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Below is a brief interview with Barry DuBois about making mala beads.

Making mala beads is  a unique artistic expression. Tell us how you became interested in the art of making mala beads?

I was introduced to Buddhist meditation about 15 years ago while living in Nevada. Resources for our meditation practice materials were limited. I wanted a mala that was made from onyx but could not find one. One of my friends who owned  a local bead store had some onyx beads and he taught me how to make them into a mala.

During our weekly  group meditation practice with Lama Jingma some visitors did not have a mala for practice so I would loan them one I had made.  If they were sincere and wanted to continue to practice I would have them keep the mala to use for their meditation.   I feel that every mantra that is recited on those malas returns a spiritual benefit to me.

Mala beads may we used in a variety of ways. Some people like to wear a mala for the energetic or healing properties of the gemstones, some  choose to use it for meditation practice or reciting a mantra.  How do you use your mala Barry ?

I like to use my mala during meditation practice. When my mind just won’t settle down I will recite mantras on my mala, to help focus. Different mantras will bring benefit in different ways.

Tell us a little bit about the  108 Workshop you are leading this month?

I am looking forward to the 108 workshop very much. It is my privilege to teach others how to assemble their own mala from Rudraksha seeds.  All supplies for making the mala will be provided to participants as well as instruction on use and care of mala beads and a mantra to practice on your mala.  I believe that it will bring many blessings  to all of the participants.

“Healthy plants and trees yield abundant flowers and fruits. Similarly, from a healthy person, smiles and happiness shine forth like the rays of the sun.” ~ B.K. S Iyengar

All you really need to practice reiki is a willingness to show up and be present with yourself just as you are.
Like the garden, our bodies need to be weeded, watered and nurtured to grow strong and healthy.
We tend to just let ourselves go. We often don’t take the time needed to nurture our own growth as human beings. We are to busy, to tired, or sometimes to apathetic to care for ourselves.

Reiki restores our bodies normal state of balance called homeostasis. It reveals to us our true nature of health and wholeness within. It teaches us to honor and listen to the wisdom of our bodies.
Smiles and happiness blossom forth when we water the seeds of mindfulness and loving kindness through our reiki practice. Be healthy, be happy, and be at peace. Practice reiki consistently and patiently, let your inner light shine and may your practice be fruitful always.

Namaste

Wow there’s nothing that’s make me feel any better than having a Bob Marley reggae kind of day. It’s Spring and yeah, its great to be alive. “Sun is shining and the weather is sweet now. ” There is something sweet about that reggae beat that just makes you want to smile. It’s irresistible, even when you don’t feel like it, you find yourself right smack in the middle of your happy dance!

My yoga teacher, Saul David Raye says , “Bob Marley was one of the worlds great prophets because he spoke a universal language of love that touched the heart of everyone.” Sometimes the sweetest meditation you can have is to be totally lost in the moment through movement and music. When you are yearning for the universal feeling of oneness music can be the souls best friend. Just for a bit the world ceases to exist. You dance like no one is watching. Your feet turn to wings, your heart starts to sing and you simply disappear into the essence of the eternal flow.

Samadhi doesn’t always have to happen seated on your cushion. In fact it occurs naturally all the time when our minds are completely absorbed into a single focus of attention. When we stop long enough to truly listen with our hearts as well as our minds we become one with the rhythm of all creation. Is it Roots, Rock and Reggae, or Is This Love I’m feelin’ ?

Jai Ma to “One Love, One Heart”
Jude

Milk and Muddy Water

A great yogi once said , “God is milk and God is muddy water, but we know not to drink the muddy water.” Really? …..it’s that simple?……. Some days you sure couldn’t prove that by me. It seems as if muddy water is ALL I drink in. Then I wonder why I don’t feel so good. Maybe not enough milk?

Maybe you are wondering why would anyone would choose to drink muddy water? We would call that Avidya or lack of knowledge. Our conscious mind may not even be aware of the fact we are drinking muddy water but our ” buddhi” mind or true Self has the vidya or knowledge within to know this. Maybe when we were kids growing up there just wasn’t enough milk to go around in our family.

Maybe someone gave us the muddy water and told us it was just as good and we believed it. Maybe someone told us we couldn’t have milk unless we did something “good ” to earn it. Maybe these old beliefs make us think we don’t deserve milk. Milk is love. Love is milk . We simply can’t live without it. It’s our first cup we receive in life and the elixier that makes it all bearable somehow.

We know from our meditation practice that God is inclusive of ALL things, milk and muddy water. There is no concept of good vs bad, it is a nondualistic practice. Yet our mind longs to go from pleasure, to pleasure,to pleasure and not have any difficulty at all in our life or our practice. We also know, its impossible to climb a smooth mountain. It takes all those deep cracks and crevices to give us a foot hold sometimes. There are many peaks and valleys as part of the one path that leads to the Great Heart.

As we begin to peek inside our hearts and minds into these old cracks and crevices, we become aware of this relationship between drinking the muddy water and not feeling so well. The first step to creating change is always awareness. We first have to realize what we are taking in before we can change or limit its content.

One good way to focus our awareness in meditation is the naming of thoughts such as fear, judging, thinking, etc.This naming process can help us to realize when our mind is stuck or off track in our practice. I like to just break it down into milk or muddy water. Its simple that way and doesn’t distract me. Some days I’ve got a lot of milk and just a bit of muddy water. Some days it’s just muddy water, muddy water, muddy water until you would think I must be sitting in a giant cesspool of some sort. Some days are like that. The muddy water days build our Self compassion muscles. They offer us the opportunity to celebrate with great gratitude every tiny sip of milk we drink in.

Self observation through meditation gives us the opportunity to direct our focus of attention on the object of our choice. We can choose to set down the glass of muddy water or at least let it settle and become clear for awhile .
Every now and then, some situation may trigger our old habits and we find ourselves reaching for that old familiar cup wanting to taste the muddy water again . If this happens, please remind yourself to take only a small homeopathic dose medicinally, just so your heart doesn’t forget to be immune to it!

Bottoms up. What’s in your cup?
Got milk anyone?

The practice of meditation is a practice of Self discovery. It is a relationship we cultivate within that allows us to know, accept, and fall in love with our deepest essence of Self. It can happen spontaneously, as in love at first sight, but for many it happens over a gradual period of time. We first learn to know our true Self as pure unchanging abiding awareness. We don’t learn this from our thinking mind, but from the heart of wisdom itself or what yoga calls the “buddhi mind”. Through this knowing, we learn to trust and accept the Self, and through knowing and trusting, we become infinitely loving, kind and compassionate of the Self.

The Bhagavad Gita says that Yoga is the process of learning to tolerate being ones Self, with ALL our thoughts, feelings and emotions. We are “all that” and yet “not that” at all. We are the perceiver of all that. The unwavering cosmic consciousness, the light through which the lens of the eye sees or senses the experience. As Francis of Assisi so succinctly put it “The one you are looking for is the one who is looking

The Yoga Sutras give us a map to show the way to our hearts deepest desire for union. Yoga Sutra 1.2 says that Yoga is the selective awareness of perceptions, thoughts, and feelings that you choose to focus on. So often we choose to focus on thoughts of the ego and its constant comparisons of Self to others. We listen to mind stuff that says we are never good enough, lovable enough, beautiful enough, etc. The true Self has a different message for us. One of pure satya or truth. It is simple, Sat Chit Ananda.

True consciousness is bliss. It is our essential nature. It is the love we are and the love we are looking for at the same time, both subject and object, or the essence that is created when subject and object merge into oneness. The Yoga Sutra 1.41 tells us that, Samayama or samadhi is “a state of absorption wherein the knower, the experience of knowing, and the object of knowledge fuse into one indistinguishable subject-object.” That fusion is the practice of yoga, or union

The practice itself is essential. Just as any relationship requires energy to sustain and nurture itself, so does the practice of meditation. We experience the same ups and downs, doubts, anger and fears, within our relationship to our Self and our meditation practice as we do in our relationships with others. We may lose our hearts way many times.

It’s our meditation practice that calls us home and re-minds us of our true Self. Its our practice that allows us surf the wave of bliss, to be its ebb and flow, to stay seated as a silent witness through peaks and troughs, and know it is all one wave.

My thought to take away today is simple. When the surf is up, riding the wave can be challenging. Affirm your essential nature of Sat Chit Ananda. Use your selective awareness wisely. Focus all your attention on that which honors your true Self. Put your ego away for awhile, rest your mind in your heart and be one with the flow of all creation as it supports you.

Meditation practice….. what’s love got to do with it?

Love and Light Jude