that are unhealthy for our system and should be eliminated. This mala may be physical (annamaya), as results from bad food or poor digestion; it may be emotional (ânandamaya), resulting from some difficult experiences; it may be unuseful communication styles (vijñânamaya), or even negative attitudes (manomaya). In other words, the impurity may be in any or all dimensions of our human system.

According to the subtle anatomy model, yoga practice is the process by which this blockage is destroyed and the ha and tha prâna are thereby able to flow into and up the susumnâ nâdī. The ancient yogis thought that the blockage could by eliminated by burning it in the digestive “fire” in the abdomen, and they correlated different aspects of breathing with different cleansing actions on the impurity. For example, exhaling was thought to bring the impurity up to the fire to be burned. This corresponds to the observation that when you exhale fully, the abdomen contracts and rises slightly. Inhaling was thought to blow the flame of the digestive fire toward the impurity at the base of the susumnâ nâdī, thus burning it up.

So breathing is a fundamental aspect of âsana because it is the mechanism which results in the elimination of the blockage preventing the prâna from flowing into the susumnâ nâdī. In fact, the classification of postures into paścimatâna and pūrvatâna is based upon the type of breathing the postures support. Paścimatâna postures support exhaling since bending forward is so much easier while exhaling, and exhaling brings the impurity toward the fire in the abdomen. Pūrvatâna postures support inhaling since inhaling naturally arches the back and inhaling directs the fire in the abdomen toward the impurity.

This model helps show how the physical practice of âsana is designed to affect the human system on multiple dimensions, in particular the prânamaya dimension. Thus, the ancient yogis conceived the practice of yoga as having a focus that is fundamentally different from the typical Western attention to flexibility and alignment of muscle and ligament.

Yoga’s Tools are Extensions of Indian Anatomies

These anatomies describe the functioning of the human system, and in doing so serve as maps showing routes of treatment. They show how to apply yoga tools and techniques for healing. By understanding their descriptions of how the human system functions, we know how and why various yoga techniques and methods were conceived. Simply put, these Indian anatomies explain how and why yoga’s various tools work. Of course, different tools work in different ways and on different parts of the human system. So we can see why different yoga practices produce different effects, and how to purposefully elicit different effects in ourselves and students. As a result, our yoga for healing treatments can account for myriad differences in individuals, symptoms, circumstances, causes, times, and so on.

Yoga Therapy is its Own Therapeutic System

Each of these three ancient Indian anatomies describes a specific portion of the human system in some detail. In doing so, they overlap, and some details do not correspond exactly with details from the other anatomies. However, that does not mean that one is right and the others wrong. Instead, if we understand what each offers, we find that they are very compatible with each other. When applied together as a whole, they present an incredibly rich and fertile geography of the human system.

We can now see that what is and is not “Yoga Therapy” is determined not by which yoga tools are used nor by the effects they engender, but rather by the understanding with which the tools are applied. Yoga therapy is not yoga therapy by virtue of its using yoga techniques or methods, but rather by virtue of its yogic understanding of how these tools are used. This understanding is based on yogic understanding of the human system, ideas that are very different from conventional Western medicine.

For example, a particular position of the body is not, by itself, yoga therapy (or even yoga for that matter). Physical therapists also put the body in different positions, many of which resemble âsanas. But unless it is supported by yoga principles as described above, an âsana is only a position of the body. In fact, an âsana separated from breathing, from mental attention, and from the Indian anatomical understanding from which it emerged, is no longer an âsana, even more so if it is applied according to conventional Western models of the human system.

What differentiates yoga for healing from physical therapy, psychotherapy, and other Western therapies is the understanding of what we are trying to accomplish and what dimensions of the human system are involved in that process. What we do is not yoga therapy. How we do it is. The importance of this principle cannot be overemphasized.

Conclusion

We have seen that the application of yoga for healing is not just the use of specific techniques or methods, but rather a holistic therapeutic perspective towards the human system and the process of healing. It is not just a few techniques or methods that define yoga for healing, but rather the theory, method, and principles underlying how the techniques are applied.

As practitioners of yoga for healing, we must be careful to understand and maintain yoga’s unique, holistic perspective. It is precisely this quality that makes yoga special, and it is crucial to yoga’s effectiveness. Ironically, it is also this critical quality that is most readily lost when yoga for healing techniques and methods are applied according to conventional Western medical principles and assumptions.

Thus, it is of the utmost importance to maintain the distinction between assimilating yoga tools and techniques into conventional Western medical practice, and practicing yoga for healing. In the former, applications are solely according to Western anatomies, while in the latter, applications are according to the subtle, pañcamaya, and prâna vâyus anatomies of ancient India.

We need to ask ourselves, what anatomy is underlying our understanding and practice of yoga for healing? Indeed, what do we think we are trying to accomplish through the practice of yoga and âsana, prânâyâma, and meditation? Our imagined starting and ending points will strongly influence not only what treatments we can conceive, but also how we apply yoga for healing.

* Desikachar, T.K.V. and Desikachar, Kausthub, information and translations orally transmitted in workshops and private classes between 2003 and 2007.

References
1. Desikachar TKV., Skelton, ML, & Carter, JR. Religiousness in Yoga: Lectures on Theory and Practice. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America; 1980.
2. Desikachar TKV. The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice. Rochester, Vt: Inner Traditions International; 1999.
3. Desikachar TKV, and Desikachar, K. Yogayâjñavalkya Samhitâ: The Yoga Treatise of Yâjñavalkya. Chennai, India: Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram; 2000.
4. Desikachar K, assisted by Bragdon, L and Bossart, C . The Yoga of Healing: Exploring Yoga’s Holistic Model for Health and Well-being. International Journal of Yoga Therapy. 2005; Vol. 15.
5. Desikachar TKV, and Desikachar, K. Adi Sankara’s Yoga Taravalli, an English Translation and Commentary. Chennai, India: Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram; 2004.

Don’t Forget: Chase along with JJ Gormley will be at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, July 20 – 26th for “Breath and Movement: Exploring the Healing Power of Yoga Therapy.”

Bring your friends from your community and save $100 each on registration and accrue retreat credits for your community organization via the Feathered Pipe Community Discount Program. (See Details here.)

About Chase Bossart:

Chase Bossart has been studying yoga as a personal student of Mr. TKV Desikachar’s since 1991. He has made numerous trips to Chennai to study at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM) with Mr. Desikachar and his son Kausthub. He is the Director of Therapy & Education at the Healing Yoga Foundation, a non-profit healing center in San Francisco specializing in the therapeutic application of Yoga in the tradition of Śrī T. Krishnamacharya & Mr. TKV Desikachar. Chase teaches regular asana, pranayama, meditation, and vedic chanting classes. He teaches frequent workshops across the US on a wide range of yoga topics, and especially loves leading experiential workshops that demonstrate yoga philosophy’s practical applications in daily life.

LEARN MORE ABOUT CHASE: www.chasebossart.com

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Venus does something very interesting in connection with this eclipse.  She has been swiping through the Taurus portion of the cosmos ahead the others in this gathering.  This means that with all of the changes that are upon us, we have the saving grace of the Heart leading the way.  This has been very helpful to us in these past weeks, especially when circumstances haven’t always looked the way we want them to.  Our job is always to know that whatever is happening, it is for our highest good.  This is what Love always sees, so Venus out front has been our great ally.

Just before the eclipse tomorrow, she leaves Taurus and enters Gemini.   Remember the Gemini process of last year?  If not, read my articles from the eclipse season of May and June in 2012 and remind yourself of the healing of Separation that was the hallmark of that time.  Venus returns to that territory now, ensuring that duality is truly a thing of the past.

When duality is healed, it is transformed into polarity.  In this consciousness, we can hold the tension of opposites.  We can be in one frame of mind and simultaneously see its opposite without having to cycle back in an either/or dynamic.  This allows us to let go, surrender, and remember in the midst of a troubling moment who your Source is.  It is not your career, the people in your life or any of the circumstances that surround you.

Someone wrote me yesterday about how scared and sad she is; her future feels very uncertain.  In an effort comfort her, I found myself using the words “Divine Unfolding” as a metaphor for how life moves and has its expression.  I thought a little bit about that image and what it means to live in a world that unfolds.  When something unfolds, it has two primary energy-shapes; the long flat planes of structure and the places where the shape changes very dramatically that we know as a fold.  Those folds have sharp edges and they take us from one alignment and very suddenly thrust us into a completely different orientation.

It’s a little like being thrown upside down and being asked to act as if you are just as upright as ever.  And of course, we are always held in the hands of the Divine Intelligence that is doing the unfolding and therefore we are always taken good care of.  Nonetheless, when we are at the edge of a fold, it can be a groundbreaking, earth-shattering shift of positioning that knocks our socks off.  That’s where we are at right now.  Venus returning to Gemini today right before this magical eclipse ensures that we are able to get this in ways that may have eluded us thus far.  Let your life unfold and just witness it.  If you are on the edge, thrust your arms in the air like you’re on a roller coaster ride and enjoy the thrill.  It’s so much better than retracting in fear.

This lunation is terribly important to the process that this wormhole offers us.  We are in the midst of an opportunity to land in brand new territory when this shakeup completes itself next month.  And by territory, I mean consciousness, although that change in consciousness for some will result in new landscapes in your outer world as well.  Because it is an eclipse, the transformation that can happen here is a true restructuring of how you inhabit your life.

The New Moon, seed planting event is always the most potent moment to exercise our free will in any cycle and even more so during an eclipse.  Create powerful intentions for yourself in these next few days and you will be participating mightily in the huge shift that is at hand.  Leave it up to chance and you will feel all the more out of control and at the affect or your world rather than feeling like a powerful co-creator.  You may not get the form you think you are creating, but you can absolutely get the perspective you desire and perspective trumps form every time.

Thursday is the magic day and the New Moon is exact around 5:30pm PDT.  The entire day leading up to that point is what is known as the dark-of-the-moon, where the soil of consciousness is most fertile for the receiving of new seeds of intention.  The reverberations of this eclipse will last for several days after, making the entire weekend fruitful ground as well.  No matter when you choose to honor this moment, do it with grounded gusto, for the earthy sign of Taurus is best met with the body in a physically tangible way.

Taurus rules the throat, so using your voice during this ritual is a very good idea.  Sing, chant, pray out loud; make sound!   Additionally, Taurus is the most luxurious of the archetypes, so the more sensual you can make what you do, the better.  As the first of the three earth signs, I highly recommend taking whatever results from your process, such as a written prayer or creatively expressed set of intentions, and bury it as if it were a seed you were planting; for truly, it is.

Don’t Forget: Michael along with Karen Chrappa will be at the Feathered Pipe Ranch, June 15 – 21st for the empowerment camp, “Awakening the Inner Teacher.”

Bring your friends from your community and save $100 each on registration and accrue retreat credits for your community organization via the Feathered Pipe Community Discount Program. (See Details here.)

About Michael Lennox:

Psychologist, Astrologer and Dream Expert Dr. Michael Lennox has been helping people have a deeper understanding of their unconscious mind for almost twenty years. In workshops, in the media, for private clientele and on the internet via his popular website www.michaellennox.com, he guides people through life’s mysteries with a deep and profound wisdom delivered through a humorous and extemporaneous style that has become his trademark.

A highly sought-after media expert, Dr. Lennox has been seen internationally by millions of viewers on many television shows, beginning with the Sci Fi Network’s The Dream Team with Annabelle and Michael, for which he filmed 65 episodes beginning in January 2003. Since then he has also been featured on numerous network and cable television venues as well as on the radio talking about the power of dreams.

He obtained his Masters and Doctorate in Psychology from The Chicago School. His second book, Dream Sight: A Dictionary & Guide for Interpreting Any Dream was published by Llewellyn Worldwide Press in 2011. An Internet staple, Lennox hosts a weekly radio show on Unity Online Radio; Dream Interpretation with Dr. Michael Lennox. He leads workshops and retreats around the country and conducts a worldwide private practice based in Southern California.

LEARN MORE ABOUT MICHAEL: www.dreaminginterpretation.com

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