WELCOMING IN THE NEW YEAR

Step into the enchantment of an extraordinary evening as we usher in the energy of the New Year. Join our gathering, where the mystique of numerology and astrology will unfold, providing insightful glimpses into the cosmic energies that will shape the coming year.

The evening culminates in a serene and captivating guided meditation, where you’ll recline in comfort, creating a sacred space to articulate and set your intentions for the journey that lies ahead in 2024.

Embrace the magic of this momentous occasion with us, where cosmic wisdom, and profound meditation converge to craft a memorable beginning to the upcoming New Year. Your presence will add to the richness of this experience, and we look forward to sharing this special evening with you.

Book now to secure your place in this celestial celebration of new beginnings.

Love and blessings
India
$55

Please book at:

https://www.momoyoga.com/faith-hope-and-healing/lesson/19203614/welcoming-in-the-new-year-circle

T’s and C’s
Booking deadline is December 24.
Cancellations
If you cancel before December 24 you will be fully refunded. If you cancel from December 25 this event is non-refundable (or alternatively, you can find someone to take your place, I will do my best to help with this too)

LEARN TO MEDITATE FOUNDATION COURSE

Have you always wanted to learn to Meditate?

Or perhaps you are already enjoying my weekly sessions but are finding it difficult to settle your mind?Maybe you have tried a class here and there but just couldn’t find a style that resonates with you? Or been to a Meditation Day & walked away defeated thinking you can not master it?Can I let you in on a secret? No-one can learn to quieten their mind in a day, it’s just not possible! 

Hence why I teach my foundation course over 4 weeks with time in between & audios with my voice for guidance to practice at home. Ideally you would participate online live each week however I will record the sessions so you can catch up at home if you miss a week too.Learning to meditate is not difficult, but like any learning experience it requires teaching and some effort & committment.

The course is extensive & focuses on practicing various types of meditation so that you can find a style that works for you.You will learn….*The correct posture (whether that be on a chair or sitting cross legged on the floor)
*The “9 rounds of breathing” technique.(A technique that my teacher taught me 18 years ago)
*Setting a Motivation & Dedication to your practice
*How to create a beautiful space for home practice
*Morning Meditation, Body Scan, Mindfulness, Guided Visualisation, Yoga Nidra & more.This course is uniquely structured to introduce you to various meditation techniques and find what is perfect for you & your lifestyle. My aim is to teach you in a way that Meditation becomes something you look forward to & not a chore that you tick off your to-do list. It will become a part of your life & a life skill that creates benefits that go well beyond sitting on the cushion or the chair!Bookings are essential.Please contact me on 0400 401 028 or india_wallace@bigpond.com if you have any queries or concerns. I am more than happy to have a chat first.


Space is limited to 10 students only. It is important to have the group experience when learning, so my class is size is small so that everyone benefits.


TESTIMONIAL…”I found the course personal, meaningful, and the atmosphere and energy very calming, supporting and positive – which I think is a reflection of your warm and engaging teaching style – I really appreciated your support, gentle guidance and positivity during the course creating a lovely group dynamic which allowed things to unfold at the right pace”- thank you India!Simon

BOOKINGS AT
momoyoga.com/faith-hope-and-healing/

OUR PRECIOUS LIFE

What is a Precious Human Life?

Speaking as a Buddhist practitioner, we have a specific teaching on A precious Human Life”. This teaching comes from the Buddha’s words in The Sutra Containing the Excellent. The Buddha tells us within these sacred texts…

“If there were a huge, deep ocean as big as this entire world with a golden yoke floating on its surface, and, at the bottom, there were a crippled, blind turtle who surfaced only once in a hundred years, how often would that turtle raise its head through the yoke?”  Such an event would be extremely rare, but not as rare as gaining the birth of leisure and fortune.’  

When the Buddha speaks about “birth, leisure & fortune” he is referring to the life that many of us have here on earth right now. However that is not to say though that every human life is precious & has such freedom.

Many are suffering, for we are living in truly overwhelming times. The Buddha very aptly called this “the degenerate times”. War, injustice, environmental issues to mention a few are causing us to be in a state of flux, a state of spiritual trauma. Humanity is in crisis. We are disconnected from each other, from our core values & for many from the life they yearn to live here on the Earthly plane.

Our Buddhist teachers tell us that we all suffer from hatred, violence, pain, and other difficulties. Indeed we do in varying degrees of that there is no doubt. But the teachings also tell us that the intensity of our suffering is brought on by our refusal to let go of our delusions, all of the stories we have told ourselves about reality.

We have a precious existence and yet we continue to ignore the bounties of everyday life. 

To train the mind, we must understand the sacredness of everything at all times. No one direction is better than another, because all directions are sacred. No one object is more pure, because everything is pure as it is.

However in some ways, this sense of despair & disconnection is the very thing that is uniting us. Deep down I feel certain we are all beginning to rise & awaken. All wanting to find a new way of living, knowing deep down that the old ways were not working.

Why do we find it so difficult to enjoy this present moment & all it offers us?

Most of us stumble our way through life always longing for something else, something we believe to be better than this.

Often there is not anything really wrong, just feelings of fear, stress, anxiety. Sometimes these feelings can be subtle sometimes gross & larger than life. We allow the miracles around us to fade into the background of our life, barely noticing them.

Until of course some adversity hits us & then we can realise the fragility of life, and become privy to some pain & suffering. It shouldn’t take the pain to open our eyes to the beauty of what we have all around us. All of us at some time take this Precious Life for granted.

How can we navigate our way through this? How can we discover this Precious Life we have?

From this moment on, we can make the mental shift to embrace this precious life & look at the positives. Let’s allow ourselves to feel that cathartic inner cleansing that comes when we practice gratitude for this incredible journey called life! It is through gratitude, we appreciate the beauty of the lives we’ve been blessed with. Gratitude is the pathway to hope, where we can move out of fear into loving kindness & compassion for ourselves & others.

Regardless of what our present circumstances are we can begin to see the impermanence of life. This too shall pass. We can find some surrender & spiritual faith, even if it is believing & connecting to the divine energy that binds us all here on Earth.

Our Precious Life is fleeting. We constantly hear on the news or in our own life of peoples life being cut short. We are here today but can be gone tomorrow. Death can be our best teacher, it can help us appreciate what we have right now, to live our precious life to its fullest. It can lead us into a life of forgiveness, a life of love & understanding rather than hate & resentment.

Where is our focus? What are we manifesting in our life? If we see life as pain & struggle it has a way of inviting that in. If we see life as magical & precious with a childlike curiosity then this is what we attract. Have you ever noticed when you are in a positive frame of mind, or even a relaxed neutral mind how life just flows so beautifully?

We understand that life has many challenges. Do we slip into allowing these experiences & thoughts to consume us, to defeat us & cause us suffering & even sometimes depression? Or do we look at life’s obstacles as valuable lessons where we can learn, grow & even teach & benefit others? There is always a reason for our failures, & we need to find acceptance in that sometimes we are not privy to understand why. Our suffering is to teach us to open our eyes to the big picture, to deeper insight. A chance to live & breathe & experience life in all its wonder.

Through our own suffering we can begin to grow & learn. It can connect us to others & help us to truly appreciate life & the importance of seeing every moment as precious. It is here in our pain & suffering we can gain a deeper understanding of our purpose in this life.

When we take the focus away from our self cherishing mind we realise how insignificant we are. To realise this is actually one of life most beautiful gifts. That is not to say that we are not unique with many gifts to offer the world, we just need to begin to cherish every moment of this precious life & not let it go wasted.

I say that primarily to highlight that life is a beautiful gift. It’s a one-in-a-zillion chance that we’re alive here, living and breathing, on this earth. Somewhere out there, there might be millions of other planets just like ours with denizens going about their lives, unaware of everything else transpiring in the universe.

I beg of you, do not compare yourself to others. We often fail to appreciate just how precious life is when we compare ourselves to others. Whether we compare financially or through some other aspect, we look to what we don’t have rather than what we do. There will always be people who are more successful or powerful or attractive than us.

Your precious life is unique. You bring many unique gifts to our world right now. You are on your very own unique journey making your own amazing discoveries that are completely perfect for you.

And finally remember that this life it is a dream, it will be over in the blink of an eye. Remember who you are, remember what you are. You are a spirit within a human body, here on Earth to love, to dream to experience.

Love & Blessings India 💜

.

WHEN THE MOON IS WANING…

Last week at our Full Moon 🌕 Ceremony we released what no longer served us & practiced forgiveness for ourselves & others. A fire ritual helped us achieve this. We journaled & shared our myriad of emotions with each other in our wonderful circle of amazing women. We meditated with the Goddess Freya to begin to process our feelings, particularly around relationships. (Full 🌕 Moon was in Libra!)

When the Moon became full we moved into the “waning cycle”. This is a two week period that occurs each month between the time of the Full 🌕 Moon & the New 🌑 Moon. It is in this period that we continue our work of letting go & releasing. We can use the season of Autumn to remind us of this. Just as the golden leaves fall from the trees so too do our stuck emotions & feelings leave us.

This is time to release the past! At this time it is much easier to do this so take this opportunity wherever possible in your life right now. It is also a time for rest, a time where we can reflect, process & release. It is very important to do this work in preparation for the New 🌑 Moon.

As we get closer to New 🌑 Moon we can begin to prepare ourselves for some Manifesting with our Moon 🌔 Magic! It is at this time we can begin again, where we can dream & plan for the future to create the life we want to lead.

If you live in Adelaide & would love to join us in this at this magical time go to https://fb.me/e/d7NVtCIg7

Love & Moonly 🌙 blessings India

Thich Nhat Hanh on “war”…..

“My dear friend,
I would like to tell you how I practised when I got angry during the war in Vietnam. There was a lot of injustice and many thousands of friends of mine were killed. I got very angry but at that time I was already a solid practitioner.

I did not say anything. I did not act because I knew that acting or saying things while you are angry is not wise. It may create a lot of destruction. I went back to myself recognizing my anger, embracing it and looked deeply into the nature of my suffering.

I was able to understand the nature of the suffering in Vietnam. I saw that not only did Vietnamese suffer but Americans suffered as well during the war in Vietnam. The American young men who were sent to Vietnam to kill and to be killed underwent a lot of suffering and the suffering continues even today.
“I was able to see the real enemy of man is ignorance, discrimination, fear, craving and violence.”
So I went to America to call for the US government to look deeply and revise that policy. I remember I met with the Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and I told him the truth about the suffering. He kept me with him for a long time and he listened deeply to me and I was very grateful for his quality of listening. Three months later when the war was intensified I heard that he resigned from his post.


Hatred and anger were not in my heart – that is why I was listened to by many young people in my country advocating them to follow the path of reconciliation and together we helped bring about the negotiations for peace in Paris. I hope my friends here in New York are able to practice the same. 
There are ways that we can go back to ourselves and practice, so that we rediscover our calmness our tranquility, our lucidity – ways by which we can look deeply to understand the real causes of the suffering. That understanding will help us to do what needs to be done and not to do what could be harmful to us and to other people.”
This transcript has been edited slightly for legibility and brevity. For the full speech view the film.

The World Events & Astrology right now…

Thank you to those Goddesses who joined the New Moon Online Ceremony, I promised I would reveal more today on the astrological events at the moment.

Jupiter the planet of good times is still with us but remember it is also the planet of going over top, amplifying everything & being excessive. Every planet has a yin & yang.

As I mentioned last night Goddesses we have the Mars/Pluto conjunction which happens about every two years (last time was March 2022). Mars is the God of war & Pluto is the Lord of the Underworld & pandemics & loves to erupt!

The immediate astrology is not ideal given the situation the World is in right now, but read on….

If the invasion in Ukraine was not happening right now this alignment could have been a turning point for the world but for whatever reasons it is playing out like it is.

The two planets conjoin in this wait is called the beginning of a new synodic cycle. (the next time will be on Valentines Day 2024)

So how can we manage this when we read on social media or watch news that is totally horrific and terrifying? We go within, we feel our light, we raise our vibration & we send it out to the world & all its beings (even Putin if you can! we want him to heal too!). Just like we did last night in Kuan Yin Meditation Goddesses. You have your activated crystal now so use it every time you need to send out the love & compassion.

This conjunction only lasts 24 hours so we will be coming out of it today.

And the good news…. da da ta da… is the Sun/Jupiter conjunction on March 5. This is a good omen, happens once a year so there is a chance this alignment can see happier times ahead but there is a lot of work for us humans to do!

The Sun will conjunct Jupiter just prior to Mars & Venus making a new conjunction in Aquarius (the sign for humanity). Will this be enough.. we have to keep the faith… so continue to pray & manifest for peace Goddesses.

With love & blessings India 💜

Credits to Yasmin Boland – Astrologer Extraordinaire

https://fb.me/e/cucXN1p2F

Harvard Study Shows How Meditation Literally Restructures The Brain

AUGUST 28, 2015 / 2298 VIEWS Article originally posted by Collective Evolution.  Re-posted here with their permission.

Numerous studies have indicated the many physiological benefits of meditation, and the latest one comes from Harvard University.

boost_brain_powerAn eight week study conducted by Harvard researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) determined that meditation literally rebuilds the brains grey matter in just eight weeks. It’s the very first study to document that meditation produces changes over time in the brain’s grey matter. (1)

“Although the practice of meditation is associated with a sense of peacefulness and physical relaxation, practitioners have long claimed that meditation also provides cognitive and psychological benefits that persist throughout the day. This study demonstrates that changes in brain structure may underlie some of these reported improvements and that people are not just feeling better because they are spending time relaxing.” – (1) Sara Lazar of the MGH Psychiatric Neuroimaging Research Program and a Harvard Medical School Instructor in Psychology.

The study involved taking magnetic resonance images (MRI) of the brain’s of 16 study participants two weeks prior to participating in the study. MRI images of the participants were also taken after the study was completed.

“The analysis of MR images, which focused on areas where meditation-associated differences were seen in earlier studies, found increased grey-matter density in the hippocampus, known to be important for learning and memory, and in structures associated with self-awareness, compassion and introspection.” (1)01 Meditation children - crystal rainbow indigo

For the study, participants engaged in meditation practices every day for approximately 30 minutes. These practices included focusing on audio recordings for guided meditation, non-judgmental awareness of sensations, feelings and state of mind.

“It is fascinating to see the brain’s plasticity and that, by practicing meditation, we can play an active role in changing the brain and can increase our well-being and quality of life. Other studies in different patient populations have shown that meditation can make significant improvements in a variety of symptoms, and we are now investigating the underlying mechanisms in the brain that facilitate this change.” – (1) Britta Holzel, first author of the paper and a research fellow at MGH and Giessen University in Germany

How To Meditate

A common misconception about meditation is that you have to sit a certain way or do something in particular to achieve the various benefits that it can provide. All you have to do is place yourself in a position that is most comfortable to you. It could be sitting cross legged, lying down in a bed, sitting on a couch etc, it’s your choice.

Another common misconception about meditation is that you have to “try” to empty your mind. One important factor I enjoyed reading from the study mentioned above is that participants were engaged in “non-judgmental awareness of sensations, feelings and state of mind.”

Meditation_2070026b

When meditating, you shouldn’t try to “empty” your mind. Instead, try to let your thoughts, feelings and whatever emotions you are feeling at the time flow. Don’t judge them, just let them come and go and be at peace with it.

I also believe that meditation is a state of being/mind more than anything else. I feel that one does not have to sit down for half an hour and “meditate” so to speak in order to reap the benefits of it, or to be engaged in the practice itself.  One can be engaged in meditation while they are on a walk, for example, or the time they have right before they sleep. Throughout the day, one can resist judging their thoughts, letting them flow until they are no more, or just be in a constant state of peace and self awareness. Contrary to popular belief, there is more than one way to meditate.

“You will have to understand one of the most fundamental things about meditation: that no technique leads to meditation. The old so-called techniques and the new scientific biofeedback techniques are the same as far as meditation is concerned. Meditation is not a byproduct of any technique. Meditation happens beyond mind. No technique can go beyond mind.” – Osho

For more articles from Collective Evolution on meditation you can click HERE.

Sources:

(1)  http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/01/eight-weeks-to-a-better-brain/