Mindfulness Relieves Stress

In my doctoral dissertati on stress (1980), I employed a variation of Buddhist mindfulness for one of the control groups. I called it the self-relaxation group. Simply noticing you are feeling tense and stressed and focusing on your breathing was effective in helping members of the mindfulness group be more effective in coping with stress by enabling them to relax the large skeletal muscles. The treatment group used self-talk and imagery as well as focusing on breathing enabled them to be even more effective in coping with stress. Those in the treatment group were able to relax the smaller smooth muscles around the blood vessels which led to deeper relaxation associated with increased blood flow. The steps used by the treatment group steps eventually became the 8 Steps to Love: the core of what I call Stress Effectiveness Training.

• Today, reflect on God’s words, “Be still and know that I AM God” (Psalm 46:10). Consider how the original Hebrew word raphah translated as “still” literally means cease. The word added by translators is “striving.” Hence its literal meaning is more the command, “Cease striving!” When you find yourself feeling “urgent” about something, take a moment to do the following. Silently shout stop! Picture a big red stop sign. Then take a slow deep breath and silently say, “Breathing in, I stop and still my mind.” Then, pause, and as you exhale slowly, silently say, “Breathing out, I stop and still my body.” Focus on the sensations of the air moving over your nasal membranes with each in-breath and out-breath. Bring your attention to the stillness in the barely noticeable pause after exhaling and before inhaling. Then resume what you were doing.

Tiger Touches on Vital Truth

“I was raised a Buddhist, and I actively practiced my faith from childhood until I drifted away from it in recent years. Buddhism teaches that a craving for things outside ourselves causes an unhappy and pointless search for security. It teaches me to stop following every impulse and to learn restraint. Obviously, I lost track of what I was taught.”
—Tiger Woods News Conference February 19, 2010

Tiger touches on a vital truth that underlies anxiety, addiction, anger, depression, and general unhappiness. It is what I came to call the dragon of dependency. Before discussing the dragon further, I want to share with you what I once heard that could have a bearing on Tiger’s prognosis. In contrast to Freud, Carl Jung observed that returning to their religious roots was a significant factor in helping a number of his patients achieve a lasting cure for their neuroses. This does not mean returning to dogma and doctrine but to following your faith in such a way that you become loving, compassionate, and peaceful. In addition to his continuing with his therapy, if Tiger truly practices such elements of Buddhism as mindfulness or insight meditation, then, by his example, he has the potential to be a great teacher to all of us. I’ll present more on mindfulness next time.

Essentially, the dragon is the false belief that we are dependent on something external to ourselves for peace of mind and well being. This belief is hard-wired in the primitive, reptile portion of the brain that, in being survival oriented, drives us to seek food and sex. When thwarted and/or threatened, the reptile brain impels us to aggression or flight.

• Today, when feeling stressed, stop the dragon in its tracks by pausing and taking a slow, deep breath while silently saying, “I AM NOT dependent on anything external to myself for my peace of mind and well being.” Then, breathing out, silently say, “For I have everything I need within my heart to feel good and be at peace.” Focus on how good it feels to take a slow, deep breath. Remember that love—God—the ultimate power in the universe is housed in your heart.

A Critical Juncture

We are at a critical juncture in human history. For the Maya, we are about to enter an era where the heart of humanity will be able to awaken from a dark period that began a little over 5000 years ago. However, the Maya taught me that it is up to each and every one of us to awaken our heart if we are to successfully usher in a new era of greater freedom and peace. —from A Matter of Love

Our planet is going through many changes. As I write this, those of us in the greater Philadelphia area have just had a record-breaking amount of snow. Haiti has suffered a horrific earthquake. These two events mark the release of the revised edition A Matter of Love. The release of the first edition occurred right after the devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Yes, planet Earth appears to be going through what the Mayan shamans called Her "birth pangs" in bringing forth a great shift in consciousness.

Like the Fingers of Our Hand

“Just like the fingers of our hand appear different in size and shape so do the races of humankind appear different. And like the fingers of our hand, we are all one and need to work together.”

On more than one occasion, I heard different shamans say these words as they held up one of their hands and emphasized our common humanity. I find this message especially relevant for posting on this day of Ash Wednesday. As human beings, whatever our race, religion or nationality, we all share the same fate: life in the physical body will come to an end one day for each and every one of us.

My knowledge of the Maya comes from being in the presence of the Mayan elders during sacred fire ceremonies and during classes held at sacred sites. I learned from the Mayan shamans that most of the sacred teachings are passed down by word of mouth. The shamans indicated that much of what is written about the Maya and their calendar is based on the writings of a Jesuit priest in Spain during the time of the Inquisition. The shamans said his information was not accurate.
Sometimes we were by the pyramids, at other times we were in huts with dirt floors. On other occasions, we were in jungle clearings or on the side of a mountain. During classes, my Reiki teacher, Mercedes, who is also a Mayan shamaness, would sit by the side of the elders and translate their teachings into English.

What they taught me contributed to the awakening of my heart. During my time with them, I rediscovered what I knew in my heart as a child:

"God is love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God and God in him" (1 John 4:16).

Whatever your personal belief system, whatever religion or sacred tradition to which you subscribe, may your heart be inspired and awakened by the spiritual teachings of the Maya. Consider the following excerpt from an article featured on the front page of the New York Times that a friend shared with me just last week.

“The time has arrived for the world of humanity to hoist the standard of oneness of the human world, so that solidarity and unity can connect all nations of the world, so that dogmatic formulas and superstitions may end, so that the essential reality underlying all the religions founded by all the prophets may be revealed. That reality is one. It is the love of God.”

How amazing that these words were printed on April 21, 1912! They are a perfect fit for 2012 as a much-needed call for unity. They were spoken by Abdul Baha, the leader of the Bahai Faith at that time.

God talks to us all the time

"God talks to us all the time through nature."
—the Mayan shaman don Serrillo [Note: "don" is a term in Spanish signifying respect.]

Somehow I never got this message in church. When I was confirmed at 13 years old, I felt an exhilarating energy shoot through me. The Bishop touched my head and said something like, "From this day on, may you be filled with the Holy Spirit." But I never had felt God was talking to me and every one of us "all the time." Yet here I was amid ancient pyramids surrounded by the jungle, and I was experiencing God as an immensely loving presence, which led me to think of God as the Divine Beloved. Walking back from the Mayan pyramids and feeling the presence of God as a Beloved, I suddenly saw a beautiful red flower on the path in front of me. I felt as though a kind of divine courtship was underway.

This began what I came to call my daily dialogue with the Divine. The signs and messages from the Divine became a daily guide toward helping me live more consistently from my heart. I began to see synchronicity, the term coined by the famous Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, which refers to the "meaningful coincidences we encounter in daily life. Synchronicity became a matter of love: a little "I love you" from God.

Right after I landed in Guatemala, I was picked up by Gerardo and Carlos Barrios, two of the shamans with whom I would be studying. Minutes after leaving the airport, I saw a sticker on the back of a car. It read, "Dios es Amor." I knew this meant "God is Love." Seconds later, I saw another sticker on a different car that read, "Dios es nos." I thought I knew what it meant, but I asked Carlos just to be sure. It translated as, "God is us." When I was leaving the airport after arriving in Los Angeles, where I was living at the time, I saw a sticker on the rear window of the van in front of me. It read, "No hay Amor como el de Dios." I thought I knew what it said, but I asked the driver who just happened to speak Spanish, and he said, "There is no love like God's love." Moments before seeing the sticker, I was thinking of my new view of synchronicity as a little "I love you" or "I'm with you" from God as the Divine Beloved.

These and other "meaningful coincidences" led me to see synchronicity as revelations or confirmations from the loving presence of God as the Divine Beloved that we are on the right track. They are indicating that we are following the thread of our divine destiny and on our way to attaining true freedom, peace, and happiness: the goal of the great shift in human consciousness attempting to emerge as we approach 2012.

• Take note of the meaningful coincidences in your life and allow them to awaken your heart. And remember, it's time to move beyond divisive dogma and doctrine to experience your relationship to God as love and you, your true self, as love since you are made in the image of God.

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Love? What Therapy & Distant Healing Reveal

Love? Freud called it “the only socially acceptable psychosis.” To Plato it was “divine madness,” and to Saint John, love was nothing less than God, the ultimate power operating in the universe.

1.) After years of doing in-depth therapy, I came to realize that love is more than a feeling: love is who we are in the core of our being. I remember a high-powered corporate executive what he discovered following his recovery from cancer. “I not only live from love instead of being driven by fear and anger as I was before the cancer. I now realize that I AM love. Love is my essence.”

2.) However, since 1995, I have witnessed and participated in many miracles resulting from distant healing and intercessory prayer. I now realize that the love housed in the heart of each and every one of us is nothing less than the ultimate power operating in the universe. Love is the stuff of every subatomic particle of all that exists. Love is the ultimate power driving the universe. Love is the life-force energy that animates and energizes all of life: people, animals, and plants. I have also experienced how this love is an enduring energy that lives on after the body dies. (I discuss these experiences in detail in both A Matter of Love and The Space Between Stars

• As often as you feel so inclined, try this heart-awakening exercise: silently say, “Love is who I am in the core of my being." And, as you notice others, silently say, "And, love is who you are in the core of your being.”