Humming Breath: A gentle breath practice that infuses breath with awareness, and ends using humming as a way to soothe and calm the breath and therefore the whole system like an internal lullaby.
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Space-Density Meditation: A short meditation tuning into the space-density continuum that weaves all aspects of reality, from the manifest to the unmanifest, from the earth to the sky, and explores how these opposites integrate within our bodies to offer us an enquiry to explore the experience of wholeness.
Jai Ganesha: This is a chant for Ganesha calling on Ganesha as ‘pahimam’ and ‘rakshamam’ - a feeling of protection. I’m not sure where the melody originates, I learned it from Reachel Sing here in Portugal.
Notice Life Happening: A brief meditation to invite our mode of perception from our day to day awareness into a sensitivity to noticing life moving though, and resting awareness into that flow for a few moments to replenish, to resource ourselves and to fill our cups.
Rest into breath: A moment of your day to rest into the flow of your breath. This gentle awareness practice works in a subtle way to attune to presence through the ongoing rhythm of our own breathing, building familiarity and friendship with our breath so that it becomes a familiar refuge to return awareness to.
Modes of Perception: The flow of creation explained in a framework called The Five Acts, and how we can either be in a mode of perception where we are noticing life happening, or not.
Why we don’t feel connected: A perspective from the non dual tantric thought linages about why we don’t feel the beautiful oneness we like to talk about.
Jai Ma Durga: This chant is to the goddess in all of her forms, taken from a text called the Devi Mahatmya which describes the goddess as the supreme power and creator of all.
Om mani padme hum: This beautiful buddhist chant is said to cultivate compassion. It references the jewel (mani) that sits in the lotus (padme) which some say is referring to the soul sitting in the body. The lotus famously grows through mud before it can flower, and so this idea that as we grow through there mud may we slowly recognise the spark of divinity that we hold within our body - and in recognising that in ourselves, we are much more able to recognise it within each other, at which point compassion naturally arises.
Om mani padme hum: This beautiful buddhist chant is said to cultivate compassion. It references the jewel (mani) that sits in the lotus (padme) which some say is referring to the soul sitting in the body. The lotus famously grows through mud before it can flower, and so this idea that as we grow through there mud may we slowly recognise the spark of divinity that we hold within our body - and in recognising that in ourselves, we are much more able to recognise it within each other, at which point compassion naturally arises.
Hare Om Namah Shivaya: This beautiful chant is for Shiva, amongst other things calling to shiva we call to the aspect of ourselves that knows how to remove our own ignorance (the misunderstanding that we are somehow separate from the whole of existence itself). Melody: I learned it from Lina & Joaquim here in Portugal but not sure on authorship.
Namah Shivaya: This beautiful chant is for Shiva, amongst other things calling to shiva we call to the aspect of ourselves that knows how to remove our own ignorance (the misunderstanding that we are somehow separate from the whole of existence itself). Melody: I learned it from Lina & Joaquim here in Portugal but not sure on authorship.
Hare Krishna: This mantra is well known from the Hare Krishna movement, but is actually an ancient mantra found in the Upanishads. The mantra precedes the movement and is a beautiful call to presence. In the Bhagavad Gita the teacher (Krishna) is the embodiment of existence itself, and for me, repeating the name Krishna is a call to wake up awareness to life itself. This melody came through as I was playing my harmonium one day and for me holds the feeling of yearning - the feeling of life yearning to be noticed, existence longing to be felt and known. Melody: Paula Andreewitch.
The Gita and On Connection: A comparative study of the ancient wisdom of the Gita with a modern piece of writing called On Connection by Kae Tempest. I love it when a piece of new writing pulls on threads that have been explored thousands of years previously and feel the modern text massively supports the message of the ancient in this case. We specifically look at the instructions given by both texts in response to the question: so how do I remember? How do I re-sensitise? What is the first step? I highly recommend On Connection, it is beautiful.
Introduction to talks on the Bhagavad Gita: A short talk to give us some context for diving into the inspirational teachings of the Bhagavad Gita. The text I refer to is The Living Gita by Sri Swami Satchidananda.
Shiva Shambho: Calling to Shiva, remover of ignorance - the aspect of ourself that calls in remembrance of our pertinence to the bigger picture of existence and nature, when we maybe forget or feel small and lost. Maha (great) deva (god) and Shambho is another name for shiva. I learned this melody from Stephanie Snyder. Enjoy!
Sita Ram Melody variation: A beautiful and simple melody that I first heard from the wonderful Naomi Absalom. Chanting the names Sita and Ram. Sita and Ram, queen and king of the universe, masculine and feminine; the integration of both within us. Deeply in love, and many stories of losing each other and finding each other, just as we forget and then remember ourselves. A call to the deepest remembrance of who we are, a call to trust and faith and perseverance.
Om Nama Shivaya: A mantra for Shiva - remover of ignorance - which is inspired by a beautiful melody by Nikki Slade.
Radhe Govinda Lullaby: A lullaby for Radhe and Govinda, young lovers that embody the essence of joy. Radha, the goddess of the universe and Govinda - the name for a Krishna in his youth. This melody evokes nostalgia and a sense of yearning for the sense of wholeness that we somehow sense is available to us even when it feels out of reach - it is a call for an integration of the masculine and feminine aspects inside our own being (not referring to gender but more to yin/yang, solar/lunar, ida/pingala aspects of ourselves that when integrated created a third thing which is a felt sense of our own wholeness and interrelatedness with all that is. Melody by Paula Andreewitch.
Self Practice Inquiry - Axial and Appendicular Integration: Exploring the relationship between centre and periphery as established embryologically and how this relationship unfolds into our adult movement patterns, and can echo through into our underlying sense of being.