Delphi University of Spiritual Studies, Mc Caysville, GA

November 30, 2013December 2, 2013solanataraLeave a comment

In case you have not read the previous posts, I am sharing with you major intersections on my spiritual journey. It began with taking the Silva Method of Mind Development, which led to a desire to become one of their instructors. Since yoga was a parent of Silva, that led me to my yogic studies. While teaching yoga in California, my mother passed away and I went back to New Jersey to be with my family. It was that time, in 1982 that I finally became certified as a Silva Instructor and began teaching the course at community colleges.

It was while teaching the Silva class that a student, that was not familiar to me, came up and handed me a book written by a woman named, Patricia Hayes. I believe it was called, The Gatekeeper. She said she thought I would be interested in the book. I never saw that student again, and it one of those moments where there is a suspicion of an angelic intercession.

I attended my first week long residential training at Delphi, in 1986, and then many more after that. Delphi was a beautiful retreat center on property that had once been inhabited by the Cherokee Indians, near the Blueridge Mountains of Georgia. The purpose of the class was to assist one to become a clear channel of love, light and healing. It was a major step in the next transformation in my life. I left there in love with the world, with the ability to see the beauty in every being I met. I returned many times for continued training and finally after fulfilling the needed requirements became ordained as a Minister in the Church of Wisdom, taking a vow to guide others on their spiritual path. I went through another two year training and sessions of my own spiritual purification and became certified as a Ro-hun Therapist. Within that time, I moved to Georgia and was hired in as the school administrator, a teacher and Ro-hun therapist for the school.

It was beautiful to watch the transformation of the students from when they arrived to when they leaved. My dad came to take the training, and on the second night he came in a gave me a hug, the first hug since I was a little girl. His heart had been opened. His partner continues to thank me today for the softness that flowered from my father taking the class.

The six years I was involved in Delphi, from 1986 until 1991, have been a major impact in my life, and my teaching, and for what surprising twist of fate was next for me in my life.

http://www.delphiu.com/

The Silva Method of Mind Development

November 29, 2013November 30, 2013solanatara2 Comments

In New Jersey, I first took the Silva Method in 1977, after reading the Power of Alpha Thinking by Jess Stearn. I would say the Silva Method has been a foundation for my life the last 30 or so years. In fact most of my family has also taken the course. It gave me a great sense of confidence to believe things could turn out well if I just went for it and took the leap. It was, I believe, one of the first courses around on the power of positive thinking. The secret was not a secret then.

Jose Silva, had said the parents of the course were yoga and hypnosis. The course taught the yoga meditation practices of Self Mastery, to being aware of our thoughts and consciously put effort into changing our habit patterns, so we could live up to our fullest potential.

At that time the course was set up as two full weekends. The course was based on learning how to access areas of the brain that were more powerfully impacted through our intentions. He called it , “going to level.” At that time the word meditation scared many people off. The practice of “going to level,” continued and deepened as the four days went on. Then we learned techniques we could use, while at level. These included, deep relaxation, stress control, going to sleep without drugs, waking up without an alarm clock, remembering and receiving guidance in our dreams, getting rid of headaches or pain without aspirin, using mental anesthesia, losing weight, quitting smoking or any other habit, self-healing, and increasing our ability to develop our resource for inner guidance and intuition. Oh yes, and of course improving your memory, which was one of my favorite techniques.

Jose Silva, the creator of the course was a great humanitarian. Before coming out of level, we would imagine ourselves viewing all of humanity, depending on their ages, as fathers or mothers, sisters or brothers, or sons or daughters.

Graduates of the program were invited to come back and repeat the course for free. This was a great benefit that I used many times. It allows one to get a Silva tune up and also allows the first timers to hear success stories from the graduates.

I fell in love with the course the first time I took it and felt I wanted to become a teacher of the course, which I did six years later. In the mean time I had lots of preparation to do before I would be ready to teach.

So life took me on a journey, and the next step will be in the next blog post.

Silva is still around and I continue to repeat classes, the last one being in 2012.

Check out their website they have some free offerings. http://www.silvamethod.com

Danielle Steel secretly helping the Homeless in the streets of San Francisco

November 28, 2013November 28, 2013solanataraLeave a comment

I have to admit I have only read a few of Danielle Steel’s books. My sister reads all of them, so quite often I am aware of some of her stories. I usually prefer books considered Spiritual. But this book does fit that genre. This book hits close to my heart because, as Daniel Steel does in her book, I became very involved with working with the homeless. Only she worked in San Francisco and I worked mostly in Marin County, California, one of the most affluent counties in the U.S. It is amazing such an affluent place could have so many homeless. Working with the homeless changed my life. I am glad Danielle wrote this book because I used to think of writing one myself. Like her, I first was very afraid. I see so many people have this fear or deep judgement about the homeless. But as is shared in her book, once you really get to know them, they have fantastic stories.

If you have been afraid of these homeless humans, please read this book, then at least through the reading you will get to know some of them. We are really all one human family, and these are our brothers and sisters that need to be taken care of. I got the book at a busy time in my life, but ended up reading it in one sitting until the early hours of the morning. It is one of her shorter books, but perhaps also one of her best. She also is an inspiration to others to go out and help others. If you are feeling depressed about your life, try helping others. She did this after her son committed suicide. So the best recipe for a happier life is to help those that have less than you and realize maybe your life is not as bad as you thought.

Thank you Danielle for writing this book.

I wrote this review because it is Thanksgiving. For a continued story, see my next blog with more about the homeless.

Spiritual Awakening, I Got It, I Lost It!

November 16, 2013November 23, 2013solanatara2 Comments

Spiritual Awakening is Breaking Free from

the Gravitational Force of our limited Beliefs.

Spiritual Awakening, I got it, I lost it.

Many people, including myself, have had moments of awakening, clear seeing. This is where the realization that we are more than a small, unworthy person and what we are is that which sees, that Presence. I have also had moments of seeing all is right with the world, and that the same Spirit that is in a Holy person is the same Spirit that is in all other beings. This seeing may last a few moments, a day, week, month or even years, and then is lost again.

Here I review chapter three in, The End of Your World, by Adyashanti. He calls the Seer, the Abiding or non- abiding Self. If it stays, it is called Abiding. But even if it is non-abiding, there is a part of us that does not totally forget and can never return to the same level of unconsciousness as before.

I have seen a few people suffer from the idea that they had it and lost it. It is a feeling that we did something wrong and want so much to get it back. Adya comforts us by assuring us that it is just part of the natural awakening process.

Here Adya uses a great rocket ship metaphor for awakening. “A rocket ship takes a tremendous amount of thrust and energy to get off the ground and then to break the gravitational field as it travels through the sky and ultimately into space. If there is enough fuel in the rocket and it gets far enough from the Earth, it can eventually get beyond the gravitational field of the planet. Once the rocket is beyond Earth’s gravitational field, Earth no longer has the power to pull it back down.

He is calling the ego structure, aka the dream state, as the Earth. Its gravitational force has the tendency to pull consciousness down to itself. This force is what one is dealing with through the entire spiritual journey.

Awakening is Breaking Free from this Gravitational Force.

At first an awakening may be a realization that there is not a separate ‘me’. Here is a key point:

“Because we have awakened does not mean that consciousness has gotten past the gravitational pull of the dream state” (aka the ego structure).

‘Thus the, I got it, I lost it phenomenon. The rocket ship has gotten off the ground, gone a few miles up into the atmosphere, and ran out of fuel and is being pulled back to Earth,’ (the ego structure, that which suffers, that which believes it is separate, that which believes things should be different than they are, that which resists what is.)

Awakening happens in just a moment, but the dissolution of the ego takes time, the process that takes one beyond the gravitational force of the Earth.

The above point has been pivotal for my understanding in my own awakening process. This is why I am sharing this now. I feel like I am in a major recycling project. There is a noticing of situations that still create a sense of contraction. Now I see, anytime there is a resistance within me, that is the ego gravitational force. Some thoughts are easier to release into the recycle bin than others, like a single plastic container, but there are still a few that show up that are quite a bit heavier. Although it may be uncomfortable when they arrive as a room mate in my consciousness, I am grateful to work on letting go of whatever takes me away from the Truth of my Being. I am working with being Present with that which is feeling uncomfortable, and bringing in a sense of compassion.

This process is happening to the Consciousness of Human Beings as a whole, and we are all asked participate, if we are aware enough to do so. So know it is part of natural awakening, to get it and then to lose it and that we are being asked to look at that which resists what is, and release that into the Grand Recycle Center of the Universe.

May we all Awaken to the truth of our Being.

Blessings, Solana

The Enlightened Christ, I and my Father are One.

November 12, 2013November 23, 2013solanataraLeave a comment

This weekend I attended an Orientation to the Priest Training of the Christian Community Church, inspired by Rudolph Steiner. Steiner was a mystic who lived in the late 1800’s and was also the inspiration for Waldorf Education. So quite often one might find a Christian Community Church somewhere around a Waldorf Community. Their service is one of the most mystical services I have attended. It has the ritual of the Catholic Church, which I love, and added is the more mystical interpretations of some of the prayers. For example instead of saying, I believe in God, the Father almighty, it says something like, “there is this all mighty being that is the ground of our existence.” This allows one to move into a oneness with the Divine Presence. And all through out the service, the priest (which can be a woman, by the way) says, “Christ in You.” This, for me, allows me the space to move into the awareness of the truth of my Being, that Divine Presence. Now one has to separate the distinction between Jesus the man and Christ the Consciousness, which Steiner does thoroughly in his work. So for those who still love the connection with Christ, but does not appreciate the dogma that the Catholic Church is now trying to move through, this is a wonderful connection. The communion service is the main attraction, so to say, and grape juice is served as the Blood of Christ, to replenish our spirit, instead of wine.

http://www.thechristiancommunity.org/

The Christian Community is also connected to the Anthroposophical Society, that Steiner separated from the Theosophical society, that had been connected with Krishnamurti. http://www.anthroposophy.org/

There are many stories around Jesus in the Yoga community. Many yogis will tell you Jesus spent time in India and they consider him an enlightened Being. Steiner has a very involved story around Jesus becoming the Christ, or Christ moving into Jesus the man at the time of his Baptism. Because they all do not agree with each other, the only thing I can say is that I will not know for sure until the truth is revealed to me in my own awareness. Until then I just keep an opened mind. Who ever Jesus was, he was an amazing being, and his life stories and are inspiring to me.

Some of Steiner’s group use the mantra, “I and the Christ are One,” as a spiritual practice. It is beautiful.

May we all realized the truth of our Being, May all Beings Be Happy.

Blessings,

Solana Tara

An Enlightened Being is All Knowing, true or false?

Image November 4, 2013November 4, 2013solanataraLeave a comment

Lets play the game, true or false!

An enlightened being knows everything. True or False.

False. I used to believe that enlightenment made one ALL Knowing. While enlightenment is a portal into the truth of who we are, it does not automatically make someone all knowing. And while there may be a few great masters out there who can look at us and see into our very nature, it is not the norm for the rest of us. And while a few may see beyond this dimension, if they want to learn a new skill, they still have to go through the process of learning.

Enlightenment is so far out there, I could never achieve it in my lifetime. True or False.

False. While it may have been the truth thousands of years ago, it is not true today. There are many people waking up to the truth of their being. Enlightenment is our natural state and for many of us, our own knowledge of it comes from the great yogic masters who spent years meditating in a cave. (Do you know today you can rent a cave in India?).

But today is a time of great awakening and there is a reach for a critical mass where the influence of this awakening is affecting more and more people. The knowledge of enlightenment and acknowledging the place inside that yearns for the truth is helpful. There are many that believe that the greatest service we can offer humanity is to wake up to the Truth of our Being, so we can lift up the collective consciousness.

When one reaches enlightenment there are no more problems. True or False

True in the sense that they are not seen as problems by the mind. False in the sense that there are still events that come into play in one’s life that one may have to deal with. I used to believe that if one had a health problem after enlightenment, one could automatically heal it. There are those that have moved through their healing process quickly. While there are some Masters, such as Ramakrishna and Ramana Maharshi who just recognized they were not their body and did not feel a need to have to change the illness to the body.

Enlightenment is a one time Event., Poof! I am Enlightened! True or False

False! This one was a great surprise for me and the most recent of my Enlightenment myths de-bunked by three different teachers. Swami Dayananda says that the Buddha’s story of enlightenment is one that has helped to keep this myth alive. Adyashanti in his book, Way of Liberation says that, “The enlightenment I speak of is not simply a realization, not simply the discovery one one’s true nature. This is just the beginning, the point of entry into an inner revolution. Realization does not guarantee this revolution, it simply makes it possible.”

I highly recommend this book, it is what I am studying at the moment. Here is a link for a free pdf.

http://www.adyashanti.org/library/The_Way_of_Liberation_Ebook.pdf
Blessings, Solana Tara