BEING THERE: EMMA JUNIPER

My decision-making mechanism wasn’t cooperating when I was weighing whether or not to go on this retreat. It was a constant back and forth — I need to buckle down and work, but I’m depressed and not productive, but I’ll feel better if I’m productive, but I can’t even get up before noon because I don’t care, but I need the money, but this trip will be good for me, but maybe I’m just escaping, but the retreat is me facing myself rather than just a distraction.

Eventually, I packed, even as I oscillated between worrying that I was running from my problems and loving the spontaneity of it all. I used to travel constantly — crazy and wild spontaneous trips — and living in Austin I had settled down with all its benefits and drawbacks. I even wrote a poem, senior year of college, called “My trips, my drugs” Continue Reading »

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A NEW SERIES: GEORGIA NICOLS Reads *You*!

All Signs: Have you seen the picture of a cat looking in the mirror with an image of a grand lion reflected back at him? This is certainly Leo, the sign of Cecil B. De Mille, Alfred Hitchcock, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lucille Ball, Mae West and Madonna. With three planets now in Leo, many dramatic events will take place in the world in the next month. “I’m a star!”

There will also be a greater urge to party, see movies, make movies and take up tap dancing, even if you’re 75. Leos like to have fun and when the world has a Leo hit like this, the invitations fly! Continue Reading »

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GUEST COLUMN: CASSANDRA K

As Sharon Stone found out, karma really is a bitch. (Her recent crazed, off-hand comments suggesting that China’s devastating earthquake was karmic payback for the government’s treatment of Tibet prompted a ban and boycott of her films in China — really a bit of a winning situation for the Chinese, come to think of it.)

I found out about karma the hard way, too, and hopefully will be able to work through forgiving myself for betraying my husband — and forgiving the nasty piece of work that I betrayed him with!

No need to go into all the gory details, but about three years ago I had a year-long affair with someone who I thought I might have a future with. Promises were made, usually in the afterglow of passion . . . Continue Reading »

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MARLENE SATTER, Reiki Master

Anyone who’s ever sat in a doctor’s office and steamed, waiting sometimes for hours to be seen — only to be given the bum’s rush once inside the doctor’s office — ought to consider Reiki as a self-help technique for your mind-body toolkit. Also, if you have children or animals and have ever felt helpless when they were ill or hurt, think of Reiki as something you can add to your home’s First Aid kit, while you wait for medical help (or simply lessen the side-effects of allopathic treatments). Sometimes you might find that Reiki is all that was needed!

In 2002, I discovered the power of Reiki first-hand (pun unavoidable Continue Reading »

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Dana Carvey and Mike Myers were comedic partners. They made millions, and achieved international fame with the Wayne’s World movies in the 1990s.

Then they went their own ways, and Myers found a new partner — this time, spiritual.

Do you think Carvey just might have been taking an indirect shot at Myers with this impersonation of Deepak Chopra? It’s from Carvey’s new, hilarious HBO comedy special, Squatting Monkeys Tell No Lies:

Carvey: Deepak Chopra, I love that guy because he’s so confident about what the fuck we’re all doing on this planet . . .

Impersonation of Chopra: “If you want to have success, let go of success. If you want to have happiness, let go of happiness. If you want to be rich — Give *me* all your money.”

(See minute 6:45 of the the video below; Above photo, Mike Myers and Deepak Chopra) Continue Reading »

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GUEST COLUMN: VICKI WOODYARD

What can we do but keep on breathing in and out, modest and willing, and in our places? ~Mary Oliver

We all need breathing room. A place where we can go to be recharged. For me, that room is on the inside. It cannot be located on a GPS. It is inside of us that peace descends and no where else.

After my daughter’s cancer came back for the second time, she had to have it removed — once again from her right leg. Continue Reading »

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PEAK EXPERIENCE: SMADAR DE LANGE

Smadar de Lange is a psychologist and somatic therapist.

The holy man she met, “Swami Ji”, has no organization, TV show, or book. His name simply means “great teacher.”

How would you describe the experience of falling in love? For me, meeting with Swami Ji (personal name: Krishnamurti) was like falling in love. I fell in love with love itself, and this love had no limitations of being channeled into one person only.

What are we looking for when we are going to meet those who are labeled as spiritual teachers? Do we look for an end for our sufferings?

Do we look for a meaning to apply to our life experience? Do we want to be seen; to have the psychological experience of mirroring? Do we believe that the meeting will show us the path that will take us towards an awakened, elevated future? Continue Reading »

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GUEST COLUMN: DAVID RICKEY

The ego exists only to function in relationship to the whole system, and the ego functions best when it is consciously aware of itself as part of a larger system.

Inspiration derives from the word, spirit. But it is the latest breakthroughs in science, not necessarily spirituality, that give us the clearest prism for viewing the way inspiration is actually created. Malcolm Gladwell’s recent profile of Nathan Myhrvold in The New Yorker — In the Air Who says big ideas are rare?— describes a number of instances where two or more people develop almost identical ideas or inventions pretty much simultaneously. Continue Reading »

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BEING THERE: EMMA JUNIPER

I didn’t understand the numbness, the lack of desire to eat, my entire body feeling warm, almost feverish and noticeably weak, unexplainable/explainable bruises on my body . . . the void where motivation used to be, the constant tears at any phonecalls, feeling as if I was in a dull dream. I told my friends I was confused, I didn’t understand what was going on with me. Maybe I was sick, this didn’t make sense to me. My thoughts were healthy, my emotions disastrous: What was I not facing? Continue Reading »

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Jemma’s journey: (The 2nd of 2 parts)

Master Hai Kong is a revered figure in China’s resurrected and re-activated Buddhist community. Seekers from all over the most populous nation-state in the world want to learn from him.

Typically, he performs his empowerment rituals four times a year — and does so for hundreds of students at a time. To have my own personal ritual, was a once-in-a-lifetime gift (and many more if you believe in Buddhism). Continue Reading »

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BEING THERE: JEMMA FONG

Jemma’s journey: “I just need to live with the pain” (1st of 2 parts)

Living with a chronic condition resulting in daily pain and periodic acute flare-ups that flatten me in bed for days seemed to be the only “norm” I knew for the past two and a half decades. Increased stress of any sort would worsen the situation by triggering a vicious spiral: as I became frustrated with my inability to perform at my optimum, I added new layers of stress. Continue Reading »

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GUEST COLUMN: VAISHALI

Author of You are What you Love

Food for thought: Digesting life (The 1st of 2 parts)

Most people think of the digestive process as something limited to the foods and liquids that we stuff into our mouths daily. However, digestion is best understood as a metaphor for life.

According to Eastern systems of self-healing, our entire body is an aggregate of different types of digestive intelligences. Continue Reading »

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GUEST COLUMN: VAISHALI

Seven Simple Tips for Improving Digestion

(Part 2: Sequel to A female mystic on spiritual cuisine)

Our digestive system is the cornerstone of all the body’s health and strength - emotional, mental, as well as physical. These are simple Ayurvedic tips to optimize your digestive system.

1. Do not eat if you do not feel hungry. Feeling hungry is your body’s way . . . Continue Reading »

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GUEST COLUMN: LAURA HOLLICK

Have you heard of the Lifetime network reality series, How to Look Good Naked?

It’s hosted by Carson Kressley from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and takes women through a kind of 12-step program on how to fall in love with their bodies.

Two years ago, long before this series ever hit the airwaves, I embarked on my own How to Look Good Naked odyssey. In my case: I set a specific benchmark and goal. By the summer of 2008, I contracted with myself, I’d pose for a nude photo shoot as a symbolic gesture to mark my celebration of loving my body. Continue Reading »

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GUEST COLUMN: ELAINE MURRAY

New Age Spirituality is all about getting back your power. Not that you ever lost it . . . sometimes you gave it away, misplaced it — or forgot you had power in the first place.

And why does the term New Age Spirituality seem to bother some religious leaders — especially leaders of the Christian faith? After all, we are in a new age: The Age of Aquarius.

The concept of an Age exists within ancient spiritual traditions, and lasts 2,000 years.

(Above: Catherine Keener and Steve Carell in the final scene of The 40 Year Old Virgin).

Continue Reading »

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Congratulations to Michael Hampson, whose photo, “The Kiss,” won the first Soul’s Code Show us your Peak Experience photo contest. As Michael explains, “This is Drew and Katie at a benefit I organized. The band had just finished their set. He was so happy to share the moment with her.” [It almost looks like it could be Adrian Grenier in the HBO series, Entourage.]

Michael has won a $50 gift certificate to www.SoundsTrue.com, the iTunes of audio courses, books, videos, and music for all things spiritual. Continue Reading »

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GUEST COLUMN: RONDA LARUE

Ronda is an author and spiritual teacher living in Ojai, CA

More and more people have been asking me lately, “What do you mean by the word mystic?” There’s a lot of confused thinking out there and some outright misconceptions about the term. In a very real sense — and because mysticism concerns the essence of life — it is audacious to even try and define it. Words are insufficient and often get in the way of understanding.

Mysticism is a quality of presence that is quite literally beyond and before any words. Continue Reading »

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GUEST COLUMN: AMY LEASK

I’ll admit that spiritually speaking, I’m still groping my way through the universe. My soul may have been around the block a few times, but with respect to its understanding of the how and what and why of my existence . . . it still has a great deal of homework to do.

I’ve always taken comfort in the philosophy of William James, who created a long laundry list of characteristics for mystical experience, but who also insisted that contact with the divine was not reserved for the high and mighty. In his view, everyday folks had equal access to the great hereafter, and being human and curious were sufficient conditions for finding it. Continue Reading »

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GUEST COLUMN: HEATHER GREAVES

Yoga, like success, is an inside job. Yoga teaches us to journey inside and become an observer, showing us how to be relaxed yet alert, and through yoga we practice the art of letting go. Continue Reading »

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