The "release" mantra

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Home phat, Home phat, Home phat .....  Swaha, Swaha, Swaha

This is called the "release" mantra that we chanted at my retreat: Vitality & Chocolate yoga retreat.  A few of you wanted to know more about its origins.

You can use it anytime, in any moment when you feel hijacked by self-doubt or any issues with self-confidence or self-sabotage.  So when you're feeling contracted in anyway, say this mantra and its a beautiful way to lighten the load.  Use this mantra before a meeting, teaching, a conversation.  

The mantra itself Is:  Home phat 3x in a row followed by Swaha 3x in a row.  You can say the mantra out loud for 1 minute or up to 5 minutes.  Whatever you need and have time for.  

Its translation means to be gone, released into the great fire pit, its a sweeping out.  Use this for anything in your life that needs to be burned away, released.  Start by being very clear and precise about what it is in your life that needs to go.  That reoccurring, limiting thought that plagues you or moments in your day.  What it is for you that needs to be let go?

More specifically, the translation is:  "Into the fire pit of Lord Bhairava (that's the name of Shiva in his most fierce state) the great heart of the absolute, I now make my offering .... be gone, swaha".

Its a heat building "japa" (a spiritual discipline involving the meditative repetition of a mantra or name of a divine power).  Enjoy ~



Ganesha, remover & placer of obstacles

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In Hindu mythology, Ganesha, the elephant-headed god, is the placer and remover of obstacles. Is this right?  The wisdom is that there are no coincidences; nothing happens randomly.  Do you get that some of the big obstacles of your life have shaped you into the wise strong creature you are?  Each experience is an intentional opportunity for growth; if we choose that attitude. 

In Hawaiian Wisdom part of Ho'oponopono involves recognizing each experience as a stepping stone for soul growth.  Rather than resisting or judging what is in front of us, we take responsibility for transmuting it into healing and betterment.  We do this by looking for the good... even in the midst of a disaster.  This does not mean we ignore problems.  We don't put a smiley face sticker over the empty gas gauge and pretend it is full.  It means we look calmly at the problem and let it inspire us quickly to creative solution and we get busy flowing into solution.  In this way we avoid stuckness.  This is why the Tao is the "way of water".  Water dances around and flows over obstacles.  A river embraces boulders making them part of the beauty of its flow. 

10 Best Silent Retreats in USA & beyond

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     I've been curious about experiencing a silent retreat.  My thinking is that I might need to start with a one day retreat and go from there.  Once I was at a one day yoga retreat in which we ate lunch together in silence.  At first I rejected the idea, but once underway it was very satisfying.  It's the same reason my favorite moment teaching is when we are all balancing silently in tree pose.  I love that powerful connection even when we're silent.   

     Excerpt:   If you're ready to completely unplug and recharge, you might want to consider taking a temporary vow of silence at one of the country's best spiritual centers. From a lodge in rural Oregon surrounded by natural hot springs to a coastal California getaway, these 10 meditation facilities offer group and personal silent retreats for a few days to a full month of nothing but stillness and de-stressing.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/28/silent-retreats-america_n_2727408.html

More silent retreats around the world:

http://epicureandculture.com/silent-retreats/