Meditation
The Phenomenon Of Out-Of-Body Experiences
An out-of-body experience (OBE) is a phenomenon that can happen after surgery, when we experience severe trauma, during meditation, astral travel, and so on. They are also associated with near-death-experiences (NDE). It is usually characterized by a feeling of leaving your physical body, or observing yourself from outside your body. I have experienced this phenomenon several times in my life.
Reports of OBEs vary from person to person, but they often involve the sense of floating above one’s body, or looking down on yourself. You may also see a bright light during an OBE, and sometimes colors and a warm, pleasant sensation. Some people see deceased family members.
In my experience an out-of-body experience is a unique opportunity to step outside of our physical existence into the spiritual realm. Sometimes we experience this because our soul needs to ‘restart.’ So, when you are in a state of meditation, or when you are feeling relaxed, or sedated after surgery, this may happen to realign the body and soul.
Part of the soul’s purpose is to keep the vessel (our body) alive. Our soul is connected to a silver cord, much like an umbilical cord, which keeps things intact, so that we can always come back to our body after an OBE.
Strange Connections
A few years ago, one of my daughters and I discovered the intricate and intriguing world of the meditative state. As it turned out, my daughter had an inherent ability to bring anyone who was interested in participating to a complete and extremely fruitful outcome. This could mean meeting a spirit guide, animal guide, finding and understanding of one’s own soul color, or a plethora of other magnificent occurrences that can help to enhance an individual’s life.
It soon became known in our area that we were offering a free and viable service, and it was not long before our little workshop was at its full capacity.
One particular day, as we were getting ready for our next workshop, my little three-year-old granddaughter informed us that a deaf man would be arriving that day. We never thought to question the validity of her statement or even questioned how she would know this for a fact. She said it, we believed her, and simply waited for him to arrive. That’s how we do things in my family.
Well, the next thing we know, one of our regular participants pulls up in his vehicle and out comes another older gentleman, who we find out fairly quickly is completely deaf in one ear. As we became more familiar with him, he was more inclined to share with us his life’s story.
He was born and raised in South Africa, came to North America as a teenager with his family. Although the medical community could not determine a real cause for his hearing impediment, they did conclude that he was indeed legally deaf.
Love, Joy And Happiness After Years Of Hardship
I have a client who used to be extremely depressed. I recommend she speak to a therapist or counselor instead, because I felt that is exactly what she needed at the time. She had been harboring a lot of bitterness, grief, sadness, anger and other toxic negative emotions for a very long time. She needed professional help that I felt was beyond my scope of expertise.
So, she found a therapist and went for counseling, but months later she told me that the only thing she felt she accomplished was her spending thousands of dollars on help she never really received. She had still found no relief from her deep distress.
She had been bitter for a long time. While raising her children and attending church, her husband would cheat on her. She also worked the entire time the children were young, until they graduated. Meanwhile, he would leave on ‘business trips’ to go and gamble away their hard-earned livelihood, and spend time with other women. Then one day, he met someone he wanted to marry. So, they divorced and he moved far away to be with his new wife. He was a narcissist.
Her sadness and grief was also due to the loss of her mother, whom she had taken care of for 20 years after her father passed. She sacrificed a lot to dedicate herself to serving her mother’s needs. During this time she had no notion of self-care. She suffered on all levels: emotionally, physically, spiritually. She even gave up going to church. She was slowly dying inside and didn’t even know who she was anymore.
How To Live A More Spiritually Aware Life
To lead a more spiritual, and therefore a happier and more fulfilled life, you do not need to develop a passion for incense, or hire a guru to assist you in going through some form of spiritual awakening. Instead, you may be comfortable with more down to earth approach.
Firstly, it is important to recognize that religion and spirituality are not necessarily the same things. Religion is just one form of spiritual practice. Spirituality itself is something that comes from within the individual.
Spiritual awareness is a sustained belief that there is much more to life than meets the eye, something greater than yourself, even though you have no evidence for it. Hold onto this belief or feeling, as it is very, very real!
One of the best ways to get in touch with your spirituality is to spend time in nature. It does not matter whether you live, in a town, city, or rural area, connecting with nature is imperative, as it will help to bring a sense of peace to your overworked mind, and it will uplift your spirit with its rejuvenating power. By doing so, it will assist with your spiritual development.
To become more spiritually aware it is also important to learn to control your inner dialogue. Becoming a more spiritual person involves monitoring your inner voice and making sure that your self-talk is healthy. Meditation can be particularly helpful in this respect, as well as recognizing any negative thought patterns or false beliefs that you may have.
Choosing A Spiritual Path With Heart
There are many blind choices we make when we are too young or inexperienced to make the best decisions for ourselves. We are born into a family, or raised in a culture, for example, with its unique traditions and beliefs, or lack thereof, and we are usually quite susceptible in our youth to these influences.
In the process of becoming an adult, the questioning of such beliefs and traditions leads us towards who we will become, to discovering what truly resonates with us, and what does not. But this is something we may have taken lightly in our youth, and therefore needs to be looked over several times in our life to find out with real sincerity what is truly calling us.
It is possible that being born in a traditional Christian home, for example, we felt constrained and limited, even small and powerless, ultimately causing us to reject all dogmatic religion. For someone else, brought up maybe in an atheist home, the search for God or faith may bring a profound sense of empowerment and life purpose that nurtures their life. It all depends on us as individuals, and how we process our own reality.
Carlos Castaneda writes in The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, “Before you embark on any path ask the question: does this path have a heart? If the answer is no, you will know it, and then you must choose another path. The trouble is nobody asks the question; and when a man finally realizes that he has taken a path without a heart, the path is ready to kill him.”
Mandala Meditation
Mandala is an ancient word simply meaning ‘circle’ in Sanskrit. Mandalas are patterns which range from simple to complex, and are said to represent the Universe and its energies. Varying designs have appeared for centuries in cultures around the world. These beautiful and intriguing works of art can be used in any meditative practice.
To use a mandala in your spiritual practice, begin by choosing one which has special meaning for you, or has a design you personally find harmonious. Many can be found online, in design books, or in color-it-yourself art books. The colors and patterns can also hold intrinsic meanings.
When you have found a mandala you like, use it as a focal point for meditation. State your intent beforehand. While studying the design of your mandala, let your mind stray into the subconscious.
This work is quite similar to candle or crystal work, in that the imagery directs our thoughts rather than the other way around. If you’ve ever found yourself getting lost in the patterns of a tile floor, or the wallpaper in a favorite room, then you’re already well-equipped for mandala work!
Finding Inner Peace
Internal peace sometimes eludes many of us. We have busy lives, moving at a fast pace. Some days it feels like we cannot even gather our thoughts in the midst of our obligations. I am sure you already know that you should take some time to relax, and find moments for yourself. You should definitely do this. Having leisure time is important for a healthy life, as much as good diet and exercise.
But this article aims at those times in which the tide is high, and there is no real time to fully stop… at least no more than for a few minutes. What to do in such circumstances? These are a few simple tested ideas that people use in sports, acting, and even public speaking, to improve both their ease and their performance.
Breathing
Stay with your breathing. Stop paying attention to your thoughts and just focus on your breath. Do not try to control or slow it down, just feel it coming in and out. If you can, become especially aware of the moment when it changes from inspiration to expiration, and vice versa. This will bring a feeling of openness and clarity.
Visualization
Sit for a moment and visualize a white light in your heart. See this light grow with each breath, until you are inside a white light bubble. Now this is the important part: allow your body, your whole body, to dissolve in this white light for just a minute or two. After that allow the white light to recede into your heart. This releases a lot of tension from the body and clears the mind.