Tapas and Tea

Perhaps the sight of deer skulls after meditation is a bit unsettling for most, but for me, seeing these warms my heart and reminds me of my main man.....

Every morning has started out with my Tapas and a cup of (piping) hot tea. I have so enjoyed the daily routine and I feel as if there is an underlying peace now that wasn't totally there before. I started adopting and practicing weekly tapas while in India. What is a "tapa" you ask (no, it's not a small dish at a Spanish restaurant)?

I will preface our "tapas" talk with a bit of background information. First of all, there are eight limbs to yoga, "asana" (physical postures) only being one of them. They are...
1. Yamas (external code of conduct)
There are 5 Yamas: ahimsa (nonviolence), satya (truthfulness), asteya (nonstealing), brahmacharya (conserving energy, continence), aparigraha (noncoveting)
2. Niyamas (internal code of conduct):
There are 5 Niyamas: saucha (purity), santosa (contentment), tapas (spiritual austerities), svadhyaya (self study), ishvara pranhidana (surrender to god)
3. Asana (postures)
4. Pranayama (breath control)
5. Pratayhara (withdraw of the senses)
6. Dharana (concentration)
7. Dhyana (meditation)
8. Samadhi (enlightenment)

While in India, I actually worked my way through the Yamas and the Niyamas, embodying (and journaling about) each for a full week. It was such a great practice in awareness, and I highly recommend it to all of you as well! The Yamas and the Niyamas are the backbone of how I live my life, with each building upon the one before. Observing and living these in my daily life have shed so much light on so many things...I am so grateful. Anywho, TAPAS:

***************Tapas : 3^rd Niyama (austerity, fiery discipline)*****

“Tapas” is one of the most powerful concepts in the Yoga Sutras.  The word “tapas” comes from the Sanskrit verb “tap” which means “to burn”. The traditional interpretation of tapas is that it is “fiery  discipline”. It is this discipline which burns off the impediments which us from being in the state of yoga. Another way to understand tapas is to think of it as consistency.  One of the highest disciplines is that of consistency: getting on the yoga mat every day, sitting on the meditation cushion every day, observing the antics of the mind every day, forgiving your mate or your child yet another time. If tapas is considered in this vein, then it becomes a more subtle practice, a practice that is concerned with the quality of life and relationships, not just with outlasting some difficulty.
When we bring a commitment born of love to our consistent practice of yoga, we are practicing the niyama of tapas. It is with this spirit of abiding in the midst of difficulty which is at the heart of tapas. This is the spirit of tapas: the willingness to follow through with difficult decisions while maintaining compassion for all the effects that those decisions might have for self and others. Tapas is ultimately measured in the consistent willingness to begin practice again and again, over and over again to bring awareness to this very moment. (http://www.judithlasater.com/writings/livingtheniyamas2.html)


Tapas is the joyful willingness to do what is necessary to reach a goal with fiery   discipline.
Tapas (austerity) refers to strength of character in resolute pursuit of yoga’s ultimate goal of the union of Self (Atman) and Brahman (God).  The word “Tapas” translate as a spiritual purification or fiery discipline that burns away impediments that keep us from achieving our highest potential of Self.
Many have mistakenly practiced Tapas as self-mortification.  Fasting, a meager diet, and other forms of extreme asceticism are not in alignment with our first, and most important, yama of ahimsa (non-violence). While the practice of austerities in moderation trains the will and develops body and mind, excessive asceticism and self-mortification has the opposite affect. Tapas is one of the most powerful practices in the Yoga Sutras.

The word “Tapas” comes from the Sanskrit verb “tap” which means “to burn.” The traditional interpretation of Tapas is a “fiery discipline” that is a fiercely focused, constant, intense commitment necessary to burn off the impediments that keep us from being in the true state of yoga (union with the universe).

Practice: Maintain a constant determination to pursue daily practices.  Make sacrifices as necessary, but do not hurt self or other in the process.  Be enthusiastic about the spiritual path. Be joyfulness with outer discipline as a means of refining a joyful inner discipline. Remember Tapas is a joyful willingness to do what is necessary to reach a goal with fiery discipline, it is not a punishment.

Tapas turns up the heat
Tapas is a practice of balanced austerity, sacrifice, and discipline. Tapas means “heat” or “fire.” Go through the heat and accept it – invite it in. Fire brings transformation while leading into stillness. If you are not in stillness, you are in craving or in aversion. In other words, you are suffering. Transformation happens through the fire with presence and persistency.  As the layers of ego melt away, the truth of love shines through.

Tapas (Discipline vs Difficulty)
Unfortunately, many people mistakenly equate discipline in a yoga practice with difficulty. They see another student striving to perfect the most difficult poses and assume she must be more disciplined and therefore more spiritually advanced.

Difficulty does not make a practice transformational. 
It is true that good things are sometimes difficult, but not all difficult things are automatically good. In fact, difficulty can create its own impediments. The ego is drawn to battle with difficulty. Even mastering a challenging yoga pose can bring pride and an egoistic attachment to being an “advanced” yoga student.  This impedes or slows your progress.  A better way to understand Tapas is to think of it as a non-attached consistency in striving toward your goals.

Ultimate practice of Tapas: Love yourself and your life exactly as it IS.  Change nothing, but move with more and more presence and consistency.  Be vigilant that your thoughts, actions and speech are rooted in love. (http://www.gaiaflowyoga.com/2010/07/31/tapas-3rd-niyama-austerity-fiery-discipline-2/)

  

I begin Gabrielle Bernsteins "May Cause Miracles" 40 day affirmation and meditation series four weeks ago, and I haven't missed a day since I began - because I took it on as one of my tapas. Also as a tapa, I am doing the Kundalini kriya,  "Ego Eradicator"  every morning before I read the day's entry. After my morning breathwork, reading and meditation I head inside and begin my ritual: I boil water and almond milk with a cinnamon stick, fresh ginger, cardamom and green tea chai. I sit down, quietly sip and thoroughly enjoy my mornings cup of tea. Are there mornings when I'm fucking exhausted and would rather hit the snooze button? Absolutely. But I am choosing to honor the tapas that I've made, knowing that they are helping me to come into my highest self. One of my favorite parts of my morning tapas is that I have been practicing outside, in the same place, seated on the edge of our property, looking out over the grass and into the trees that my Dad planted around our home. It is this time in the morning that I feel most connected to him, when all is quiet and the world seems to be completely still. Sometimes I feel his presence in the breeze around me as I sit in meditation. Once he even sat with me in meditation. When I open my eyes I see the deer skulls from one of his last hunting ventures sitting outside in the grass, and I know that there must be more to life than this short existence that we are in. Whether he is in heaven, or just floating around on the breeze - his body has passed but his spirit is still here and all around.

I invite you all to take on a tapa for a week. And then add another week. And another. They say that it takes 40 days for true change to set in, for old patterns to be broken, and for new patterns to emerge. So perhaps you set it for fourty days. But be kind to yourself, and don't set yourself up for failure by setting some crazy insane goal. While in India my tapa began as one week of waking up and doing 3 rounds of uddiyana bandha followed by a one minute headstand. The next week I decided to add 3 rounds of U.B. followed by a minute of kapalabti and a 2 minute headstand. The third week it was 3 rounds of U.B., 3 minutes of kapalabati, and 3 minute headstand. So on, and so forth. It was a gradual increase and then at the end of 7 weeks I had powerful lungs, a killer headstand, a proud heart, and a still mind. Best of luck to you all. God Bless.

I Am Love.

Today's affirmation in Bernsteins' May Cause Miracles is "I Am Love". It reminded me of Louise Hays, "I Love Myself", which I often read to myself. I'm happy to share it with all of you! 

~I LOVE MYSELF AFFIRMATION-LOUISE HAY~

Deep at the centre of my being,
there is an infinite well of love.

I now allow this love to flow to the surface.
It fills my heart, my body, my mind, my consciousness,
my very being, and radiates out from me in all directions
and returns to me multiplied.
The more love I use and give, the more I have to give.
The supply is endless.
The use of love makes me feel good,
it is an expression of my inner joy.

I love myself;
therefore, I take loving care of my body.
I lovingly feed it nourishing foods and beverages,
I lovingly groom it and dress it, and my body lovingly
responds to me with vibrant health and energy.

I love myself; therefore provide for myself
a comfortable home, one that fills
all my needs and is a pleasure to be in.
I fill the rooms with the vibration of love
so that all who enter, myself included,
will feel this love and be nourished by it.

I love myself; therefore I work at a job I truly enjoy
doing, one that uses my creative talents and abilities,
working with and for people I love and who love me,
and earning a good income.

I love myself; therefore, I behave and think in a loving
way to all people for I know that that which I give out
returns to me multiplied.
I only attract loving people in my world,
for they are a mirror of what I am.

I love myself; therefore I forgive and totally release
the past and all past experiences and I am free.

I love myself; therefore I live totally in the now,
experiencing each moment as good and knowing that
my future is bright and joyous and secure,
for I am a beloved child of the Universe
and the Universe lovingly takes care of me
now and forever more.

Three F's

As most of you are well aware, the "F" word is my favorite word. But today I found myself struggling with three other "F"'s....

• fear
• father
• forgiveness

Since beginning Bernsteins' "May Cause Miracles", I have felt pretty good. I consider myself very open to things such as my fears. I am constantly expressing gratitude (one of the things on my gratitude list was "club soda"....I really make sure I cover and express thanks for every little thing...). And I am pretty good about forgiving myself for any hiccups that come up in my path. Alas, rewind to this morning...

I woke up exhausted. I'd taught two classes and had given several massages before singing last night. The gig was great, friends were aplenty, but hours of shut eye were few. I woke up early to continue my commitment to Miracles, the Ego Eradicator, and a few minutes of meditation. Adding to this exhaustion was the heaviness that I have felt building in my heart these past few days. I have missed my Dad so much lately....good god almighty, I have been missing him something awful. Tomorrow would be his birthday, and every time that I think about it my throat gets tight. My lists of "fears" and journal entries about "fears" are full and detailed, but none of them have the effect on me as this one. And it was today that I had this "a-ha!" moment of awareness...of my true fear....and that is being without my Dad. This is what I love about Bernstein, what I love about this journey we are on, what I love about a little bit of self-inquiry work....the unfolding. Bit by bit more and more is revealed to us - and just when we think we can see the whole picture- more comes into view. So not that I want to back-track and edit my list of fears, but now I understand where most of these fears stem from, why they are so pronounced at the moment, and hell - I even have a lot more to add.

Tonight I am going to a friends wedding....and weddings are a real shitfuck at the moment for me. Add this to the list of fears...

• My father will never be at my wedding. 

It seems like a weird statement of a fear, but I truly cannot imagine my moment without him by my side. Actually, since I'm being honest with myself, I fear that

• No man could ever love me if he didn't know my father. 

How could you? How could you know me if you didn't meet the person who made me all of who I am? For this, I thank one of my students who gently reminded me today: "Cailin, this is the way I see it: you are a special, amazing, talented, powerful being. You make so many people feel amazing. Celebrate, because you wouldn't be you without your Dad...and he is so proud of you. Whether he's physically here or not, he's IN you, and you bring so much joy to SO MANY. Whatever got you here to be "you" was right -- even though that seems too hard to believe at times."

Every choice I now make, I make with a hesitation that is based in fear, because my Dad was always my best friend and my sounding board, who's opinion was like gold to me. I still have these conversations with him now about the day to day as well as life's big events, and I try to hear his voice in my head - reassuring me that I'm on the right path.  But still,

• I fear that I'm making the wrong decisions some days.

Backtracking, all of the fears that have recently come up for me spring from him.

• Being alone. *I never worried about this so much when he was alive, because I wasn't alone...I had him.
• Being disliked. *Somehow it didn't matter as much when I had someone love me so fiercely. And I can still hear him laughing, "Ah, Cailin...if they're not with me then they're again' me...so fuck em."

And one of my biggest fears is that I know what he would be telling me right now if he were alive, and it's advice that I am having a hard time following. He'd say...

chill out.
dig your toes in the mud. (clamming)
stop working so hard.
i love you.

And even though I know he'd be saying this to me, it's hard to do without his encouragement. 

So honestly, today was pretty fucking shit for me. My body and my spirit feel broken, but I'm *forgiving* myself and choosing to believe in Miracles. Every day is a miracle, a blessing...I truly feel this. Some days I am amazed that I am still living and breathing despite my Dad being gone...it just doesn't seem possible...but it's a Miracle. And though it is hard, I am willing to see my fears differently - I am willing to see love. I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES.

Miracles : Day 4

May Cause Miracles

Day Four

Thursday August 8th 

Day Four: Gratitude is the Attitude

Trust that the feeling of gratitude is stronger than fear.
  

Morning Reflection Day 4: 
Read the passage below, then sit for one minute of silence - close your eyes and breathe deeply in your nose and out your mouth. This minute of silence will let the message set in and permeate your being. Let the feeling of gratitude come over you.

"I begin my day with gratitude. I am grateful for another day. I am grateful to breathe the air. I'm grateful for the trees, the grass, and the sky. I open my mind to focus on gratitude today. I release all littleness, all limiting beliefs. I choose gratitude instead."


Affirmation Day 4: Gratitude Is My Only Attitude. 
Gratitude unleashes the loving presence within you and will awaken your miracle mind.

Evening Exercise Day 4: 
Begin with a gratitude list. Write down a list of ten things in your life that you're grateful for. Big or small. Whatever it is that you're grateful for today.  Now revisit your notes from Day 1. Make a list of your top five fears, adn then next to each one write what you've learned and why you're grateful for these assignments. Try to see your fears in a new light. This helps you to focus on how your fear is guiding you to grow rather than to stay stuck. All problems offer us opportunities to strengthen our faith in love.

 

"Dear Inner Guide, 

I am committed to transforming my fears to love. I will open my heart and mind to love and I will let my intuition guide me. I welcome all the spiritual assignments that may come and I am ready, willing, and able to smother my fears with the light of love. I choose to see love instead of fear."

Miracles: Day 3

May Cause Miracles
Wednesday August 7th
Day Three

Day Three: Choose A New Perspective

The practice of proactively choosing a better perception. 
  

Morning Reflection Day 3: 
Read the passage below, then sit for one minute of silence - close your eyes and breathe deeply in your nose and out your mouth. This minute of silence will let the message set in and permeate your being.

"There's always a loving perspective. Today I welcome new perceptions. I am willing to let go of my old limiting beliefs and let love enter in. I choose to believe that there is always a loving perspective. I choose to see love."


Affirmation Day 3: Love Did Not Create This. 
Fear is an illusion and only love is real. Use this affirmation throughout the day whenever you witness fear sneak it. You don't need to intellectualize the process. Just respond to your fear with this loving affirmation. 

At some point during the day, make an inventory....write down one moment in which you used your affirmation this morning, and then answer the following questions:

1. What was my fear?
2. How did it feel to use my affirmation?
3. How did my energy shift (if only for a moment)? 

Evening Exercise Day 3: 
With pen and paper, write out the following...

"Dear Inner Guide, 
I am committed to transforming my fears to love. I will open my heart and mind to love and I will let my intuition guide me. I welcome all the spiritual assignments that may come and I am ready, willing, and able to smother my fears with the light of love. I choose to see love instead of fear."
SIgn the letter and post this letter on your desk, your bathroom mirror...somewhere that you can see it often. Post it in a sacred space that is just for you. 

Miracles: Day Two

May Cause Miracles

Day Two

Tuesday August 6th

Day Two: Become Willing

The slightest willingness to see your life with love will be the catalyst for your greatest change. When you become willing to change, you surrender to a greater perception, a loving perception. Today's work is about letting go and surrendering to the deep desire within. When you let go, your surrender will crack open your connection to your inner guide - and the loving voice that comes forth will lead the way to new perceptions and become an everlasting companion throughout your miraculous transformation.
 

Morning Reflection Day 2: 
Read the passage below, then sit for one minute of silence - close your eyes and breathe deeply in your nose and out your mouth. This minute of silence will let the message set in and permeate your being.


"Today I am willing to see things differently. Today I am willing to change my mind. I know a simple shift in perception will create a miraculous shift. I know change is what I need. I surrender, I am willing, I am ready to see love. -ing, show me what you've got. Show me the way..."


Affirmation Day 2: I Am Willing To See This Differently. I Am Willing To See Love. 
Let this affirmation guide you out of fear every moment you feel stuck. Use it to open your heart and surrender to love.

Evening Exercise Day 2:
I am willing to see love instead of this...

Heads up - you may resist this practice at first. It's a little mind-blowing. Let's get started. 

Take a moment to reflect on your day, and make a list of all the fears taht came up for you today. Next to each fear write this affirmation from A Course In Miracles: "I am willing to see love instead of this." For instance, if your fear was "I'm afraid to speak up in the office meeting for fear of having my ideas rejected", simply write: I am willing to see love instead of this. Make your list of fears and then affirm that you're willing to see love instead. 

1. breathe in: I choose to release my fear
2. breathe out: I surrender.
3. breathe in: I choose to release my fear
4. breathe out: I surrender.
5. breathe in: I choose to release my fear
6. breathe out: I surrender.
   

MCM Day One Review

FEAR. Bah. What a sneaky bitch fear is! Gabrielle sums it up perfectly...

"Choosing loving thoughts over fearful delusions was a tough transition at first. It seems easy - who doesn't want to trade in fear for love? But giving up fear is like giving up sugar: they're both sneaky ingredients that hide out in almost everything. And just when you think you've got that craving under control, suddenly it rears its not-so-pretty head again. Releasing fear isn't for dabblers. It requires diligence and commitment. It requires you to become a full-on miracle worker."

Amen sister.

Today's fear that was most prominent had to do with teaching. I want to share what I wrote in my journal after this mornings class in Margate...

"Teaching new students in Margate who usually practice with Ari triggers my fear. I worry that my class won't be "physical" enough or will be "too spiritual". This makes me second guess myself and I move into a scattered, insecure place. I feel very vulnerable and judged, which makes me shut down. I fear that I am not good enough. Doubt triggers my fear. The feelings that come with this are insecurity and vulnerability...which affects my behavior by causing me to shut down on the inside."

There was more that I jotted down throughout the day, and I'm so thankful for all that everyone on the email list shared as well. Julianne shared....

"...and every time my alarm went off saying "I am willing to witness my fear," I was amazed that another hour had passed. I wrote "time moves so quickly," completely freaked that the day was moving like this, but later I realized that it was something positive that I could learn from. Time moves so quickly; I don't have time for fear."


Time moves so quickly; I don't have time for fear.

Day One

I believe in miracles. I witnessed one. My Dad was a miracle. Every day he chose love over fear, no matter what, up until he left this physical world. And if he could do it, well so can I. 

My alarm went off this morning and I sprung out of bed, super excited for day one! Though my meditation altar is in my room, I felt a pull to practice outside. I did 2 minutes of the kundalini Ego Eradicator to cleanse my mind and energy, setting the tone for my morning sadhana (I invite you all to incorporate this short but powerful kriya into your morning....it is amazing). From there I read day one in MCM aloud, wrote down the affirmation and short morning reading into my journal, and had a short meditation. The total time for all of this (including the ego eradicator)? 14 minutes. 14 minutes to make miracles. Boom. I have my journal with me so that I can write down anything that comes up for me- no matter how small or insignificant it may seem. My alarm is set for 4:30pm with the label "Miracle Moment" (I set my favorite song as the alarm tone), so I can take a minute in my day to just take a deep breath and reconnect with my affirmation. I'm already feeling super fucking powerful and amazing...so excited for this journey ahead!

*a great app for timing your meditation (so you don't open your eyes and cheat) is called the "INSIGHT TIMER". Check it out. 

My morning meditation and reflection oasis...

MIRACLES: Day One

Again...though I would LOVE to do this throughout the whole book - my schedule is spread pretty thin and to honor my spirit and my body I cannot continue to post these. BUT, I know there are a few of you who won't be getting your books on time - and since this is a group effort, we are all supporting one another in the journey, here it is: day one!

May Cause Miracles

Day One

Monday August 5th

Day One: Witness Your Fear

Your goal today is to be the witness of your thoughts, actions and energy. When we're not aware of our fear, it takes residence in every area of our lives. Today's work is to raise your consciousness and open your mind to your fear-based patterns. You must witness your behavior if you want to truly change it. You must look at your fear head-on to recognize that believing its lies was a choice you made. Today you'll begin a journey of choosing differently.

Everyone has individual fears that are unique to them. Each of us picks up fear from our past and re-creates it in the present, then projects it onto the future. Projection is perception - therefore whatever fear-based beliefs you've been projecting onto your internal movie screen have become the film that is your life.

Morning Reflection Day 1:
Read the passage below, then sit for one minute of silence - close your eyes and breathe deeply in your nose and out your mouth. This minute of silence will let the message set in and permeate your being.

"Today I am the witness to my fear. I open my heart and mind to see how I have chosen fear over love. Today I will watch myself as if I"m standing across teh street peeking into the world that I have created. I will witness how my fears run the show. I will pay attention to my patterns. Without judgement I will become conscious of where my mind chose wrongly and how these fear-based thoughts have tainted my happiness. I know this practice is the first step to uncovering my destructive patterns to create powerful change. I am ready, willing, and able to look at the delusional thoughts I've been projecting. I'm willing to witness my fear."

Affirmation Day 1: I Am Willing to Witness My Fear
Whenever you notice your fears rise up during the day, repeat the preceding affirmation. Take this message with you throughout the day by plugging it into your phone as an hourly reminder. When the alarm goes off, read your affirmation to gently remind yourself to look courageously at your fear straight-on and say, "I am willing to witness my fear".


In addition to using your affirmation, set your alarm on your phone for noon (or your lunch break) with a notification called "miracle break". When your alarm buzzes, gently remind yourself to choose love over fear by reciting your affirmation.

Evening Exercise Day 1:
In your journal...

1. What experiences trigger my fear?
2. What thoughts trigger my fear?
3. What are the feelings that come over me when I am in fear?
4. How does my fear affect my behavior?

Be sure to take this step seriously, because we'll be reflecting on it in later weeks. Once you've identified a few of your fears, take a moment to determine which fears are the strongest. Chose your top three fears and then rate each one's strength on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the strongest). Write these fears at the top of a new page in your journal and repeat your affirmation out loud: "I'm willing to witness my fear, I am proud of myself for doing this work."

In your meditation space, place your hands on your knees, palms facing up, taking deep breaths in through your nose and exhaling out through the mouth.

1. take a moment to reflect on the fears from your day
2. allow yourself to become present
3. center in your body
4. breathe deeply in nose, out mouth
5. continue this cycle of breath
6. breathe in the feelings that came up for you today
7. allow yourself to honor any feelings of discomfort, anxiety, or fear
8. be present with your feelings
9. breathe in your feelings
10. exhale and release
11. honor and allow yourself to accept whatever feeling is with you now
12. take one last deep breath in and release

Miracles: Week One

MAY CAUSE MIRACLES: WEEK ONE

FEAR : False Evidence Appearing Real
When you focus on fear, it becomes your reality.

In every situation, no matter how horrifying it may be, we have a choice: the choice to see love instead of fear. A Course in Miracles says, "You may believe that you are responsible for what you do, but not for what you think. The truth is that you are responsible for what you think, because it is only at this level that you can exercise choice. What you do comes from what you think." The Course teaches us that when we choose our ego's false perceptions, we become separated from God (aka LOVE). This week we are looking directly into the ego. We will be guided to surrender our ego fears to a power greater than you: your inner guide. This inner guide is the voice of love. "Love will immediately enter into any mind that truly wants it." The subtle shifts for miraculous change occur when you choose to surrender your fear to your inner guidance system for healing...releasing fear through prayer, meditation, affirmations, and the daily unique practices throughout the book. THIS COURSE TAKES COMMITMENT AND TIME....at first it will seem like a lot, but it will get easier as time goes on and you empower yourself more and more!

Day 1: Begin the practice of witnessing. Witness fears so that you can start to understand the choice you've made to focus on them.
Day 2: Surrender to the willingness to change.
Day 3: Begin to choose a loving perspective and start to say no to fear.
Day 4: Focus on gratitude, which will awaken the love presence within you and give you some extra juice for day 5....
Day 5: Forgiveness. Introducing the possibility of forgiveness to ignite your willingness to jump-start the practice of the F word.
Day 6: Awaken your miracle mind set of love. Seeing a world beyond what you have previously chosen to believe in.
Day 7: Self reflection and preparation.

Week one guides us to identify how fear has tripped us up and blocked our life's flow. We are guided to embrace the key principles: witnessing your fear, willingness to change, shifts in perception, gratitude, forgiveness, expecting miracles, and reflecting and recapping.

The results of Week One??

1. Being miracle minded will enhance every area of your life.
2. You'll come to understand your fear and therefore be willing to release it.
3. Each exercise offers up a subtle shift in your perspective towards life. The more subtle shifts you add up, the more peace you will feel.
4. Judgment, attack, and anger will subside.
5. You'll inherently know a new serenity, and miracles will occur naturally. 

Miracles

May Cause Miracles is a 40 Day Guidebook of Subtle Shifts for Radical Change and Unlimited Happiness!! You're in right?? There are six weeks, broken down into:

Week 1: Becoming Miracle Minded
Week 2: A New Self-Perception
Week 3: Body Image
Week 4: Relationships
Week 5: Raise Your Self-Worth, Raise Your Net Worth
Week 6: Working Miracles

"Heaven on Earth is a choice you must make, not a place you must find." 

--Wayne Dyer

Bernstein says...

"Sticking to the Course principles is that the more you choose gratitude, forgiveness, and love, the more miracles you experience. If you're wondering what I mean by "miracle", it's simple: a miracle is a shift in perspective from fear to love. A miracle can be the moment you choose to forgive your ex-lover and let go of decades of resentment, or the moment you recognize that losing your job was not a tragedy but an opportunity to follow your true calling. Simply put, each moment you choose love over fear is a miracle. And the more miracles you add up, the less likely you are to perceive life through dark-colored lenses. When you choose to perceive love over fear, life begins to flow. You feel peaceful and you see love in all situations. Your hang-ups subside and your life feels guided."

40 DAYS...

Try your best not to skip ahead or practice more than one exercise a day. If you'd like you can read the next days guide the night before as you lay in bed so that you can contemplate it a bit before you go to sleep, and then practice the affirmation throughout your day, and do your journaling right before bed. Maybe you'll want to set your alarm ten minutes early and read the days guide and then journal before dinnertime. It's not necessary, but I have included the EGO ERADICATOR, which only takes 3 minutes, because I have found it to be a powerful tool for change, and also - it's Gabrielle Bernsteins favorite kundalini kriya!

What you need for the 40 day course:

1. May Cause Miracles book by Gabrielle Bernstein (the physical book or an ebook)

2. A meditation space

3. A journal

Your Meditation Space:

A lot of this course is about self-reflection. Set up a meditative space in your home. Maybe it's a corner in your bedroom, a nook in your office, or simply the edge of your bed. Find a space where you can be alone and feel at peace. My meditative space has some pictures of my Dad, friends and loved ones. I have a little buddha statue, some incense, candles, crystals, and some little notes with positive words written on them. 

Your Journal:

Have it with you at all times! You never know when something is going to come up. 

ON THE BLOG: 

I have created a MAY CAUSE MIRACLES tab on the right hand side just for this Course.

WHY FORTY DAYS???
True transformation occurs with daily repetition. Metaphysicians and yogis place much emphasis on the repetition of a forty day practice. Mythical examples range from Moses's forty days and forty nights spent on Mount Sinai to the story of the Buddha reaching enlightenment on the full moon in May after meditating and fasting under the bodhi tree for forty days. Scientific significance? Research has shown that after repeating a new pattern for forty days, you can change the neural pathways in your brain to create long lasting change. FORTY DAY FEAR CLEANSE! 

You definitely need to have the book, but I know that some of you were late joining us and will not receive the book until day 3 or so...so for the first week I will post the information for the day. But please, I do have a busy schedule and will not be able to keep up with this throughout. To be a part of our email group, message me on my gmail account cailin.callahan@gmail.com . If you are following along with us, or jump in at anytime, please message us! The email group is so that we can support one another with any struggles, share our stories, encourage one another, and have a team to go through this with together! At the end I will be organizing a dinner of some sort, and I hope that you'lll all be able to make it. If you'd like to share any of your stories on the blog please let me know and I will happily share it! 

Miracles.

May Cause Miracles.

Juno

It's almost Monday! Have you ordered your "May Cause Miracles" book yet?! I'm super excited about the 40 day commitment that lay ahead, and I'm pumped that some of you are taking that journey with me. While talking about this with one of my massage clients, Mike, he asked if I'd read "A Return to Love" by Marianne Williams. This is a book of 'reflections on the principles of A COURSE IN MIRACLES", which Mike assured me was a great prelude into the somewhat-heavy-hard-to-digest Course. Because he is an amazing man (who also has an amazing dog, Juno, who likes to cuddle with me while I'm trying to massage his dad!), he had a copy of this book for me when I arrived for our weekly massage the other day! I dove right into it and was reading from it for my class this morning. Williamson writes...

'SEEING YOUR STRENGTHS EXACTLY AS THEY ARE, AND EQUALLY AWARE OF WHERE THEY CAN BE BEST APPLIED, FOR WHAT, TO WHOM AND WHEN, HE CHOOSES AND ACCEPTS YOUR PART FOR YOU.'

"Success means we go to sleep at night knowing that our talents and abilities were used in a way that served others. We're compensated by grateful looks in people's eyes, whatever material abundance supports us in performing joyfully and at high energy, and the magnificent feeling that we did our bit today to save the world.

The Atonement means putting love first. In everything. In business as well as everything else. You're in business to spread love. Your screenplay should spread love. Your hair salon should spread love. Your agency should spread love. Your life should spread love. The key to a successful career (and life) is realizing that its not separate from the rest is your life, but rather is an extension of your most basic self. And your most basic self is love.

Knowing who you are and why you came here- that you are a child of God and that you came here to heal and be healed- is more important than knowing what you want to do. What you want to do is not the important question. The question to ask is, "When I do anything, how should I do it?". And the answer is "Kindly." People don't normally associate business with kindness, because bush was has come to be regarded as simply a tool for making money. Miracle-workers are not it business only to make money; they're in business to inject love into the world. That shift is a miracle.

Dear God, please give my life some sense of purpose. Use me as an instrument of your peace. Use my talents and abilities to spread love. I surrender my job to you. Help me to remember that my real job is to love the world back to health. Thank you very much. Amen."

Amen. Aho. Namaste.
God. The Divine. Universal Spirit.
Love. Love. Love.

In today's class I had everyone meditate on their strengths. And then pick one, and let it be their mantra throughout class. Opening and filling their hearts with this strength and intention. And then to make a promise to always move from this space, from this strength, no matter what facet of life. It was a dark, rainy day and we enjoyed a slow, deep, mindful class. It was just what the doctor ordered, and then I had some breakfast (the most delicious crab and spinach omelette to be exact) at the OC Surf Cafe with Brookie afterwards. Such a great morning. Feeling super blessed today!

May Cause Miracles

I have been diving into this book randomly, and I love it. I got hooked on Gabby Bernstein during her amazing "speak easy" @ Wanderlust Vermont. This book is a more digestible, accessible version of the profound "A Course In Miracles". I'm inviting you to join me as I go on this 40 day journey with this book, and the "Ego Erradicator", beginning this MONDAY August 5th. If you order the book on amazon right now (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0307986934).  you will have it in time. So what are you waiting for....lets have this radical change together!

Me and Gabrielle