So much has happened since I have changed my insights on this blog!
I have had several requests to return to writing about children and spirituality.
I plan on revamping the site soon.
I am currently teaching a Pre-K /Kindergarten class. The Living Wisdom School has moved into our new location which in many ways is a dream school facility for us. We have moved to Lynnwood, Washington.We had been located in Shoreline, Washington
for the past ten years. Now we are finding our way around Lynnwood once again.
.Our school was founded in Lynnwood in 2001.
I have seen that there are still visitors coming to this site. Thank you so much.
Please put your comments or questions below, and what information you would like to see on this blog.
Many Blessings to an expansive new year in many respects.
As we say often..STAY TUNED IN!!!
Or as yogis often say:"Stay in tune to the principals of right action, dharma and compassion for all our brothers and sisters on the planet."
What a whirlwind this spring has been. Since completing my Ananda Yoga Teacher Training this spring, the days were increasing in light, but I have found myself mindfully connecting closer to my heart, and internally slowing down while listening to the inner callings of my soul. Thank you for continuing to read my past entries and sharing this with your friends and colleagues. I find the internet so fascinating and how we can connect globally all around the world with others that I may never have the opportunity to meet personally. I am viewing this blog as a divine service to others in sharing the Education for Life ideals, and Sharing Nature philosophy that I have grown to call my life's dharma.
I am here to introduce today, a beautiful project that I am asked to get involved by connecting others through social media. This entry today is to invite others to watch the recently produced; Finding Happiness movie.
For the past 20 years I have been apart of a large spiritual community called "Ananda." I found Ananda after developing my intuition through self taught meditation, and deep prayers during a particular challenging transition in my early 40's. I have been so blessed in developing life long friendships, spiritual family along with the benefit of deepening my spiritual longing to find truth and meaning in my life.
Recently in the past two years Ananda has been involved in a more outward ways by sharing the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda, and his mission of spiritual communities. They have recently produced a beautiful movie, which I am attaching in the right hand column of this blog. There is a link to the trailer to view, and directions on how to actually host your own gathering of friends and sharing this streaming movie in the privacy of your own home. .
Are you seeking truth and depth in your spiritual life? For connections to other like minded souls to grow in deeper spiritual understanding?
Please take some time to watch the movie: Finding Happiness, and share it with others.
Any questions that you may have, you may direct them to me on this blog, or contact Ananda.
May your light in this world be every guided from within.
Right now most of us are relaxing and reviewing the spiritual thoughts that Christmas brought to us this year. Yes, another year of rustling to this party or that, shopping, tuning into that best present for a friend, or just listening to your favorite musical Christmas piece. But that is the outward form of Christmas.
The many inner moments of the past week, came disguised with many forms and small packages. This year marks a special seventeenth year that my husband and I will always remember. It was like riding a bike at your fastest pace, but it never seemed to take off fully or was tripped up by yet another surprise. We just had to laugh at it all, try our hardest and keep it all in prospective.
But as we are still enough, as a thief in the night, that awestruck sparkling moments, did creep in and filled us with this amazing sense of awe and power.
Christmas isn't just one day for us, it is how we live our lives constantly on our spiritual journey
May this Christmas be forever close to your heart, and may we all continue to share that light with all whom we meet. I send my warmest blessings of love and light to you all.
The fall leaves for most of us are now just a passing memory for this season.
Each fall brings such a beauty as every tree, branch, and bush displays its own unique luminosity.
Every morning on my drive to work, I watched the world change right before me.
Around every corner was yet, another tree, of brilliantradiance.
This fall had so many magical moments with my classroom too. The children really opened up to the world of fall and all its beauty. I received comments from my parents about their daily outings with the children and how we were all experiencing this season of beauty together.
The thought kept murmuring in my mind;"Surely,the light today in this tree has to be more beautiful than the one I saw yesterday? "
Fall has to be my favorite season of the year?"
The colors are so beautiful. This fall has filled my heart with such deep love, gratitude and with a humble heart I can surrender more easily to that greater power of spirit all around us.
Or then again, is it winter with the sparkling snow or maybe springtime with the delicate cherry blossoms falling like a delicate floral snow showers. Is this my favorite season?
As I chuckle I can recall so vividly this past summer photo a day project, with large warm beds of lavender aroma that filled my soul to the core?" I just cant make up my mind which season I like the best. .
What type of a memory can linger so long in our hearts? What type of memory opens up all our senses by looking at these astral colors of leaves? This is beginning to feel like a heavenly memory that can touch us so deeply and we can experience it at any moment during our day. Several days after meditation, I pondered all these thoughts while having a daily shower of beauty opening up every part of my being.
I am not sure I will ever really know from my rational mind. But I can reveal in sharing this deep inner love with my students and all whom I come in contact with. It comes from a deeper sense of knowing something that is beyond myself. The deepest longing of the soul is to feel that spirit everywhere.
In my classroom this month, I have been teaching one of the original
I find all of her blogs, entry's and videos inspiring for all of us to use in our daily lives.
If you are a mother, teacher, student, auntie, father, or grandmother I hope you can join us as we spread the light together. Please welcome her this week to: Inside Out!
Ashram Girl in the City is an inspirational blog to help
bring spiritual teachings into daily life. It has articles on health and
healing, yoga and meditation, videos, photos, a resources list, spiritual
quotes, and more to help you on your journey.
Here is one of her latest entree blogs and videos below.
Yesterday I started the day by asking Divine Mother to be with me and give me a day just for her. I asked her to show me the perfect Divine Mother Day, dedicating the entire day just to Her. I have lived inSanta Cruz, California all my life, and never before have I seen so many examples of her beauty and grace. I saw seven miracles yesterday in total. And I hope that by sharing them with you, you too will be inspired to have your own Divine Mother Day.
The day began with a beautiful morning walk as the sun rose along the beach in Capitola. During the entire walk I asked for Divine Mother to be with me that day, and to open my heart to feel her joy and love. I walked all the way down the beach to my favorite place where I usually like to do my yoga exercises and practice morning meditation in the healing rays of the sunrise. The place where I usually go is a bit hidden, and not many people choose to climb down the hillside where I go, so close to the breaking waves. This morning I had it all to myself, and the sun happened to be shining on the water with a line of sunshine heading directly toward me. I felt the warmth and let it soak in all over , awakening my body cells and helping me to start my day right.
Humpback Whale
After I finished meditating I gazed out across the ocean. To my surprise my gaze led me straight to the spouting of a humpback whale (Miracle #1). Yes. A whale! And not just this one whale, in fact, that day there were a pod of about 20 humpback whales in the ocean just in front of me. They were off in the distance, but not far enough away that I could not see their spouts jetting out of the water and their flippers dancing in the wind just as if to wave “hello!”
In all my life growing up in Santa Cruz, I have never come close to anything like that moment.
After I was finished being amazed, I walked home to be with my divine mother on Earth– my mom, and she suggested that we head off to visit the Monarch Butterflies of Natural Bridges State Park.
Monarch Butterflies
The monarch butterflies migrate every year just around this time (October) to nest in the warm sunny Santa Cruz. The butterflies are like flowers with wings, fluttering about busily yet with such a stillness and calm strength about them unlike anything else. They just cover the area so that everywhere you look (Miracle #2)– you see a beautiful orange flashing across the gentle blue skies. Sometimes they flutter solo, sometimes in pairs, and other times they gather together in big bunches on the eucalyptus trees.
My mom and I just sat together looking up and watching silently as they fluttered overhead.
Red Shouldered Hawk
Then I heard the screeching of a hawk in the nearby trees. I immediately began scanning the trees for this hawk, hoping to see a red tailed hawk. Red tailed hawks have always been a special sign in nature to me, as they have signified important moments and big changes in my life.
I kept my eyes on the spot where I heard the call, and finally saw the beautiful moment where the hawk spread its wings, calling to its friend across the grove. I had never before seenthis kind of hawk. I learned later from a park ranger that it was a red shouldered hawk (Miracle #3). These hawks are like the monarch butterflies in that each year, they travel afar and then return to the same place to nest.
After a delicious and healthy lunch I went home to join my dad for a paddle boat outing we had planned the day before. We knew it was going to be another bright, sunny day– and wanted to spend it out on the water.
When we arrived we heard that the harbor was just finishing a giant anchovie clean up. Every so often, there is an influx of the anchovie population, in which toomany anchovies enter into the confined space of the harbor, use up all the oxygen, and eventually begin to die out. Though the harbor crew and clean up volunteers had already left, there were still hundreds of seagulls swarming the entire harbor, feeding upon thousands of anchovies. I had never been able to see them up so close, practically right on top of our boat, and I could see them literally begin to take off for flight by running on top of the water (Miracle #4).
Sea Lion
As we continued paddling further out into the harbor, we saw Miracle #5: a pack of sea lions rolling and playing together in a group of nearly 12! My dad and I had never seen them doing this, let alone right in front of us! They apparently will band together to frighten the groups of anchovies together so that they may then feed upon them. Right after this, I saw Miracle #6– a huge swarm of anchovies that flew up onto the surface of the water, practically flying, with beautiful silver rays of light playing in the sun.
Then to our left a pair of sea otters floated right next to us (Miracle #7), tummies up, playful cute faces looking toward us curiously. They hung around us showing us their moves– beautiful spins, twists and turns with the water, deep dives, and big smiles!
And these were just a few of the sea mammals that joined us in the harbor that day (adorable harbor seals, majestic pelicans, and more)!
There may have been many more miracles happening that day, but so small and sweet that I hardly even thought to count them. That is the way that Divine Mother is. She is there with us, giving us even the smallest things–hardly noticeable as we rush about our days. But she does this because she wants us each to know that she is always with us, just waiting patiently for us to see her and let her in. So that we begin to feel her presence everywhere. All she wants is for us to feel her love and to share that love with all.
So why don’t you try it for yourself? Ask her for a Divine Mother Day, dedicated just to her nature and the miracles of her beauty and grace.
