Save Pluto and Pay It Forward

Save Pluto and Pay it Forward

Have you or anyone you know ever known bought a bumper sticker and put it on your bumper with the feeling that it didn’t quite fit?

Bumper stickers are super personal.

I know I’m supposed to like and want bumper stickers that say namaste, which I actually have one, or AUM.  Those like go with what I do, but if I’m going to be 100 percent honest with you there are only two bumper stickers I really have ever wanted.

SAVE PLUTO   and   PAY   IT   FORWARD!

When I first saw the bumper sticker save pluto my heart melted. It was like the feeling of wanting to save a lost puppy who needed a home. It also brought back memories of solar system elementary school lessons, which were actually my fav when it came to using time wisely in school.

I even did a report on Pluto, and have fond memories of that tiny planet, yes planet!

One year my kids asked me what I wanted for Christmas, and I asked for the bumper sticker Save Pluto. They said they couldn’t find it.

The second bumper sticker that is like me in a nutshell is Pay It Forward.  That’s just kind of what happens naturally as I’m out and about.

I have a clear memory of my son telling me when he was about 8 years old, “hey mom, how come your like nice to everyone?”  I guess it was just kind of like Pay It Forward coming through.

I write this because it reminds me of what’s at the base of all our essences?

I feel like its this natural genuine, be kind to one another energy that is shared by all beings.

And yes, I’m an optimist in humanity at large!

Really letting go, really being and opening each day brings me into more vulnerable, more real ways of being in life. And things that you might not expect, like a bumper sticker with the words SAVE PLUTO bring in feelings of  compassion pop out of nowhere and remind me of my humanness.   

I feel so well, SAVE PLUTOISH here in San Francisco. Ok so it’s more like wow, save the homeless. The homeless are everywhere here, and I don’t understand how so many of them have gotten lost or are where they are. 

I know, I know there are tons of theories on this, but at the root, it seems that as a society to have so many of them on our streets is not in alignment with humanity’s natural goodness.

Ultimately We’re all in this together.

Hmmmm we’re just humans having a spiritual experience, or we’re spiritual beings having a human experience. Something like that right! I always get it confused.

Over the holidays I’m going to nudge myself to PAY IT FORWARD, in any way I can.

May your light shine brightly, so you may share it with all who you encounter.

Enjoy your life, you only have one!
Namaste

Prema

States of Gratitude came while riding the MUNI BUS! It was cold, and dark. 7:30 p.m. I was downtown in the heart of San Francisco. I have been totally surrendering to being here, and the biggest surrender is  NOT TO  I REPEAT... NOT TO DRIVE UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY!!!!! One of my friends said she had read that the car represents the ego.  Well if that's true I've been forced to surrender. The worst part about San Francisco is driving and parking, It makes no sense, to drive unless you have an empty garage waiting for you and the route you take has no one way streets which is virtually impossible here. My only solution has been to surrender! I find a spot to leave my car for the 6 days allotted before street cleaning grants a ticket.  I walk everywhere. This  comes with many compromises. One biggie is not going to the grocery stores I prefer unless I want to ride the bus.   So tonight I really wanted to go downtown to a class I love. I hadn't been in a month due to the parking and driving situation. Seriously it's that bad. I decided to bare all and take the Muni tonight. So here's what happened,,,,,,,,, something really wild, and yet not so wild when you think about spiritual development.  I got really open and relaxed in my class, and felt ahhh at peace with the world.  And then, there it was this like WOW I felt the oneness and felt the deep support of the Universe! LIGHTS FLASHING!  I felt the gratitude show up as deep Gratitude for the Muni Bus! I had this like ah ha of wow thank you bus drivers,  thank you roads, thank you crazy taxis, thank you the way everything actually works. And although so much of our time and what  we hear on the news and we witness speaks to us as This isnt' working, I have to say  that the MUNI, the Traffic, and the whole of the whole are working quite well together  I REAL EYES, REALIZED  how everything is here to support us.  I felt deep relaxation as I walked back to the Donut World, where I got back on the  MUNI to go uptown to my house.  Gratitude is a wild thing. When it authentically shows up,  in any moment, take it in  and REJOICE! It's different to feel it from the ground up, like right there in the belly,  than to muster it up and think about oh this is what I'm grateful for. OVER THE HOLIDAY, if you're so inclined... Take time to be alone, meditate, or listen, to what your truly in AWE  over, FEEL IT BREATHE IT AND LET IT FEED YOUR SOUL. For anyone who read this, I AM TRULY GRATEFUL, for sharing this simple yet meaningful experience.  The writing is a followed inspiration, and the intent is to wake up GRATITUDE in all. What's good for one is good for all. May we all live like the lotus, at home on the banks of the muddy rivers!   ENJOY YOUR LIFE! YOU ONLY HAVE ONE! Much Love, Prema  contact me

Carving Out Sacred Time: Lisa Jansen on the Value of a Yoga and Zen Workshop Series

Article by Jay Pennington, Sangha News Editor

To spend time deepening your practice—an appealing idea, and one that can often seem out of reach in a life full of commitments. Multi-day retreats are not always possible. But what about just three Saturday afternoons, each a month apart, on a solid theme? That’s exactly what is offered by Yoga, Zen and the Three Jewels, at ZaZEN Filbert Street, with the classes reflecting the themes of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Yoga teacher and intuitive healer Lisa Jansen leads the series, along with Zen teachers Connie Cummings (Class 1 and 3) and Judith Randall (Class 2). Although individual class sign-ups are still welcome in this series, I asked Lisa to share something about the particular benefits of committing to a short series.
Jay: In these upcoming classes, how will the different yoga styles or practices support exploring, even embodying, the three jewels?

Photo by Shundo David Haye

Lisa: Observing ourselves through our asana and pranayama practices, we awaken to our true nature and our conditions in both body and mind. The hatha yoga practice is designed to purify; ongoing practice serves as a purification process that ultimately turns us toward our own light, or awakens us to our full potential. With interest and commitment we can awaken.
The hatha and Yin Yoga combination is a balanced approach to practicing Yoga. Through hatha we release holding patterns; through Yin we turn inward and understand our conditioning. Together they prepare students for a fruitful meditation practice.
I love offering students opportunities to have longer practice sessions, such as this three-part series. When coming back together again in the same setting we develop a community or sangha. For every group that joins together there is benefit to all members. Setting aside time such as a series or a longer workshop, or going on retreat, creates a field in which we receive the teachings more deeply.
Jay: You have already begun an excellent answer to my next question, but can you say anything more directly about the value of attending all three classes?

“In order to . . . allow our Buddha-nature to shine bright, we need to carve out sacred time and commit to practice.”

Lisa: Consistency, discipline, setting aside regular practice times are all part of growing spiritually. In order to grow or advance in our spirituality, aka allow our Buddha-nature to shine bright, we need to carve out sacred time and commit to practice. I find that in these busy times not all can get away for five- or ten-day retreats. This is my way as a teacher of bringing mini-retreats to the students so that their lives may be enriched. It’s also great for students who have done a retreat and want to keep that energy alive.
Jay: You identify yourself as an intuitive healer and have trained in several different healing modalities. How does this affect the experience of the yoga student in a class setting?
Lisa: My training and experience as a craniosacral therapist, Reiki master and intuitive have taught me how to empty out so that I can listen from deep within and intuitively respond to each individual’s needs while in a classroom setting. The intention through the teaching is to energetically support students in attuning to the Universal Life Force Energy. The all-pervasive state of oneness or wholeness is always accessible; it’s just that we often have our attention elsewhere! Students in my classes, even with a large span of ages and abilities, will report having had their individual needs met.

Connie Cummings and Judith Randall

Jay: Is there anything you would like to add or highlight about this class series?
Lisa: I’m always excited to work with students and offer the teachings through the Zen Center. Yoga and Zen are so similar, such a complement. Working in harmony with the Zen Teachers is such a joy!
__________
For full class descriptions of this series, see Yoga, Zen and the Three Jewels, at ZaZEN Filbert Street. For more about Lisa Jansen, visit lisayoga.com.

Me, We, and Non Duality

Me, We, and Non duality

To really understand your true nature

you must first embrace the Me

Then open to the We

Thus discovering Non duality

  

 It's healthy to take care of yourself. In fact it's a 

must in order to have healthy relations. 

It's human nature to want deep heart felt connection.

Connecting on a daily basis is really all we're after.  

               Daily Heart Felt Connection

We can access that from within and throughout.

First take the time to open to your Me.

The part of yourself that wants to feel

unconditionally, without judgement.

Take time to meet your own needs so you

can be there unconditionally for someone else.

An Unhealthy Me is when the ego  

sabotages and sends conditioned messages,

brings back old negative feelings,

keeps you from having joy and an open state

of satisfaction. When sabotaging

memories, thoughts, projections 

convolute your healthy me connection

 Remember to disregard them.

Allow those egoic thoughts to

breeze right through, don't grab onto

them, *the ego will trick you into 

maintaining that relationship.*

            Don't Let it!!!!

Simply feel where the egoic thoughts

come from, where they sit in the body/mind

and feel them pass through you like water

passing through a sieve.

  

In nature the We, and the Me can be seen

as the tree and the soil. They are separate 

yet they are one.  So here it is.  You can 

stay completely connected to the Me, and

also have a full relationship with the We.

Once this is established there is the Whole

also called Non-dualtiy.  This space is neither

one nor the other, both are there. 

"From form to emptiness, and emptiness to form."

used by Zen Masters to describe this state.

Practice the meditation that I've listed below

to move from me, to we, and all that is. 

And back again! Not to lose yourself in one

 for the other, knowing all things, are one. 

Fulfillment,  and fulfilling your spiritual self requires practice, willingness and thus attuning to this state of oneness. 

                         It's Possible!

      

Non duality Meditation

 Try this:  Sit comfortably. Attune to the space beside

 you to the right. Stay awhile. Not the right side of the body,

 but the space to the right of you.

Now attune to the space to the left of you body.  

Now access both spaces at once.

Next, attune to the space behind you, the space behind your

body. Wait awhile. Now attune to the space in front of your 

body.  Access both the space in front of you and behind you 

at the same time. 

Sitting, feel you whole vertical channel, feel yourself centered 

and  practice attuning to all 4 spaces at once. 

Balance your mind to attune to the 4 spaces at once 

while you sit still and quietly.  

We can achieve perfect balance. Learning to attune 

our minds to spaciousness from within and throughout. 

Not to lose one for the other! 

Practicing regularly creates a reality, rather than 

a practice.

I hope you enjoy these practices. 

May they support you in your life.

feedback welcome!

 with practice, patience, and perseverance you are awakening~ 

Contact Lisa

Prema-dove

Lisa Jansen

ERYT, SRT, CST

****************************************************************************

Prema offers...

 Private Alternative Healing

Embodiment

Fundamental Consciousness

Spiritual Emotional Psychological Healing

Loving Attention

Safe Sacred Space

Personal Evolution

Free from pain body

Free from conditioned mind

Accessing Higher States of Consciousness

*Balance

*Personal Integration

*Self Realization

Over the past 17

 I've been integrating several healing modalities. 

I trust that while working privately 

I will be guided to offer you 

exactly just what you need.

I listen from that heartfelt space

from deep within

attuning to your whole self

the highest form 

and offer a space 

where you can receive

Transformation!

 contact me here.

email me  

805 709 6437

pricing and more information about the  modalities 

I integrate can be found here

lisayoga.com

A little Creative Voice Snuck into my Consciousness While I was sleeping.... IT SAID: SHARE THIS E M B O D I M E N T 4 Ways of Bringing It Home! Embodied You Embodied Consciousness Embodied Movement Embodied We  offerings... EMBODIED YOU a private session in Halcyon EMBODIED CONSCIOUSNESS learn to use meditation EMBODIED MOVEMENT Yoga with Embodiment Included EMBODIED WE Learn to Share your gifts through intensive CALL TO TALK ABOUT HOW TO GET STARTED!  805 709 64378 or email me  May Your Day Be Filled With Love, Prema aka lisa

FREE CLASS!!! Just mention this ad and you can take a FREE CLASS in May.  CLasses at Branch Mill Organic Farm on Wednesdays, or Tuesdays at Peaceful Point.   Get Class Updates Here: lisayoga.com

TO BE or NOT TO BE

TO BE or NOT TO BE

It's a question that we are blessed to be asking ourselves....

It's a choice that only you can make.  

It's an awareness that creeps in 

with practice and inquiry.

      

To Be has nothing to do with who your ego thinks it is, what you've accomplished, what you own, what's happening in your relationships, what your kids or parents are doing or have done, what your day was like, what you want your day to be like, where your going on your next vacation, what pains you have in your body, what emotions have been stirring, what your mind is telling you it is.

To Be simply is  a state of awareness that is available each moment, as our day unfolds.  Simple to Be, is a gift you can offer yourself and others, 

To Be.....

the only route into Sanity! 

The only route into Peace! 

The only route into R E A L I T Y...

TO BE

  How can I learn to simply just BE?

  

Well, it's one of those things that's really easy, and really hard at the same time.  Meaning it can happen spontaneously in the moment, but it often is covered up by so much of your conditioning, mind stuff, and other busy thoughts that it's like being in a room and noticing the space in the room rather than the objects.  

First step is to s t e p back!    Notice,    Realize, and then increase this state of oneness  by practicing and it will seep into your REALITY!

 

 Here's the Practice for this month

  Direct Perception in Fundamental Consciousness:

       With your eyes open, feel that you are inside your whole body at once.  Find the space outside of your body, the space in the room.  Now experience that the space inside and outside your body is the same, continuous space.  It pervades you.  Bring your breath smoothly and evenly through the space.  Experience that the space that pervades your body also pervades the other people and objects in the room, and the walls of the room.  Stay in your whole body as you experience this.

     Experience that all of the sounds that you hear are just occurring in the space without changing the space.  

Experience that the space itself is hearing the sounds.  You do not have to listen in order to hear.  The hearing happens by itself.  You are hearing with your whole body and mind.

     Now allow everything that you see to just be in the space without changing or altering the space.

     Experience that the space that pervades your whole body also pervades your eyes.  Your eyes are made of space.  

     Experience that the space itself is doing the seeing.  The eyes are just lenses.  You do not have to look in order to see.  The seeing happens by itself.  Just receive the visual images.  You are seeing with your whole body and mind.

  

In Zen Buddhism they say, 

"the man sees the mountain, the mountain sees the man".  

Subject and object are both embedded, 

and pervaded by, the same perceptual consciousness.)  

  

Experience the visual stimulus moving through the stillness of fundamental consciousness without disturbing it.

(Your eyes may feel unfocused as they relax.  With practice, they will refocus with better vision.)

     Now experience that everything you hear and everything you see occurs at the same time in the space of fundamental consciousness without your making any effort to hear or see.

  

Meditations from The Self Realization Process, Judith Blackstone. *copyrite

with practice, patience, and perseverance you are awakening~ 

Contact Lisa

Prema-dove

Lisa Jansen

ERYT, SRT, CST

Authenticity and Your True Nature

Authenticity and Your True Nature

You are an A U T H E N T I C being! You have an authentic spontaneous expression, voice, creative side, and fluid openness that you were born with. It’s alive and waiting to spring open, to shout out, to explore, investigate, and create. IT’s ALIVENESS, or your Wholeness, and can be experienced more deeply when you learn to let go from deep within. Then we can Live and Let live.

Because of our conditioning, our families of origin, our society, the ongoing media slaughter, and our sensitivity to simply fit in..... we often respond, react, and move in our day to day lives from a more responsive or conditioned state.

When we open, become vulnerable, or allow for deeply held patterns to release, we are actually accessing our AUTHENTIC Self, or uniqueness.

Of course, this is somewhat of a paradox. What I mean by that is that as we let go deeply, we feel who we are from deep within, we—in turn—can fully embrace others. It is here that true intimacy takes place.

When you embrace yourself, you will naturally feel more connected to others.

Remember, it’s perfectly OK to let go, allow for openness and spaciousness and feel the

uncertainty—or vulnerability of what arises. Being vulnerable, not knowing, is more reality-based than what we might be conjuring in our mind from moment to moment.

Freedom from projection is the vulnerable openness that gives life luster!

Practice this meditation to access Sat Naam:

the ongoing stream of who you are,

the consciousness that is all pervasive.

Letting Go from deep within Meditation, based off the Self Realization Process with Judith Blackstone, deep gratitude to my teacher:

Sit upright, with both feet on the ground. Let your mind access the inside of the heels of both feet—both feet at the same time. Stay awhile, until you become aware of yourself inside the heels of both feet.

Now travel up into the inside of both ankles, your true nature rests here inside both ankles.

Make deep internal contact with yourself and stay awhile in each point as I guide you up and through the body.

From the ankles, go up inside both knees.....

Into the sockets of both hips

Inside the pelvic at the center, rest your busy mind here.

Up inside the chest, rest inside your heart chakra. Wait, let the breath rise and fall from inside the heart space.

Now access the point inside your head between both ears. Let the internal flow of all that is rise up from the heels, slowly until you move through all the previous points and right at the point inside both ears.

When you’re ready let the energy rise up and out through your crown.

STAY connected from the heels; don’t lose your beginning point as you also expand out your crown.

From deep within, also experience the all-pervasive space outside of yourself.

Feel yourself from deep within, and also experience the spaciousness outside yourself, in the room and beyond.

SAT NAAM

with practice, patience, and perseverance you are awakening~

Practice Creates Reality

Dear Friends and Students  I'm sitting here looking out my big cottage window at the dark, grey sky writing this Spring Newsletter!  I can't believe the amount of rain, cold, and even icy mornings we have experienced this winter! I can always feel  into the change of the season, usually in a way that brings a fresh outlook or renewed faith in life.  Spring, of course is that time naturally as the flowers bloom and the sun's rays come down a bit more, How do you see, when you look out your window? We sense, see, experience from different places from within. Depending on where we live, *most of the time it's in the mind* we see from that place. Often it is a limitation of the ENTIRE or whole part of what is our actual or actualized self. This is both a cultural and conditioned way of being in the world.   However......I have found that through somatic practice such as Yoga, or receiving body work or using full body meditation, we can become whole again! We often separate ourselves, or dis-embody which causes us to fragment and lose a deep sense of who we really are. GOOD NEWS!   With practice, attention, awareness, and more expansive experiences that include embodying yourself you can SEE THROUGH YOUR WINDOWS...YOUR EYES... From your entire body. Your truth. I find that this brings a greater sense of joy and happiness, hope, and optimism, also understanding and compassion for others. I also find that it helps me see things for their fullness rather than their lack. This is especially helpful when going through a hard time, where the mind tends to dwell in darker pockets or focuses on a smaller picture, rather than remember it's true nature..Once we are full we can naturally see or say, "Oh, remember the beauty of Spring!"  It's like remembering to smell the flowers.  It's Spring! Things are blooming, life is flowing, and truly all is well. Below I'm offering a VERY SHORT practice or tip for embracing your fullness, seeing and sensing from a wholistic space. If you want to learn more you can also join me in one of my courses on Self Realization OR schedule a private so I can teach you how!     Anyone can learn.   Happy Spring!  Embrace and Be Free! . Namaste, Prema-dove Lisa Jansen ERYT, Reiki Master, CranioSacral Therapist Contact Lisa

Try This: Practice Creates Reality! Sit or stand and imagine or feel that you are pouring your mind, like pouring a pitcher of water into your whole body. Your entire body is receiving  a full experience, while your mind is emptying out. So you fill up from your toes, through your feet, ankles, legs, pelvis, trunk, neck, arms, shoulders, hands, fingers.   Fill yourself up with a sense of energy, while emptying your mind!!!   You may feel bigger,  you've grown spiritually! PRACTICE: See from your heart space instead of your eyes. Feel from the ground up, from the feet first. Let your eyes become one with your face and sense the world rather than see it. Move through your day from deep within, rather than the external space that we usually move from. Most important, Stay deeply connected to this full state and also experience your day, the world, from the OneNess or Wholeness of this space. Move from place to place without leaving or disembodying yourself. Stay connected to the internal spaciousness from within. Relate to others in a fluid connected space, rather than from me to you or you to me. In the garden, on the beach, in nature feel yourself fully connected from deep within, notice the translucent states that arise as you experience that you are ONE!