Spiritual Magazine | Wellness Magazine

Focus, July 2018 / 01 Jul 2018
A lover’s journey
LLEWELLYN VAUGHAN-LEE has been on a spiritual path since the age of sixteen. Here he describes how the divine feminine opened up the wonder of love, the heart and the soul in his journey, especially following his meeting with the woman who would become his wife. A Story of the Sacred Feminine When I was nineteen I met my teacher, a Russian-born woman in her midsixties, recently returned from India where she had been trained by a Sufi master1. Four years later, sitting in her small meditation group, I met and fell in love with a young woman recently arrived to London from Israel, who was to become my wife. As an intense young man,focused on meditation and aspiring to realize a formless Truth, the Sufi path unexpectedly opened me to the mystery of the feminine, and to the wonder of love, both human and divine, formless and tangible. Coming from an English middle-class family, I had spent the years from seven to seventeen in all-male boarding schools. At sixteen I had begun practicing Zen meditation, awakening to an inner world of emptiness, which also drew me to fasting and other ascetic practices. But now both my heart and my body were being touched in unforeseen ways, and the sacred feminine began to teach me, to awaken me to her wonder, the subtleties of a love that embraces both body and soul. I was being taken out of the monastery into a garden of beauty – fragrant, seductive, full of color and passion. Over the years that followed she was to teach me about her hidden nature, how she can open a soul to the Divine, infuse it with love and longing, and so give birth to one’s spiritual self. And even more profound, how she carries in her body…

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It changes everything, July 2018 / 01 Jul 2018
Weaving harmony
Host of the show enLight’n Up on The Lighter Side Network, DARSHANA PATEL shares some insights on the role of communication and technology in nurturing relationships. Darshana is an energy intuitive and medium, and helps others blaze new pathways to unleash their full potential. Words are directed energy. What energy do we bring to our relationships with our words? Does that energy nurture greater harmony in our relationship? As individuals, we operate in the context of relationship to others; we are interconnected. Thus, the quality of our life experience is deeply affected by the level of harmony or discord in our relationships. Non-violent communication invites the consciousness of interconnection – the awareness that we are all tethered by a flow of energy, which we overtly direct with our words. Once we recognize and become accountable for the energy we bring to the interconnected web of relationships, we may then bring a greater level of consciousness, or awareness, to the level of joy, harmony and authenticity that we experience in our relationships. If we are going to weave greater harmony with the words we offer, it is worth pausing for a moment before asking, “What is my intention in communicating?” For example, one intention might be to “offer another perspective” versus to “defend my actions”. Imagine that an intention is an energetic container in which thoughts, actions, and communication exchange all take place. Create an intention that invites the mutual experience of empathy. Imagine that an intention is intended energy. What energy do you want to bring to your present conversation and interaction? What space can you hold to allow for the peaceful exchange of information? What feeling do you want to amplify in the exchange? Imagine that an intention is intended energy. What energy do you want to bring to your present…

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July 2018, Taste of life / 01 Jul 2018
The innate elegance of humanity
KATHLEEN SCARBORO has a career in public art. Here she describes the motivation behind her painting and how she has developed her themes and techniques over the years. Why would an American artist from Chicago, residing in Paris, choose India as a theme for her paintings? A lifelong interest in other cultures than my own eventually led me to this choice. In the mid 1970s, many American artists were tired of being isolated in their studios. They wanted a role that would allow them to participate in the lives of their local communities. The Public Art Workshop of Chicago was a group of urban artists who painted murals in cooperation with the local inhabitants, so when I received my first commission for a mural painting I contacted them for mentoring. This was the beginning of a lifelong career in public art. With each succeeding commission, I synthesized the preoccupations of a particular group (ethnic, professional, etc.) into a work of art that was placed in a specific public site. So I spent a lot of time observing and listening to others and putting their ideas into visual form. I realized that artists can have a useful and meaningful role of sharing aspects of a designated culture with others. In France and in Reunion Island I continued painting murals. Eventually I felt a need to paint about village life on the island back in my studio in Paris. A series of these paintings were exhibited over a nine-month period in the main hall of the Museum of Mankind in Paris at the Place Trocadero. My interest in meditation and consciousness studies, as well as art history and general culture, motivated me to go to India in the mid ’90s. For a person who loves to paint people, India offers an infinite…

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Be inspired, July 2018 / 01 Jul 2018
Samyama – part 2
ASHTANGA YOGA SERIES What if someone told you there was a simple set of practices that could help you manage every aspect of your daily life, and at the same time take you to a level of human potential beyond your wildest imagination? Would you be interested? Most people would at least be curious. That is in fact an accurate explanation of the practices of Yoga, but most people don’t realize it. Yoga includes a holistic set of practices for overall self-development and the well-being of the body, mind and soul. A few thousand years back, the great sage Patanjali compiled the current yogic practices of that time into a simple framework consisting of eight parts or limbs, and that framework is still used today. It is known as Ashtanga Yoga. But the practices of Yoga have evolved since Patanjali was alive, in response to the needs of the time and especially during the last 150 years. So in this series DAAJI explores each limb of Yoga in the light of the modern day yogic practices of Heartfulness. He shows us how to integrate inner spiritual practices with living in the world and refining our personality, so as to create that true state of Yoga – skill in action and integration of the spiritual and worldly aspects of life. SAMYAMA – part 2 Dharana • Dhyana • Samadhi Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi are the final three limbs of Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga. There is no clear separation or definition among them, as they weave together to define the inner spiritual practices of meditation, known as Raja Yoga. These three limbs focus on the real purpose of Yoga and they are the practices of the inner journey known as the spiritual yatra. In the remaining articles of the series on Ashtanga Yoga,…

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Be inspired, July 2018 / 01 Jul 2018
Finding your soul mate
Theophile the Elder gives some tips to Theophile the Young on how to go about finding a soul mate. Theophile the Young looked preoccupied. Theo the Young: You have told me about heart-to-heart communication, but what about the relationship with one’s soul mate? I’d like so much to make a success of my married life and lead a harmonious family life. Theophile the Elder: What I mentioned about heart-to-heart communication applies to all human relationships. That way of being connected to another person is quite precious, particularly when discovering one’s soul mate. Y: How can we know who is our soul mate? How can we recognize them? E: Above all, by not looking for them. Y: No flirting, then? Do you mean I must close my eyes in order to find my partner? E: On the contrary, the eye of your heart must be open, wide open. Through it, you will know for certain. Your heart naturally knows what is right and what is wrong. But most of the time, we don’t even listen to it and therefore we suffer. Y: Many girls do attract me, each of them prettier than the others. They are lively and smart and, what’s more, they are charming. How do I know which of them is for me? I don’t feel like suffering or making others suffer due to my mistakes. I often have the feeling that people play a game of roulette with love and that there are far too many losers. E: The one for which your heart will give you a clear resounding ‘yes’ is the one for you. You shall know. She will be yours forever. Y: How can I be sure of it? E: Doubts arise when reasoning comes into play. Intuition comes from the heart, which is connected to the right…

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THIS MONTH'S ISSUE

It changes everything

Weaving harmony

in It changes everything, July 2018

Host of the show enLight’n Up on The Lighter Side Network, DARSHANA PATEL shares some insights on the role of communication and technology in nurturing relationships. Darshana is an energy...

7 extraordinary steps to a fulfilling and loving relationship

Choosing to believe

Thought in action

The heartful negotiator – part 6

in July 2018, Thought in action

Intellect – Logic & Reason In the previous 5 articles of this series, RAVI VENKATESAN explored feelings and emotions of the heart, as well as the role played by our...

Enhancing learning effectiveness

The heartful negotiator – part 5

Focus

A lover’s journey

in Focus, July 2018

LLEWELLYN VAUGHAN-LEE has been on a spiritual path since the age of sixteen. Here he describes how the divine feminine opened up the wonder of love, the heart and the...

Our original nature

The roles of men and women

Be Inspired

Samyama – part 2

in Be inspired, July 2018

ASHTANGA YOGA SERIES What if someone told you there was a simple set of practices that could help you manage every aspect of your daily life, and at the same...

Finding your soul mate

Quest for existence

Taste of Life

Interview

The mental side of the game – part 2

in Interview, July 2018

Ace tennis player and coach DEVINDER SINGH BHUSARI continues to share his insights on the right perspective to sport. Here he talks about how to manage stress and pressure on...