1. health and fitness
2. disease
3. cholesterol

DECEMBER 2010
Discovering the divine in body, mind and soul
www.elevatedexistence.com
How to
Design a
Meditation
Space
Editor’s
Gift
Picks
Using
Rituals
to Release
the Past
Shirley
MacLaine
Elevated Existence honors the
actress, author and spiritual
pioneer with the 2 nd Annual
Spiritual Service Award.
table of contents
EDITORIAL
Publisher & Editorial Director
Tammy Mastroberte
[email protected]
Copyeditor
Sarah Veit
[email protected]
38
Contributing Editors
Deanna August, MA, ATP
Karen Jones
ART & PRODUCTION
Creative Director
Kathy Morawski
15
Logo Design
Kathy Morawski
Publisher of Elevated Existence
Magazine & www.elevatedexistence.com
34 Washington Avenue
Elmwood Park, N.J. 07407
Copyright © 2010 by Elevated Existence
LLC. All content is fully protected and
must not be reproduced in any manner
without written permission. Elevated
Existence is published quarterly by
Elevated Existence LLC. A one-year
subscription is $10, and can be purchased
at www.elevatedexistence.com.
COVER STORY
15 Blazing a Spiritual Trail
35
Long before the wave of metaphysical and
new age thought became mainstream, Shirley
MacLaine unleashed her esoteric beliefs into the
world, paving the way for spirituality today.
FEATURES
9 Editor’s Inspirational Gift Picks
2009 Bronze Folio: Magazine Eddie
Award for Best Single Article in
the Religious/Spiritual Category
Elevated Existence editors chose some of their
favorite gift ideas to help spread hope, love,
faith and inspiration to others.
21 Meditation by Design
2010 Clarion Award for
Best Online Publication
9
Setting the tone for a meditation space — be it an entire
room or a cozy corner — begins with the right design.
IN EVERY ISSUE
3 EDITOR’S LETTER
Beyond the Opinion of Others
4 ELEVATED IDEAS
News, Views and Inspiration
6 ELEVATED IDEAS
Read, Watch, Listen
7 BOOK SPOTLIGHT
Secrets of Spiritual Evolution
26 HEALING CORNER
Healing From the Inside Out
30 HEALING CORNER
Releasing Through Ritual
21
35 ENERGY AWARENESS Let’s Talk Tantra
38 CALLING ALL ANGELS Earth Angels
Cover photograph courtesy
of Shirley MacLaine
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41 ELEVATED EVENTS
Calendar
December 2010
Elevated Existence 2
editor’s letter
Beyond the Opinion of Others
w w w. e l e v a t e d e x i s t e n c e . c o m
Photo by Susan Kozlowski
I
magine what your life would look like if the opinion of other people didn’t matter to you.
What would you do, be or have if you were not worried about what others would say,
do or think about it?
I recently attended “The Art of Manifestation Workshop,” given by bestselling author Dr. Wayne Dyer in New York City, where he spoke about Abraham
Maslow’s four characteristics of a self-actualized person. “Self-actualized people are
independent of the good opinion of other people,” said Dyer, explaining one of the
reasons people are not living the lives they want is because “they are doing what
their parents want or what others want from them.”
When I heard this, I immediately thought of this issue’s cover story subject and
the recipient of the 2nd Annual Elevated Existence Spiritual Service Award — actress,
author and spiritual pioneer, Shirley MacLaine. More than 25 years ago
she had the courage and strength to publish the book “Out on a Limb,” which
chronicled her life as she began to discover her spiritual side. In the book, she
spoke of new age topics including synchronicity, reincarnation and channeling spirit
guides, which at the time seemed outrageous to many. By publishing the book,
MacLaine opened herself up to ridicule, which often occurs when someone pushes
the envelope the way she did.
The book “Out on a Limb” was published in 1983, the same year MacLaine won
an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in “Terms of Endearment.” She
could have easily decided not to risk her career or reputation by publishing the book.
But instead, she fearlessly pushed “the good opinion of other people” aside, and
touched the lives of millions. Today, many of her books chronicling her spiritual
journeys and sharing the knowledge she acquired have become bestsellers.
“I’m not interested in ‘you must believe me.’ That is why I think it’s all pretty funny, and
that is why I love all the jokes,” she told me during our interview at her home in Malibu,
Calif. “All the people who are making fun of you are characters in your own dream anyway.”
Today, she continues to push the envelope, writing about extraterrestrial activity based on
facts she unearthed through research and interviews with experts in her book “Saging While
Aging,” and she is currently writing a book about the concepts of evil and negativity.
To me, there is no better example of someone who fearlessly followed their heart, no
matter what others thought, said or did — and served the greater good in the process — than
Shirley MacLaine. The impact she has had on the dissemination of spiritual and metaphysical
beliefs is immeasurable.
We all come into this physical world with special gifts and talents to help us live our
purpose. MacLaine believes she chose her life in the public eye to be able to travel and share
her findings with the world. As 2010 comes to a close, think about your own gifts and
talents, and how they can serve others, no matter how big or small. And remember, when
you are serving the good of others, their opinions — both good and bad — are really none
of your business.
Blessings and love to you all!
Tammy Mastroberte
Publisher & Editorial Director
Elevated Existence won
a 2010 Clarion Award for
“Best Online Publication”
from The Association for
Women in Communications.
Congratulations to the entire
staff. Thank you for your
hard work and dedication.
December 2010
Elevated Existence 3
elevated ideas
{ News, Views & Inspiration }
Learn to Take a Break
IMAGINE FILLING A ROOM WITH LEFT-BRAIN
technology professionals and then asking a Buddhist
monk to talk about spirituality. Sounds a little strange,
but that’s exactly what happened at the World
Computer Congress held in Brisbane, Australia recently.
Ajahn Brahm, the spiritual director of the Buddhist
Society of Western Australia, spoke to information and
communications technology (ICT) professionals about
ways to deal with everyday stress, while also driving
efficiency and enhancing
creativity and innovation, The
Australian reported.
“One of the problems with
our modern lifestyle is that we
measure our output by the
number of hours we spend at
our desk,” Brahm said. “When
you’re stressed out, the quality
of your work goes way down.
You’re not being efficient.
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You’re wasting your time, wasting your company’s time
and doing great damage to your spiritual life.”
He recommended taking a short break to recharge,
and compared the stress of a workload to holding a
glass of water up in the air. It’s light, but after a while,
a person’s arm will begin to hurt until he or she can’t
take the pain anymore and needs to put down the glass.
Stress is not about the workload or about the myriad
of responsibilities we take on, he noted. It’s about
“knowing when to put
them down to rest, so
when you pick your work
up again it’s much easier
to bear.” By taking a
break, you can return to
work with “far greater
efficiency in whatever
you do because the mind
is clear and is more
EE
inventive,” he said.
December 2010
Elevated Existence 4
elevated ideas
{ News, Views & Inspiration }
“We change the world
not by what we say or do,
but as a consequence
of what we
have become.”
L
Cancer Center
Integrates
Spirituality
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The Spirit of Sharing … Books!
L
In the middle of the START Cancer
Center in San Antonio sits an oasis
for patients to retreat — whether for lab
tests, chemotherapy or nourishment
of their souls — thanks to the
incorporation of spiritual treatments,
which the center’s doctors believe are just
as important as the medical treatments.
“We wanted to do something to
take advantage of that synergy
between ancient eastern traditions and
cutting edge western medicine,” said
oncologist Dr. Amy Lang of START in
a KSAT.com news report. “We have
massage therapists who not only can
give a massage to anyone, but are
specially trained for cancer patients
on how to keep them safe through
massage and skin care.”
Called Inspiritas, the spa also offers a
full line of health supplements, yoga
classes and Tai Chi, and therapists
help patients with a wide range of
needs from nutrition to picking out
wigs, the report stated. Both nutrition
and counseling sessions are free, and
the spa treatment pricing is typical
compared to other spas. And while it
caters to cancer patients, it is open to
the public as well.
We applaud the effort of START,
and hope more medical facilities follow
its lead!
EE
– David R. Hawkins
If you are like us at Elevated Existence, you could open up a library with the
number of spiritual books you have around the house — the one’s you’ve already
read, plan to read or are reading now! Why not share them with other like-minded
souls and swap them out for books you are looking to read next?
Thanks to SpiritualSeekerBookSwap.com you can do just that! Created by Sarah
Pollak, a multimedia designer and spiritual seeker herself, the Web site offers a
resource for people to share books worldwide, and members are invited to post
any book related to spirituality.
“Membership in Spiritual Seeker Book Swap is completely free,” said Pollak. “Just
sign up and start swapping.”
Each member is responsible for shipping his or her own books, and every book
shipped earns a point
that can be used to
request another book.
“I know it’s hard
to part with books,
especially these kinds,
but spiritual searching
can take a lot of books.
Why not share? Besides,
swapping will save some
EE
trees,” she said.
December 2010
Elevated Existence 5
elevated ideas
{ Read, Watch & Listen }
Whether facing unexpected
unemployment, struggling with
an illness or surviving a divorce,
obstacles in life can be turned
into opportunities when we
recognize their power to change
our lives. In the book, “Can I Get
a Do Over? Unforgettable
Stories of Second Chances
and Life Makeovers,” Rick
Domeier, senior host of television
shopping channel QVC, offers an
up-close and personal look into
the lives of people who found the
power within to seize their chance for a “do over”
and reinvent themselves. These encouraging
stories offer hope and motivation to those either
longing for change or faced with the inevitable
prospect of it. We can’t think of a better way to
EE
start out 2011!
Read
When we sat down to watch “Tranquility
Films: Volume 1 - Coral Reef Odys-Sea,” we
were not sure what to expect. Created by NTS
Images, this film, along with its counterpart,
“Volume 2 - Wings and Other Wild Things,”
are meant to promote deep relaxation through
the use of images and music, and within
five minutes of watching we realized that
is exactly what they do. Used in daycare
centers, nursing homes and more, the films
take the viewer under water into the natural
world of the Caribbean. Whether
you have difficulty meditating or
are seasoned at the practice, these
films will drop you into a relaxed
state, soothing stress and anxiety
EE
within minutes.
Watch
For years, the collective consciousness known as
Abraham has been speaking through Esther Hicks from the
non-physical about co-creation and the law of attraction.
In the book “The Vortex: Where the Law of Attraction
Assembles All Cooperative Relationships,” by Esther and
Jerry Hicks, Abraham introduced the concept of the vortex
as the place where
all we’ve desired is
waiting for us to align
our energy with it.
Now, with this new
70-minute CD and
user guide, “Getting
Into the Vortex,”
they offer four guided
daily meditations — on
general, financial and
physical well-being,
as well as relationships — to help us
connect with our Source and live the
EE
joyful life we are meant to live.
Listen
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December 2010
Elevated Existence 6
book spotlight
The Secrets of
Spiritual Evolution
H
ave you ever wondered how many times
you’ve lived in the physical plane? Are you
what many refer to as an “old soul,” having
lived many lives, or are you still considered young
when it comes to spiritual evolution?
In the book, “Karma and Reincarnation: Unlocking
Your 800 Lives to Enlightenment,” co-authors Barbara
Y. Martin and Dimitri Moraitis, founders of the
Spiritual Arts Institute in Los Angeles, offer details
based on clairvoyant observations regarding the
mechanics of reincarnation, how past lives affect our
current ones and what happens on “the other side.”
The authors also explain the concept of karma, how
it affects our relationships, career and physical health,
and how we can uncover and resolve karmic conflicts in our lives — including
personal, soul, mental, emotional, national, race and world karma. Meditations,
prayers and review questions are also included.
“When you break a spiritual law, knowingly or unknowingly, you face natural
consequences,” the authors explain in the book. “The law of karma is designed in love
to make you a greater being and realize the great goal you have. Karma is designed
always to help build you up, not tear down or punish you.”
In the below excerpt, Martin and Moraitis explain the three phases a soul passes
through on the way to enlightenment:
FROM CHAPTER 3: YOUR 800 LIVES TO ENLIGHTENMENT
Our soul going through the human experience will incarnate in physical form
approximately 800 times in its quest for spiritual mastery. This is not a fixed number
as some souls advance a little faster and others a little slower, but it is an average. The
ancient philosophers used a mystical calculation of 777 lives constituting the complete
incarnation of the human soul. Of those 800 lifetimes, the soul goes through three
distinct phases. It spends approximately 200 lifetimes in the instinctual phase, 500
lifetimes in its intellectual phase and 100 lifetimes in its enlightened phase.
In our soul’s first phase of human development on Earth, the first 200 lifetimes
or so, it is introduced to physical life in all its vicissitudes — pain, pleasure, birth,
death, sex. Life in this stage is more or less survival of the fittest. The key
component of humanity at this phase is instinct. Although it has human mental
faculties, it’s primitive and does not yet have the spiritual gift of an awakened
mind. So life in this phase is an immersion in material consciousness. Some
spiritual schools have associated this immersion with the fall from grace, for at this
juncture the soul has forgotten its awareness of God and identifies only with
the physical surroundings it perceives. This time has also been called a period of
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December 2010
Elevated Existence 7
book spotlight
involution as the soul descends into matter before it begins its upward journey to
its spiritual home.
Life in this period of growth was similar to our idea of the caveman existence. We
did not live very long, and things moved slowly. When we crossed over to the other
side, we assimilated our experiences before returning, but again the process was very
gradual. Yet even though life was difficult at this early stage, there still was wonder,
joy and love.
When the human soul finished this cycle, it began the next phase of growth — the
intellectual phase. One of the great moments of our evolution occurred at this time. We
received the precious gift of mind. At this turn, a whole new world opened up to us.
The process was gradual, but we now became self-aware. Thus the intellectual levels
of our consciousness were born and with them the potential for a maturing emotional
nature. We lost some of our primal innocence, but it was a thrilling experience to
receive the fuller power of mind, like waking up from a dream.
Along with this gift of intellect came a price — accountability. Free choice and
willpower now came into the picture. We now received our precious coin of
wisdom. In the beginning of this new cycle of incarnations, we more or less
continued along the spiritual path. Yet as time went on, we realized the power this
gift of intellect gave us. All of us, at
one point or another, began to digress
and divert from the spiritual path laid
out for us. And this was the beginning
of karmic conditions …
As we mature intellectually, the soul
starts to reach a critical stage where it
asks, ”Is this all there is? Is there more
to life than what can be seen with
human eyes?” The soul ponders the
meaning of life and yearns for a greater
existence. Now the soul starts to feel the
glimmer of its divine origin. It starts to
search for God, not just because it was
born of God but because it desires God
of its own free will. This spiritual
awakening is the culminating moment
in 500 lives of intellectual development.
Now the soul is ready to begin its
conscious ascent on the spiritual path.
Reprinted
from
“Karma
and
Reincarnation,” by Barbara Y. Martin
and Dimitri Moraitis by arrangement
with Tarcher, a member of Penguin
Group (USA) Inc., Copyright ©
Barbara Y. Martin and Dimitri Moraitis.
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December 2010
Elevated Existence 8
Gift Picks
Elevated Existence editors chose some of their favorite gift ideas
to help spread hope, love, faith and inspiration to others
Peace Tags
Warming Body Blanket
Made of sterling silver,
these dog-tags are
spreading peace with
inscribed messages from
Buddha, Mother Theresa,
Thich Nhat Hanh, Gandhi
and more. Created with
war veterans in mind, all
net proceeds go to
helping veterans and
their families. $129.95,
www.peacetags.com.
Whether easing sore muscles or relaxing from
a hectic day, this microwavable body blanket
measures 56 inches long by 20 inches wide and
retains its heat for 30 minutes. It’s the ultimate
in relaxation. $50, www.grampasgarden.com.
Lavender Eye Masks/
Wrist Pads
Beauty meets function in these silk
brocade and crushed velvet eye masks
and keyboard wrist pads. Filled with allnatural, organic lavender blossom and
flaxseed, they emit a calming scent and
can be heated or chilled. $18-$24,
www.candiandi.com.
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December 2010
Elevated Existence 9
Gift Picks
The Buddhalicious line of bath and body
products offers spiritual quotes on each
product from soap to body lotion, and these
beautiful glass, corked bath salt bottles make a
great gift. They are available in a variety of
scents from Harmony with rosemary lavender
to Tranquility with green tea lemongrass.
$17.95, www.naturalselectionbathandbody.com.
Aromatherapy Massage Balls
T spheres, or tranquility spheres, are self-massage
balls infused with aromatherapy. Made of organic
rubber compound, each set comes with a spraytop re-infuser, and is ideal for travel. Our favorite
is Peace and Quiet, with lavender to relieve
headaches or nervous tension. $35,
www.tspheres.com.
Count Me Blessed
Slide the beads on this bracelet from
one side to the other as you count
your blessings throughout the day
with the Happy and Blessed bracelet.
Handcrafted with sterling silver
beads, we like to move a bead each
time we find ourselves feeling
gratitude throughout the day. $80,
www.countmehealthyjewelry.com.
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December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 10
Gift Picks
LaLicious
We fell in love with the all-natural, yummy body
products from LaLicious, made with almond, coconut
and vitamin E oil. All products are free of parabens and
sulfates, and scents include Sugar Kiss, Brown Sugar
and Vanilla, and Coconut Cream. This gift collection will
invigorate body, mind and spirit! $95, www.lalicious.com.
Karmalogy
Bracelets
Lucky wooden karma
beads combine with
genuine gemstones
to create these
bracelets. Varieties
include Amethyst
for good health and
protection, Agate for
unexpected miracles
and Carnelian for
empowerment and
wisdom. $7.99,
www.zorbitz.net.
Om Tapestry
Ideal for a bed, table or wall, this Om tapestry
makes a beautiful addition to any home, and
is available in twin, full and queen sizes.
$21.95-$31.95, www.ventana-catalog.com.
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December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 11
Gift Picks
Protected by Angels
Place this guardian angel plaque anywhere
you want to call in angels of protection — over a
doorway in your home, or in the cubicle at work —
and give the gift of angel protection to someone
you love. $21.95, www.ventana-catalog.com.
Self Symmetry
Charm
Hang it from a purse or use
it as a keychain, but Self
Symmetry charms are more
than a pretty accessory.
Each holds the power of
gemstone energy. Our
favorite is the Turquoise
Peace Charm because
turquoise is a healing stone
promoting protection,
wisdom, energy, balance
and love. $25,
www.selfsymmetry.com.
Shift Shirt
Just Be T-shirts allow us to
express what we believe,
while inspiring change in
others. Designs include
“be the change,” “be
peaceful,” “be inspired”
and “be the shift.” $20,
www.justbe.net.
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December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 12
Gift Picks
Aromatherapy
Essentials
Aromatherapy Associates’ gift
collections offer the company’s
award-winning blends of all-natural
essential oil bath and body products
used in high-end hotels such as
the Four Seasons and the
Mandarin Oriental. Great for
travel, blends include Deep
Relax, Revive Morning,
Revive Evening and Support
bath and shower oils. $48,
www.aromatherapyassociates.com.
Acupressure Mat
It’s hard to believe by lying on the sharp spikes of The Yantra
Mat, one can actually increase circulation, lower blood pressure
and soothe aches and pains, but that is exactly what the 8,800
acupressure points work toward. Great to help alleviate back pain,
headaches, stress, anxiety, insomnia and fatigue, the mat originated in
Sweden, and is now available in the U.S. $49-$69, www.yantraway.com.
String-Ring
Based on the tradition of tying a string
around your finger as a reminder, the
String-Ring was designed to be a reminder
of kindness — whether it’s a reminder to
forgive, love or enjoy. Each ring comes
with 20 colors to choose from so you can
change up your reminders as often as you
like. $28.95, www.string-ring.com.
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December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 13
Gift Picks
Heartwarmer
Necklace
Start your day in a positive way with
My Wake Up Call Motivational Alarm
Clock, offering inspirational messages
from top motivational experts.
Themes include working out
and staying fit, wellness
and health, weight loss,
or our favorite, Emotional
Freedom Wake Up Call
with Dr. Judith Orloff.
Alarm clocks are available
for iPods/iPhones, CDs or
a USB. CDs or downloads,
$19.99 for a month of
messages; Alarm Clocks,
$59.99-$79.99;
www.mywakeupcalls.net.
The Heartwarmer Necklace
was born when the artist’s son
went to Iraq for a tour of duty.
She created this piece of glass
to wear to remind her of him
and to calm and center herself.
It is now her signature piece.
Available with a beaded glass
chain or wire. $65-$80,
www.jewelrybychristabel.com.
Scandle Candle
More than a scented soy candle,
the Scandle burns at 2 degrees
above body temperature to
produce oil for massage or a
skin moisturizer. The 100-percent
natural Scandle comes in 18
fragrances, including Oatmeal
Milk and Honey, Warm Vanilla
Sugar and Lavender. Packaged in
refillable/reusable canisters, the
newest addition to the line is the
Shimmering Lotion Candle.
$12.95-$22.95,
www.scandlecandle.com.
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December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 14
COVER
STORY
Long before the wave of
metaphysical and new age
thought became mainstream,
Shirley MacLaine unleashed
her esoteric beliefs into the
world, paving the way
for spirituality today
By Tammy Mastroberte
Blazing
a
Spiritual
Trail
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December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 15
COVER
Terry, the inspiration for her book “Out on a
Leash: Exploring the Nature of Reality and
Love,” settles down next to her on the couch. “I
took that telescope out into the backyard looking
for what I knew was out there, and thinking to
myself, ‘I wonder what religion really is.’”
Looking back, she says it’s clear to her she
chose her parents and planned for life in the public
eye before she came into the physical world so she
could have the time and money to search for
spiritual truth, and the platform to share what she
discovered with the world.
“It was about 30 years ago when I spent a lot
of time in India with many different teachers that
it began to make sense to me that we choose
everything,” she explains. “I was always more
curious about taking off after a movie and going
somewhere to explore than hanging around and
doing the social life in Hollywood.”
While today, the concepts of reincarnation,
mediumship, channeling spirit guides, psychic
healing and out of body travel are more widely
{
I
“Dancing in
the Light,”
by Shirley MacLaine
}
t’s Christmas time and Shirley MacLaine is 10
years old. She asks her parents for two specific
items — a cross with a diamond in it and a
telescope. Although at the time she didn’t
consciously know the journey that lay before
her, that Christmas signified the beginning
of her search to uncover what lies beyond this
physical world.
She is well known as an award-winning actress,
having starred in countless films since her
1955 debut in Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Trouble
With Harry,” and won an Academy Award for
Best Actress in 1983 for her role in “Terms of
Endearment,” but one of her greatest roles has
been that of a spiritual guide — a part she willingly
took on when publishing the autobiography, “Out
on a Limb,” chronicling her new age beliefs and
findings more than 25 years ago.
“I’ve been a mystic all my life,” she tells me as
I sit in the living room of her Malibu, Calif. home
to present her with the 2nd Annual Elevated
Existence Spiritual Service Award, while her dog,
STORY
Shirley MacLaine is
presented with the
2nd Annual Elevated
Existence Spiritual
Service award by
publisher and
editorial director
Tammy Mastroberte.
w w w. e l e v a t e d e x i s t e n c e . c o m
December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 16
COVER
accepted, when “Out on a Limb” was published
in 1983, these ideas were uncommon, and many
of MacLaine’s friends actually tried to stop her
from publishing it.
“I was living with Pete Hamill at the time, who
was a very left-brain, typical journalist, and both
he and my friend Bella [Abzug] thought I was
nuts. The two of them, and my friend Kathleen,
who was also very left-brain and scientific, all
came to Atlantic City, N.J. where I was doing
my show at the time, and tried to get me not to
publish it. I let them all read it, and they just
thought I would be the laughing stock, which to
some extent I was for a while.”
However, to their surprise, that
visit turned into what MacLaine
calls “a spiritual seminar,” and
for three days she told them the
truth as she saw it. By the end,
each of them realized “that is
what they were looking for but
didn’t know it,” she says.
When asked what made her
decide to write the book, she
explains: “I couldn’t not write it.
I was just so grateful to have
made enough money to travel. I just wanted to
give back some of the lessons and things I learned
by being able to go.”
Knowing the book would present topics that
were controversial, MacLaine never worried
about the reaction from the public, and in fact,
enjoyed some of the late night comedians who
poked fun at her beliefs. She even went along with
a comedy routine suggested by Johnny Carson
when promoting one of her books about chakras.
“He said, ‘Look, I want to be your foil. We are
going to make big chakra circles and you’re going
to put them on me. I’m going to stand there, and
you are going to tell me what they mean.’ It was
hysterical,” she recalls. “And at the same time, I
was making a lot of sense!” Thanks to the power
of YouTube, this scene can still be watched today.
“All the people who are making fun of you are
characters in your own dream anyway,” she notes.
After “Out on a Limb” was released, MacLaine
continued to explore and share her discoveries
through books such as “Dancing in the Light,”
“Going Within” and her most recent, “Saging
While Aging.”
“I don’t care about changing anybody’s mind or
value system or religious beliefs at all,” she says.
STORY
“I care about putting down what I have learned
and what I believe.” And in doing so, she
unknowingly carved a path for what continues to
be a growing new age, spiritual awakening.
FOLLOWING SYNCHRONICITY
One of the themes throughout “Out on a Limb” is
MacLaine’s understanding of synchronistic events,
which led her from one spiritual discovery
to another. From wandering into a new age
bookstore and having a book practically jump off
a shelf and into her hands, to an unexpected
invitation for a visit to a foreign country after
“When you need something and you can’t
find it, but you turn on the television and
there is a show on it, or someone calls you
out of the blue with the exact information
you need, that’s synchronicity. People just
have to trust it’s there.”
“Out on a Limb,”
by Shirley MacLaine
}
December 2010
{
w w w. e l e v a t e d e x i s t e n c e . c o m
learning from a friend there was a man there
who could channel spirit guides, MacLaine shows
examples of synchronicity and its power.
“It’s there all the time. When you need
something and you can’t find it, but you turn on
the television and there is a show on it, or
someone calls you out of the blue with the exact
information you need, that’s synchronicity,” she
explains. “People just have to trust it’s there.”
By 1987, four years after publishing “Out on a
Limb,” it became a five-hour television mini-series
airing on ABC Television with MacLaine playing
herself — a part she says was very easy for her. “I
figure I’m acting all the time anyway, so what’s
the difference,” she jokes. “For the wardrobe and
hair we just went to my closet.”
The well-known producer, Stan Margulies,
wanted to do the movie with her and acted as coproducer, which she believes “had a lot to do with
how it got onto ABC.” MacLaine co-wrote the
screenplay with her friend Colin Higgins, who
also served as a co-producer, and who “was very
much into [new age thought], too. A lot of us were
at the time,” she says.
Despite their hard work, the mini-series did
not get very good ratings, and MacLaine recalls
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 17
COVER
THE TEACHER APPEARS
“Going Within,”
by Shirley MacLaine
}
The next step for MacLaine was to take her
knowledge directly to the masses, and for one year
she traveled around the country holding seminars
on inner transformation, and offering guided
meditations to attendees while educating them
about the chakra system, its colors and meanings.
“I am really good at guided meditations, and I
really enjoy that because I never know what I’m
going to say or how I will guide them. I just listen
to the dictates of the music and get a feeling for
what the audience needs,” she notes, explaining
many at the time had never heard of the seven
chakras or about superconsciousness. “I taught
them that they already know everything and to
trust it. I was really guiding them into a place
where they could teach themselves.”
It was this series of seminars that led to her
next book, “Going Within: A Guide for Inner
Transformation,” published in 1989. In it,
MacLaine offers a variety of tools and insight for
people to apply to their own lives, including the
practice of yoga and meditation; meditating on
the chakras; the use of crystals; healing; sound
meditation; and more. She also filmed a DVD
where she walks the viewer through a variety of
exercises. Although she still uses many of these
tools today, she is not as regimented as in the past.
“When I first started, I did it all the time and
then it waned down a little. It’s not that, ‘at such
and such a time I have to do this,’ anymore. I’m in
a state of some weird meditation all the time,” she
says. “I like living alone, being alone a lot and
taking walks alone, so I’m not all that distracted
by other people and don’t need to do as much.
Now, it’s more speculation of what could be true.
What is really true here?”
Today, she holds small past-life seminars at her
ranch in New Mexico with past life facilitators
from countries such as Brazil, Germany, Sweden
{
getting the phone call from Margulies while
visiting her mother in Arlington, Va. “It had come
out that weekend, and Stan called. I remember
sitting there and he said, ‘Oh, we just have not
done well at all.’ It really got slammed,” she says.
“But look at the longevity of it now. It was after
that went on the air that the real new age stuff hit.
So a lot of people have seen it, although it wasn’t
considered a ratings getter. Enough saw it that the
whole new age movement flourished and was
newly reborn.”
STORY
Staying Connected
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, ShirleyMacLaine.com is
the creation of MacLaine and her friend Brit Elders, who
is also the Web site’s CEO.
“Brit and I talked about it, and we knew we had to do it,”
says MacLaine.
Also part of the site is Independent Expression Radio
hosted every other week by MacLaine, as well as Cooking
in the Lite Radio hosted by Elders. “I enjoy doing the radio
shows a lot,” MacLaine explains.
Members pay $9.99 per month to access more than
300 Independent Expression Radio broadcasts; a monthly
newsletter called the ShirleyGram; access to the Cooking
in the Lite broadcasts and accompanying newsletter;
and 20 percent off at the Web site’s online store.
A variety of gifts, books, CDs, DVDs — including those by MacLaine — can be purchased
in the online store including jewelry, aromatherapy, makeup, gift baskets, crystals, pet
products and more.
EE
w w w. e l e v a t e d e x i s t e n c e . c o m
December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 18
COVER
In 2000, MacLaine wrote the book, “The
Camino: A Journey of the Spirit,” about taking
the famous pilgrimage called the Santiago de
Compostela Camino across northern Spain. She
packed up her things — all that could fit in one
backpack — and headed to Spain to take the
pilgrimage on foot, where the path “lies directly
under the Milky Way and follows the ley lines that
reflect the energy from those star systems above
it,” she explains in the book. The life force, or
prana, is especially strong along these ley lines and
w w w. e l e v a t e d e x i s t e n c e . c o m
“The Camino,”
by Shirley MacLaine
}
SPIRITUAL PILGRIM
when human consciousness experiences this, it is
said to “induce clarity of thought, experience,
memory and revelation.”
MacLaine walked from France, crossing the
Pyrenees, across northern Spain — over a 30day period, walking 20 miles per day — until
she finally reached the famous Santiago de
Compostela cathedral. In the book she chronicles
her journey, the past life recollections that came
to her and more.
“I realized I had been living in parts of the area
I had walked,” she says. “Everybody who does
the Camino says they really start the Camino a
year after they have finished because you get so in
touch with past life experience, and there is a
sense of necessary loneliness,” she explains,
noting that in order to glean the most benefits,
the Camino is meant to be done alone.
“It’s a very lonely experience particularly when
you know you’re not supposed to make friends.
You are supposed to be alone and beg for the
food, and really be basically deprived of all
the physical stuff or material stuff for comfort.
That is why I spend much of my time alone
now. I learned not to think I have to be all that
{
and Mexico, and says her goal is to open up a
spiritual facility there where she can offer the
services to more people.
“New Mexico offers an environment where the
land amplifies your consciousness — my ranch is
covered in crystals and there is UFO activity
around it all the time,” she explains. “It’s an
activated place and you can consciously see your
own past lives according to what your higher self
wants you to see in this lifetime. But you are
conscious, not in a hypnotic regression.”
MacLaine has written extensively about her
own past life recalls in a number of books
including “Dancing in the Light” and “The
Camino.” It is through these past life sessions that
she began to understand the meaning and purpose
for many events and relationships in her life.
“Now, when I encounter something that seems
too negative or confusing to deal with, the
knowledge that I have chosen it for my own
learning experience makes it less difficult to cope
with,” she says in “Dancing in the Light,” while
reflecting on all she learned through past life
facilitated sessions. But one of the most significant
outcomes from her past life investigations
concerned her allergies in this lifetime.
“I had life-threatening allergies — I had this
choking thing — and ended up in a clinic,” she
explains during our interview. “I thought it was
because I was living in a dry climate after living at
the beach in California for so long. I ended up in
the clinic three times and realized it was serious. I
decided to do one of the past life regressions, but
consciously, on my land in New Mexico and
found out that I had been strangled in several
lifetimes. It was very dramatic stuff, and I went
through the strangling under the past life
facilitation, remembering it. Then the allergies
went away. That is my proof that it works.”
STORY
“Now, when I encounter something
that seems too negative or confusing
to deal with, the knowledge that I
have chosen it for my own learning
experience makes it less difficult
to cope with.”
sociable. You also realize all you need in life is a
good hat, a good pair of shoes and some clean
water. It was quite a lesson.”
When she was doing publicity for the book, one
stop was late night talk show host Jay Leno. She
explained to him how she realized on the Camino
she was one of the mistresses of Charlemagne. “I
said I had always been interested in Charlemagne
and now I know why,” and he said, ‘Aha! So
that’s how we got sexually transmitted diseases.’
It was all pretty funny,” she says.
But nowadays, people don’t make fun of her
much during interviews. “I think it’s because they
December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 19
COVER
don’t want to be converted,” she jokes. “But I’m
not interested in ‘you must believe me.’ That is
why I think it’s all pretty funny, and that is why I
love all the jokes,” she says, quickly adding, “as
long as they are funny. What bothers me isn’t that
I’ve been made fun of badly, it’s that they have
besmirched the science of comedy, which I hate.”
Today, MacLaine is working on her next book
where she is tackling the concept of evil and
whether it exists. “The thing I’m really grappling
STORY
with and writing about is ‘What is evil? What is
negativity? Why do people think evil is real?’ It’s a
big deal,” she notes. “Evil is ‘live’ spelled
backward, so let’s face it, when you have these
dark waves you are just not living in the light. But
are there evil entities or evil people?”
And so her journey of exploration continues, as
does her desire to share it with the world. I think I
speak for many when I say, I can’t wait to see what
she does next.
EE
What do you think about the famous
date in 2012?
I know it’s a new beginning, and it’s the end of a
26,000-year zodiac. I know the Mayan priests
who I have talked to are very upset that there is all
this fear mongering going on with the end of the
world stuff. I think it will be the end of a lot of
the old-fashioned values and ways of doing things.
Did you see the movie
“Avatar,” and what did
you think?
How did you develop your intuition and
psychic abilities over the years?
I didn’t consciously do it. I let it happen. I
just allowed it to happen instead of getting in
my own way. Sometimes your left brain
intelligence isn’t what’s really smart. It’s the
intuition. Women have that more because they
are not as left-brained as men. Some of them
are, but women are usually operating from the
right brain.
w w w. e l e v a t e d e x i s t e n c e . c o m
With all the factual information and
proof you have given about extraterrestrial activity, especially in the
book “Saging While Aging,” why do
you think the government has never
come after you?
The disinformation they spread about me is
that I’m nuts. A lot of the people in military
intelligence have told me they don’t like
covering up the truth. They
know it’s real, and they
wished the book “Saging
While Aging” was more
successful. It kept tracking
but it wasn’t as successful as
the others. It didn’t make
the bestseller list, and I don’t
know why. I may have gone
too far for the presentday reception.
“Saging
While Aging,”
by Shirley MacLaine
}
I liked it. I thought it was very well
done and had a good premise —
really worthwhile. I love the notion
of what [James Cameron] was
saying about natural environment
and that we are all so unaware of
what we are doing that we would
actually go out and destroy
another planet because we don’t
get the harmony of it. I liked it a
lot. I didn’t like the 3D glasses —
they hurt my nose. But I think he did a
wonderful job.
{
Q&A With Shirley MacLaine
Why do you think in all
the interviews you did
to publicize “Saging While Aging,” none
of the reporters asked you about the
extraterrestrial aspect of the book?
I have a theory on that. There is so much
information on it in the book that is real, and
all you have to do is research it and you’ll
find out. But what would [these interviewers]
look like if I make sense on their program?
How will it make them look? They are all
concerned with their own self-image, and
not one person asked me. I thought that’s
all they would do and they didn’t, so I
was disappointed.
EE
December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 20
M e dbyi t a t i o n
Design
T
he benefits of a meditation
practice are seemingly
endless — from lowering
blood pressure and
decreasing the heart rate
to easing anxiety and
managing pain. But with the
constant flow of distractions
flowing through our daily lives,
when we do settle down
and take the time to get quiet,
it’s important for our
surroundings to support the
practice, and contribute to
calming and centering
the mind and body.
Setting the tone for a meditation
space — be it an entire room or a cozy
corner — begins with the right design
By Tammy Mastroberte
w w w. e l e v a t e d e x i s t e n c e . c o m
December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 21
M e dbyi t a t i o n
Design
{
w w w. e l e v a t e d e x i s t e n c e . c o m
“First you determine the facing of your home,
which is whatever part faces the street, and then
walk to the center of the house with a compass to
determine the northeast corner,” she says. “I have
a two-story house, so my northeast corner is the
garage, which is obviously not the best space. But
just upstairs from my garage is one of our guest
bedrooms, and that is the room I was always
drawn to instinctually.”
She recommends clients find a space closest to
the northeast as possible, but if this doesn’t
work, the next best thing is to follow their
intuition to a serene space that makes them
feel supported.
“The feng shui way is to find a space closest
to the northeast, but it could be the tiny, 2foot-by-2-foot space between the sofa and
the wall. It’s about what makes you feel
comfortable and supported. There is no rulebreaking,” Romeo explains.
When dealing with limited space, Whitehurst
recommends choosing a space in the living room
rather than the bedroom, which is more about
December 2010
}
Whether dedicating an entire room to
meditation or carving out a corner in a studio
apartment, using the right colors, bringing in
objects of meaning, and incorporating feng shui
principles can make all the difference — but the
first step is selecting the right space.
“There is usually one spot where a person will
feel the most powerful,” Tess Whitehurst, a Los
Angeles-based feng shui consultant and author of
the book “Magical Housekeeping,” tells Elevated
Existence. She recommends her clients try out one
or two spots to see where they feel “the most
nourished and grounded.”
For clients who are looking to dedicate an
entire room to meditation, a traditional Chinese
feng shui compass reading can be applied to
determine the northeast section of the home,
which is the place of spiritual or higher learning,
says Tamara Romeo, a feng shui designer and
owner of South Coast Feng Shui in San Diego.
Feng shui uses the power of the earth to determine
the way life force energy flows, which is done by
using a compass, she notes.
“Magical
Housekeeping,”
by feng shui
consultant
Tess Whitehurst
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 22
M e dbyi t a t i o n
Design
intimacy or sensuality. However, if that is the only
space available, she says the far right corner when
standing at the door of the room is known as the
relationship corner, and it could be set up with a
“romantic theme, bringing in rose quartz or
pictures of Krishna and Radha,” who are Hindu
deities representing divine love, she notes.
Once the area for meditation is determined,
setting an intention in the space is another practice
Romeo recommends to her clients. “They should
come up with an affirmation or sentence to put
the intention into the space,” she says. “For
example, ‘This is a peaceful and serene space that
supports my spiritual journey,’ and then meditate
in the space to place the intention.”
COLORS, CANDLES AND MORE
After the room or area is chosen, the next step to
designing a meditation space is to choose colors,
fabrics and objects to support the practice of
meditation. While these details vary depending on
the likes and dislikes of the individual, there are
some universal principles that can be applied.
“Whether you have a meditation room, or are
using a space in your living room, you want to
make sure you are sitting in a place where your
back is not to the door,” Whitehurst explains.
“You want a peripheral view of the main door to
the room because humans feel unsafe when they
don’t feel in control of their surroundings, and it’s
more grounding.”
She compares it to the president of the United
States and the desk placement in the Oval Office.
“His desk is facing the opening of the door with
space in front of him,” she says, explaining if this
isn’t possible, putting a mirror on the altar will
help a person feel more connected and more likely
to meditate.
It’s also important to have open space above
and on the sides of where a person is sitting. “You
don’t want any shelves over you or anything
hanging over you — it’s a subconscious thing,”
Romeo says. “You want an open space above you
and on the sides of you. Also, if you have a wall
behind you, it will make you feel more supportive
than sitting in a totally open space.”
Salt lamps bring the elements of
both earth and fire to the space.
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December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 23
M e dbyi t a t i o n
Design
The lighting in the room is also an aspect
to consider, and overhead lighting should
be avoided, says Whitehurst. Instead, she
recommends ambient or low lighting such as a salt
lamp, candle or even twinkle lights on a tree.
“I don’t use a lot of ceiling lighting,” agrees
Bethany St. Clair, an interior arranging consultant
and space planner based in Oakland, Calif. “I like
to bring the light down low to soften the room
using a simple candle or low, background lighting.”
Romeo also recommends a salt lamp because it
brings the elements of both earth and fire to the
space. “Earth is where you feel grounded and
attached to Mother Earth, and the energy that
builds earth is fire,” she says, explaining salt
lamps are made of earth, and the element of fire is
introduced when they are plugged in.
Furthermore, when it comes to colors, most
people prefer earth or skin tones from the
lightest beige to a chocolate brown, Romeo says.
If a client doesn’t like earth tones, serene spa-like
colors such as celadon green or light blue often
work well. “I would stay away from anything
citrus or glaring, as well as anything gray black
or muddy like army green. Those colors don’t
feel as good to most people,” she explains. And
while she wouldn’t paint the walls red when the
goal is to create a relaxing room, she does
recommend bringing the color in with a red
candle, a scarf or a pillow.
However, no matter what, each person must
connect with the design and feel comfortable in
the space. For example, St. Clair worked with
a medical doctor at Stanford who felt very
connected to Hawaii and preferred shades of
green, while another client liked deep purple.
“I also had a couple who had been to Indonesia
and liked everything light, so we used a lot of rattan
and natural fabrics,” she says. “It’s about the space
itself and making sure one is comfortable.”
MAKING IT PERSONAL
After choosing the space and
selecting a color palette, the next
thing to consider is what objects
should be brought into the
room — whether it’s candles,
incense, a Buddha statue or
an Amethyst crystal.
“We all have different
ways of interpreting the
divine and our
spirituality,”
says Whitehurst.
“I had a client
who was a
scientist and very
spiritual. For him, a
picture of a galaxy was
what worked.”
Bring in objects that connect you to a
higher source, such as crystals.
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December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 24
M e dbyi t a t i o n
Design
Tips for Designing
a Meditation Space
DO apply feng shui principles like
using a compass to find the northeast
corner, which represents spiritual or
higher learning, and keep a peripheral
view of the door.
DO set an intention for the space and
meditate to place the intention there.
DO use earth tones or serene spa
colors like light blue or green for walls.
DO bring in objects that connect you
to a higher source, such as a Buddha
statue, plaques with
affirmations or crystals.
DO use a candle
to bring in the
element of fire.
DO NOT use
overhead or
ceiling lighting.
DO NOT bring a lot of clutter or
distractions into the space.
DO NOT meditate with your back to
the door.
DO NOT paint the walls a bright citrus
or red color.
EE
w w w. e l e v a t e d e x i s t e n c e . c o m
First, a person should select objects that make
him or her feel spiritual — a Buddha or statue of
Jesus, images of nature, or whatever makes them
feel connected to Earth or a higher power, says
Romeo. It’s also about engaging all five senses, so
she recommends bringing incense or essential oils
such as vanilla or lavender into the space.
Also, while keeping the space as quiet as
possible, some people like to bring in instrumental
background music or singing bowls — and for
those who live in a busy city like New York,
adding in a white noise machine might be a good
choice, Romeo explains.
“I like to use things with affirmations in a
meditation space, such as a stone engraved with
the word ‘gratitude,’ or a stone plaque with a
quote from Buddha like ‘What you think, you
become,’” she says. “It’s also a fantastic place for
crystals. The earth element is anything stone, so
ceramic, pottery and crystals are great.”
But no matter what objects, colors or scents fill
the space, one universal practice is eliminating
clutter from the area, including any altars being
used. “Sometimes altars can feel a bit cluttered, so
it’s better to have one focal point and a few items
that are inspiring,” says Whitehurst.
Keeping the area clean, free of dust and filled
with minimal clutter is essential, agrees St. Clair.
“I always recommend having as little clutter as
possible in a meditation space because every item
in there brings in energy,” she notes. “Making
sure everything is dust free, clear and clean brings
peace to the body and relaxes it a bit more.”
Ultimately, whether designing a big space or a
small nook, it’s about creating an environment
that enhances and assists with the practice of
meditation. “Even if you are in a studio apartment
you can find a space — get a cushion or use a
section of the sofa,” Whitehurst advises. “You can
get your iPod, light a candle and put a crystal out
on the coffee table. You can take it all out and put
it back so it’s a ritual that gets you
ready for your meditation.”
After all,
when it comes
to meditation, it’s
not all about the
place you choose
to sit, “it’s about
the space you hold
within yourself,”
says St. Clair.
EE
December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 25
healing corner
L
Healing From
the Inside Out
Pronounced clinically
dead during heart surgery,
30-year-old Karen Jones
struggled to recover until
she discovered Kundalini
Yoga, and finally began to
heal — body, mind and soul
By Karen Jones
{
NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO EXPERIENCE
w w w. e l e v a t e d e x i s t e n c e . c o m
December 2010
Karen Jones,
healing practitioner
}
tragedy to be released from a prison of her own
making, but that is what it took for me.
For 30 years, I believed I was as blessed as I could
be: a beautiful family, an Ivy League education,
a job in London that afforded me glamorous
gifts, and a lifestyle of international travel and
elegant entertainment. Yet, these blessings could
not disguise the mental, physical and spiritual
exhaustion I felt in my most quiet moments.
I had found solace in yoga since I was a
teenager, and I applied the same drive to the
practice of Ashtanga, Baptiste, Bikram Yoga and
more for up to 10 hours a week. As a yogi, I
thought I knew myself, but I still only knew
my own ego.
It started in July 2007 when I was riding the
train to work the morning of the terrorist attack
on the London Tube. I survived to see the bloody
bodies being brought from below. But it still did
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 26
healing corner
not stop me from taking that train, enduring
tirades from my boss, drinking after work, falling
asleep in front of the television and waiting for
my annual bonus. It was only when my heart
suddenly stopped in a restaurant in Washington,
D.C. a few months later that I began to find the
relief that I had been seeking.
When I was finally revived in the hospital and
my heart’s electrical patterns were being recorded,
the doctor asked if there was any history of
sudden death in my family. With the unexpected
passing of my third cousin at the age of 27 in
mind — only a week prior to my own episode —
it was decided I would have surgery to implant a
pacemaker. However, during the procedure six
months later, my atrium was accidentally sliced
and my heart and lungs collapsed from the
bleeding. I had no pulse, and I was not breathing:
I was clinically dead.
After being revived again, I went on to endure
three more heart surgeries, including an open-heart
procedure, multiple lung surgeries and a medically
induced coma. My ribcage was broken, and I had
6-inch-long punctures in my lungs in addition to
the lacerated atrium and torn nerves and muscles
around the heart. The scar tissue that had begun
to form on the inside and outside of my body
itched like worms crawling continuously beneath
my flesh. The respiratory therapy that required
me to take deeper breaths into my collapsed lungs
made an enemy of the air around me. Fiery aches
kept me up all night and when I finally fell asleep
for an hour, I would wake to wrenching nausea
from the anesthesia.
But it was also during this time that I began
to see a light that promised relief. I felt its
brilliance in my front cortex during the darkest
days of my pain, and I sent it through my broken
body. Sometimes, as it shimmered through my
cells, I felt it was Jesus; other times, as it lit
my mind with the will to continue, it was the
Blessed Mother Mary.
But it was
also during
this time that
I began to see
a light that
promised
relief.
w w w. e l e v a t e d e x i s t e n c e . c o m
December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 27
healing corner
The healing became a personal hell for over
a year. Once I left the hospital, each step I took
felt like climbing a mountain. As I battled
persistent lung infections, measles, shingles,
mouth sores and constant pain, I was told I might
have to take immune system-depressing steroid
shots for the rest of my life. I was only a 30year-old woman when I was told I should never
have children. Despite seeing 24 doctors and a
psychiatrist, and enduring hours of physical
therapy and a daily diet of organic food and fresh
flowers weekly, the increasing limitations to my
life — no movie theaters, no shopping malls, no
bike-riding, no swimming — left me so depressed
I would wake up crying.
Finally, as my earthly pain had taken me so far
from the solace of the light I felt in the hospital,
I did what I had not done since I was a child: I
prayed. I continued to pray for help and healing
even though I was not recovered, even though I
felt that I would never be the same again. What
would follow those prayers indeed changed my
life forever.
One night, Jesus visited me in a dream. We were
in a vivid desert landscape — a place in which I
had often imagined I would find him. Though all
around him was scorched and desolate, his robes
were a brilliant red and blinding white. He told
me he was sending someone to help.
released completely by the end of class. I saw
the anger I had held against my doctors — and
myself — leaving my mouth in a cloud of smoke,
and as I recovered from my wounds inside, I
watched my scars fade from a burning pink to the
alabaster white of my own skin.
I cried almost every one of those 40 days, but
they were tears shed for the cleansing relief,
inconceivable beauty and joy of pure ecstasy. In
the months to follow, the doctors observed with
THE POWER OF KUNDALINI YOGA
Shortly after I had the dream, I visited my sister,
Stephanie, in Los Angeles and she brought me to
meet the members of Golden Bridge Yoga, home
for a spiritual community of master teachers of
Kundalini Yoga trained by Yogi Bhajan. Stephanie
insisted that her favorite teacher, a woman called
Tej, could help me with my pain, and that I had
to move to California. I agreed to join her for the
first of 40 days of Kundalini Yoga with Tej,
but I had not practiced yoga for some time and I
now found that my shoulders were permanently
hunched to protect my chest, and that I had to rest
at least 20 times in a class, otherwise I lost my
breath completely.
But after just a few days of Kundalini Yoga,
strange things started to happen. Intense pressure
would build in specific parts of my body and be
w w w. e l e v a t e d e x i s t e n c e . c o m
One night, Jesus visited me in a
dream ... He told me he was
sending someone to help.
December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 28
healing corner
Karen Jones
(center) with
healer friends
Ranjan and
Regina after
a month of
meditation.
disbelief how my heart had healed, but only I
could see the love that made it full again. I had
again found the light that I thought I had lost in
that hospital room.
The practice of Kundalini differs greatly from
the common perception of yoga. More than just
a workout, it summons the divine within us and
alters our consciousness to allow for the deepest
healing. This ancient technology of angles and
vocal vibrations moves the water and cells in
our body, much like the firing of neurons in our
motor system, calling for a healing power to
cleanse the spiritual toxicity that creates
physical discomfort.
Through meditation, Kundalini opens a
dimension of dreams and visions that can be
unsettling but, ultimately, sublime. Different vocal
tones, meditations, breathing patterns and yogic
postures speak to specific sufferings, yet all are
meant to access the ecstasy of love and the security
w w w. e l e v a t e d e x i s t e n c e . c o m
of being one with God. This divine connection
opens us to the bounty of energy that surrounds
us and the prosperity we already enjoy, to feeling
full no matter what we are missing — to trusting
in the good that is and will be.
I believe in Kundalini healing so much that I
went to India to study with Gurmukh and the
greatest living masters of Kundalini Yoga. I also
work in the space of Sat Nam Rasayan, a form of
healing from a deep meditative state, and healing
with angels.
Today I work with many clients from all walks
of life to teach them natural or Divine healing,
which I believe is the only permanent cure for
any kind of disease. Pharmaceutical remedies may
help to make people feel better, but they do not
heal the negative subconscious patterns at the root
of illness, which is in part why illness returns or
becomes chronic in so many people. Nutrition is
also extremely important, and if we eat in line
with natural laws, our bodies will remain
healthy. Every imbalance — from MS to cancer to
infertility to arthritis to obesity — can be resolved
if one is given the right “toolbox.”
ABOUT KAREN JONES
After her own recovery through the practice of Kundalini
Yoga, Karen Jones followed her desire to teach it to
others along with additional natural healing concepts.
She, along with her friend James John Biasucci, created
the company Neotao, based in New York. For more
information, visit www.neotaolife.com, call (703) 3002534 or e-mail [email protected].
EE
December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 29
healing corner
L
Releasing Through Ritual
Whether moving from one decade of life to another, letting go of a
lost love or overcoming fear, rituals help us let go and allow a better
version of ourselves to emerge
FROM THE MOMENT WE’RE BORN,
action(s) consciously taken with intention to mark
and honor a significant event in one’s life such as
a rite of passage or life transition, a personally
meaningful event or milestone, annual holidays,
religious observances and seasonal events. But in
reality, rituals can be created for any number of
events or transitions that one deems personally
meaningful. Often people can’t move forward in
their lives because they simply don’t know what to
December 2010
Abigail Brenner,
author, psychiatrist
and interfaith
minister
}
w w w. e l e v a t e d e x i s t e n c e . c o m
Elevated Existence (EE): How and why do
rituals help us heal and move from one
point in our life to the next?
Abigail Brenner: First, a ritual is a specific
{
rituals become a part of our lives. Birthday
parties, weddings, graduation ceremonies and
more have become traditions for many of us,
helping us mark a time where we transition to a
new stage in life — from one year to the next,
from single life to sharing our life, or when leaving
school for the working world.
We find comfort in these rituals, and often
share them by celebrating with others. But what
about applying this practice to other events in our
lives, such as the ending of a love relationship,
starting a new job or ending an old one? For these
and other rites of passage in life, the practice of a
ritual can help us let go and leave the past behind
so we can emerge as new and better individuals.
In her book, “Transitions: How Women
Embrace Change and Celebrate Life,” Abigail
Brenner, MD, a board-certified psychiatrist and
ordained interfaith minister, shares examples from
her own life and the lives of her clients on how
rituals heal. She also offers several guided
meditations to help along the way.
Elevated Existence spoke with Brenner on how
and why rituals work, how to use them to let go
of the past, and what should be included in them.
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 30
healing corner
EE: What is the difference between
performing a ritual alone or with a
group? Should they be used for
different things?
Brenner: The important thing is the intention you
Some
rituals
are better
performed
alone.
w w w. e l e v a t e d e x i s t e n c e . c o m
EE: Besides birthdays, weddings,
graduations — what other rites of
passage do you recommend people
create a ritual for and why?
Brenner: Rituals can and should be created for
almost any life event, milestone, turning point or
revelatory experience. Examples of these are
coming-of-age celebrations, starting a new job
and/or promotion, moving one’s home, ending of
a relationship and/or divorce, grieving after death
(apart from the funeral), joining or leaving the
military, blending families together, and many,
many more (including same-sex union, abortion
or stillbirth, incarceration, entering a religious
order apart from the religious ceremonies, etc.).
Creating and performing rituals for significant
events grounds you solidly in that event. Again,
the creation and performance of rituals appeals to
one’s intuitive side. After a person deals with the
practical and logical consequences of a transition,
ritual enactment further enhances the transition’s
meaning and significance, allowing for a holistic
understanding of what that transition means on
every level.
“Transitions:
How Women
Embrace
Change and
Celebrate Life,”
by Abigail
Brenner, MD
}
set for the ritual or rite of passage, but it’s totally
up to the individual whether they perform a ritual
alone or in a group. Milestones such as birth,
coming-of-age, marriage and death — the big 4 —
are often performed in community with others,
for these are the major events of a lifetime that
almost all individuals go through within the
context of the culture or society in which they are
raised. However, some people choose to mark
these major life transitions apart from their
community — for example, a couple privately
exchanging marriage vows apart from the big
celebratory party.
Some rituals, and especially rites of passage, are
better performed alone. An example of this is a
vision quest — spending time alone in the
wilderness to reflect on one’s life or to seek
answers. Another is a pilgrimage or a journey of
self-discovery, for example when one is traveling
alone. Many people mark major transitions in
both ways: in community where prescribed rituals
may already be in place, and with a personally
created ritual to mark the event alone.
{
do next. The idea that we can actually do
something in response to an event that happens
to us, to a change that is occurring in our lives, is
very powerful. Rituals allow for the beginning of
movement forward.
Aside from the idea of taking action, rituals
accomplish several other things. They provide an
ongoing way to structure our lives. In an everchanging often chaotic world, rituals provide a
sense of stability and continuity to our lives. In
addition, rituals remove us from the ordinary flow
of life and allow us to enter sacred space. It’s out
of the realm of ordinary time and space that
rituals create their magic through the mystical
language of symbolic enactment. In other words,
rituals encourage us to engage all of our senses
and when we do, we are often able to bypass the
intellect in favor of what we know intuitively. The
result: creative solutions to difficult problems are
often found.
EE: What are some examples of rituals
you or your clients have created to help
them through a difficult period?
Brenner: There are several that come to mind.
One woman created a “house blessing” ritual to
mark the end of her marriage and the beginning of
a new life as a single mother. She enlisted the aid
of a Hindu priest to come to her home and
December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 31
healing corner
perform several rituals to bless her new home and
her new status. She utilized many ritual elements
including fasting prior to the ceremony. During
the ceremony, there was music and chanting;
fire; fruit and flowers to make offerings;
and prayer. This was a highly transformative
experience for her.
Another woman wanted to mark her 50th
birthday in the company of several close
women friends. She crafted an
elaborate ritual that ended with
a fire ceremony. More than a
celebration, this was a woman’s
coming to terms with the events
(many difficult ones earlier in her
life) leading up to this milestone,
and the sharing of her story and
gratitude for what she had
achieved. Each participant was
given a task to complete during the
ceremony. Prior to the event, all
of the participants were invited to
bring offerings to be consumed by
the fire (any object, picture, letters, etc.). This
woman’s goal was not only deeply personal but
was meant to bring people together in community,
to be witnesses for each other’s lives.
Another interesting ritual centers on comingof-age. Many cultures have ceremonies and
celebrations for a young person’s achieving adult
status within the community. Instead of making
this just a one- or two-day event, the idea is to
create projects and rituals throughout the year
leading up to the actual event that allows the
young person to begin to assume responsibility for
themselves as well as the community.
EE: So many people have difficulty
letting go of the past, especially when it
comes to ending love relationships. Is
there something you could recommend
for processing this and opening up to a
new relationship?
Brenner: To let go of a relationship or to let go
of the past can be a very painful experience,
even if it’s in our best interest. Whether we make
a conscious decision to end a significant
relationship or the decision is made for us, we’re
w w w. e l e v a t e d e x i s t e n c e . c o m
bound to feel a sense of loss, and often anger and
hurt. Before any ritual can be performed a person
has to deal with the loss and allow themselves
plenty of time to grieve.
Prolonged or incomplete grief may lead to bad
choices in future relationships. If a person has not
spent the time reflecting on what happened in the
relationship, what went wrong, there may be
“carry-over” from the past relationship into the
present. In addition, individuals
may enter into a relationship selfprotective and hyper-vigilant and
this may limit how loving,
trusting and open they’re willing
to be in this new relationship. So
the first part of this is about
taking the time to reflect and
understand what happened in
order to complete, or put closure
on the loss.
Then a ritual that symbolizes
this understanding can be
performed that will signify this
closure and will allow for the ability to
successfully move forward. Sometimes, something
as simple as going on a trip alone, for example to
a place of solitude, or on a retreat, may be enough
to process and honor this transition. Or as one
woman did, creating a more elaborate ritual:
spending several days at home alone around the
New Year reflecting on the meaning of the loss;
reflecting on memories; collecting pictures and
papers tied to the relationship; and taking care of
herself. When all of that was completed, she
offered her “gifts of the past” to the fire.
EE: In the book, there is a story about
Maggie and her fear of flying. How can
someone use a ritual to get over fear or
anxiety about something?
Brenner: While I’d love to say that performing a
ritual can totally take care of one’s fear or anxiety,
I can’t. However, as in Maggie’s story, there are
practical steps that are needed to help conquer
fear and anxiety at first. If you follow Maggie’s
story, there was a great deal of determination
on her part to conquer those things that had so
limited her life. This is Maggie’s setting her
December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 32
healing corner
intention unconditionally. You’ll note that she
enlisted expert help with this problem. Within the
program she chose to help her accomplish her
goal, there were “ritualistic” things to do,
methods she was taught, to overcome her fear.
She practiced these and eventually was able to fly.
For her, the “rite of passage” was her flight to
iconic Paris.
So my first and probably most important point
is to get whatever help you need to accomplish the
task at hand. After you’ve received the necessary
tools to accomplish your goal(s), probably using
the traditional model of a rite of passage is best.
That means setting the intention, leaving the
familiar, moving into the unknown, and returning
to your life, but transformed in and by the
process. Although you may not know what will
happen along the way or what the outcome
will be, if you understand the stages along the
way, you’ll know that you’re moving in the
right direction and that completion of the process
is inevitable.
EE: How does someone go about
creating a ritual? What things need
to be included?
Brenner: Before you perform a ritual you must set
your intention. What do you want the ritual to
accomplish? It’s important to get completely clear
about this point. There may be many things you
may wish to accomplish, but it may be easier to
specifically focus on your most important goal.
Ritual elements are the essential tools for
creating a ritual or ceremony. These elements are
basic categories:
• Purification: cleansing with water, smudging,
anointing with oil
• Calling on Spirit: prayer, seeking the blessings
of ancestors
• Calling in the Light: lighting candles, holding a
fire ceremony to consume the old
• Sacrificing: fasting, practicing silence, meditating
• Gathering in Community: giving or exchanging
gifts, feasting
• Worshipping: praying, making offerings, creating
altars
• Communing: singing, dancing, making symbolic
gestures to commune with Spirit
w w w. e l e v a t e d e x i s t e n c e . c o m
• Exorcising: getting rid of the negative by
burning, burying or severing
• Symbolically Dying: crossing a threshold, moving
in and out of a circle
• Rebirth: taking or receiving a new name,
dressing in symbolic clothing
You can choose one or several in combination
to create your desired ritual or more elaborate rite
of passage.
When will you perform your ritual? Once
you’ve set your intention and created your ritual,
it’s time to perform the ritual. You have to make
sure you have enough time
without distraction or
interruption to accomplish
your task. Of course, it gets
much more complicated if
more people are involved,
so you may have to plan
far enough ahead to
accommodate everyone.
Your next step is to
separate yourself from the
familiar. This means you
are now moving from the
profane to the sacred; from
the ordinary into the
extraordinary. Essentially,
you are allowing yourself
to transcend time and
space as you think of it in
the usual sense. When you
perform a ritual, nothing else matters.
The ritual enactment now allows you to cross
over the threshold, stepping into the unknown,
into uncharted territory. Here, you allow yourself
to move from the old into the new.
Finally, the ritual completed, you return to your
life transformed by the experience.
Before you perform
a ritual you
must set your
intention.
ABOUT ABIGAIL BRENNER, MD
Abigail Brenner is a board-certified psychiatrist and an
ordained interfaith minister. She is the author of
“Transitions: How Women Embrace Change and
Celebrate Life” and “SHIFT: How to Deal When Life
Changes.” She is currently in private practice and lives
and works in New York City and San Francisco. For more
information, visit www.abigailbrenner.com.
EE
December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 33
HOW DID IT GO FROM LOSING
WEIGHT TO LOSING HOPE?
People with anorexia see themselves as much bigger than they actually are. And everyone else
sees the problem as being much smaller. Truth is, anorexia has the highest death rate of any
mental illness. But there are cures. Go to myneda.org
National
Eating
Disorders
Association
energy awareness radio
L
Let’s Talk Tantra
Certified sex therapist, Dr. Sally Valentine dispels the myths
about tantric sex, and reveals practices that can be incorporated
into the lives of any couple
MAYBE YOU’VE HEARD THE MUSICIAN
T Love: Can you tell us or define for
us what tantric sex is?
Dr. Sally Valentine: I think it’s hard to
describe what tantra really is because
you hear so many different definitions
for it. The one that I like to use is that
it’s a spiritual path and through this we utilize
specific practices with breath, sound, movement
and visualization. All of this helps assist in
quieting the mind and activating sexual energy,
and it’s directed through the body to bring a
December 2010
Dr. Sally Valentine,
certified sex
therapist
}
w w w. e l e v a t e d e x i s t e n c e . c o m
The practice involves eye gazing and fully
tapping into the five senses, she explains in
the interview. It also involves breathwork,
visualization and meditation.
Below is an excerpt from the show with
Valentine. To listen to the full interview, visit
www.blogtalkradio.com/energyawareness.
{
Sting speaking out about the practice or you
happened to catch Oprah interviewing experts on
it. Either way, odds are you’ve heard the term
“tantric sex” at some point. But how many people
actually understand what it is or how it’s practiced?
Dr. Sally Valentine, a certified sex therapist and
licensed clinical social worker based in Boca
Raton, Fla., recently appeared on
Energy Awareness Radio with host T
Love to discuss the topic and shed light
on this ancient practice.
“Tantra is the weaving of spirit
and sex,” Valentine says on her Web
site, www.drsallyvalentine.com. “Through an
awareness and consciousness of our energies, we
are able to shift our energy throughout our bodies,
which can enhance our depth of connection with
ourselves and our partner.”
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 35
energy awareness radio
greater sense of awareness and wellbeing,
and a higher state of consciousness.
People who engage in more conscious
sexuality and sex are able to move to a
space that is much deeper and richer in
nature than the basic typical sex that we
all kind of grew up with and know
about … to delineate tantric sex from
ordinary sex would really be to me that
tantric sex is conscious sex. So it’s making
love and being sexual in a very conscious
and aware way rather than separating
your mind and your body or
disconnecting your body while you are
being physically sexual, which lots of
people do. It’s really staying very attuned to your
body and being consciously aware of how you are
in every single moment as you’re being sexual
with your partner or by yourself.
Love: Do you find in your workshops there is
a certain age group where it’s more popular
to learn this or does it span the generations?
Valentine: In my experience, I find a lot of middle
age people are coming to the workshops … I think
people are more interested in it in that age group
because younger people have so many other things
going on in their lives that they are not wanting a
spiritual experience in sex … when you get into
your 40s, you are moving into a whole new phase
of life, and if you have a partner, you begin to
look at each other, especially if it’s been a
long-term relationship, and you want to reinvest
in sex. That is when they start to explore … I
think our souls are seeking reunion — the divine
reunion — and I think in our lovemaking and our
tantric practices we can help facilitate a deepening
of coming back home.
Love: What are some of the tantric practices?
Valentine: Breathwork is one of the tantric
practices, which is also done with anyone who
practices yoga. Think about all the breathing and
the yogic breath that you do — which is also tantric
breath — the big abdominal breath in and allowing
your stomach to drop back to its resting state as
the air flows out. Also, in tantra we do nose
breathing but also some mouth breathing where it
w w w. e l e v a t e d e x i s t e n c e . c o m
changes the energy within your body. Body
movement is also important in terms of the sexual
experience. Being able to undulate your body and
move your hips, as well as taking care of your
pelvic, sexual area with kegel exercises and ways
you tighten and contract your pubococcygeus
(PC) muscles so you are really taking care of your
sexual health in that way … all of this is part of
honoring your body so you can experience more
fully what life has to offer.
Love: How do people know if they are going
to a workshop that is taught by someone
with integrity, or a true tantra workshop?
Valentine: When people are wanting to know
more about it or looking for teachers or
workshops, they should ask very specific
questions because some people are very shy
around their body and they don’t want to be in a
workshop where they are asked to be naked, for
example. Some people love it and that is the type
of workshop they want, but some people don’t, so
those are the kinds of questions you want to ask if
you’re going to a tantra workshop. Ask the
teacher, “Where did you learn it? How did you get
into it? What happens in the workshop? Is there
nudity? Is there sexual activity?” So the general
public who knows nothing about it understands
what they are signing up for … I don’t do nudity
in my workshops; everybody is clothed and there
isn’t sexual activity in the workshops I offer. I
have teaching tools but nothing is actually done
inside the workshop that is of any sexual behavior.
December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 36
energy awareness radio
Love: We’ve all heard of the Kama Sutra. Some
people believe it and tantric sex are one in the
same and it’s just semantics. Is that correct?
Valentine: Tantric sex and Kama Sutra are not the
same. Kama Sutra is a like the first sexual manual
ever put together, so it doesn’t just talk about
sexual positions, but how to be a lover to your
partner. It goes into a huge variety of other things
outside of actual sex. You can think of it as a
sexual manual. It’s totally different than tantric
sex, but in the Kama Sutra they teach things that
you would do if you were making love in a more
tantric way. So they complement each other, but
they are not the same …
[Tantra] is also about tapping into your own
essence, so communing with yourself and
communing with someone else, and also touching
that divine source. The process of communing
with yourself and your
partner stirs up another
entity and that is really
the divine source. That is
what occurs when you’re
in union making love and
communing in that way —
you are really tapped into
something greater than
yourself and your partner.
and how you can sustain that for quite some
time — you are so connected and tuned in and it’s
as if you are one unit undulating together. That is
a different experience than ordinary sex, where
we go right up the sexual response cycle, you have
your arousal, your plateau, your orgasm and you
come down. In tantric sex, it’s much more about
peaking a little and then kind of dipping down as
you relax and then building back up and relaxing
into it. You can do that many times before orgasm
is reached, if it’s desired or not.
Love: Is there anything you can tell our
listeners that they can do to enhance their
sex life or practice tantric sex now?
Valentine: First off, talking about what each has
in mind about tantric sex or how they can better
the sex life they have already is where to start.
One of my favorite practices is
eye gazing. Sitting across from
one another — and you might
want to hold each other’s
hands or you might want to
put your hand on each other’s
heart center — gaze into each
other’s eyes. It’s looking into
a person’s eyes — it’s not
staring, but really looking in
and allowing yourself to drop
into a deeper space with your
partner as you are gazing into
their eyes. Here is this human
being across from you, this beautiful person who
you’ve chosen to be with you in this moment in
time and just allow yourself to move into that space
and breath together — nice full breaths in together
and then out. Just being in the moment with each
other in reverence and in honoring … really
connecting with your partner, eye to eye and breath
to breath and just allow yourself to be in that space.
“They call it
riding the waves.”
Love: What are some of
the benefits to sacred
sex or tantric sex?
Valentine: When you are having ordinary sex, it’s
usually something that is performance driven with
an end, so you are working toward the goal or the
end. In tantric lovemaking, it’s really just the
experience and the journey itself is the “wow” —
you are relaxing into lovemaking, so it’s not all
that built-up tension and the big blast … tantra sex
is about relaxing into the sensuality of lovemaking.
You are very in tune to all your senses and how it
feels, smells and tastes and you make a lot of eye
contact. Imagine making love with your eyes open
and really connected with your partner, gazing into
their eyes, and as your bodies are undulating and
you’re breathing, you’re cycling your energy and
the energy rises and falls and it’s just a seasaw.
They call it riding the waves — just imagine that
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ABOUT DR. SALLY VALENTINE
Dr. Sally Valentine has a doctorate in clinical
sexology and is a licensed clinical social worker. She is
also an AASECT certified sex therapist and supervisor,
a certified hypnotherapist and yoga teacher. For more
information about her, her workshops or services,
visit www.drsallyvalentine.com.
EE
December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 37
calling all angels
L
Earth Angels
The light and playful energy of faeries, or nature angels, protect the
Earth, watch over our pets, and are known to play jokes on us from
time to time
By Deanna August, MA, ATP
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December 2010
Deanna August, MA,
ATP, Intuitive Advisor,
Angel Communicator
and author
}
Calling All Angels. As I promised last time, this
edition will focus on the delightful, mischievous
world of nature angels (a.k.a. Faeries). Prior to
beginning this article, I called in the faeries and
can now feel the energy of several faeries, as well
as two faery queens, Maeve and Aine. Faery
energy tends to be light and playful, while the
energy of the queens is a bit more weighty and
serious. The faeries want me to toss a couple of
jokes in the mix today, so here’s the first … Why
do mermaids wear sea shells? Because “B” shells
are too small!
The English word faery comes from the French
word fée, which stems from the Latin word
fatare, which means “to enchant.” Within the
Faery kingdom, legend names a variety of beings.
Some of the more mischievous nature angels are
called pixies, elves, imps and brownies. If you find
yourself misplacing your keys only to discover
them in a place you swear you already looked, you
might be the recipient of a faery joke! They
sometimes do this when we need to lighten up.
Faeries who work predominantly with water
bodies are referred to as water sprites, water nymphs
and lake maidens. While some folklore depicts
water faeries as cruel, I do not follow this line of
thought. Another type of nature angel is the Devas,
who serve managerial roles and are involved in
protecting areas of the Earth that need healing.
In art and literature, the most common
portrayal of faeries is that of small magical beings
{
THANKS FOR JOINING ME FOR ANOTHER
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 38
calling all angels
in a human-like form with insect wings. (Tinker
Bell, anyone?) While this is the most common
portrayal, sometimes a faery’s appearance or
“feel” is tied to the plants/animals they are
protecting. A good friend of mine is closely
attuned to nature angels and easily senses/sees
them (with her third eye) when out in nature. She
has noted that woodland faeries look and feel
softer than desert faeries, who tend to look and
feel more prickly. She once helped me feel/see a
desert faery that was near a small saguaro cactus.
By using my third eye, I was able to see the image
of a greenish faery with “spindly” arms and legs.
This member of the Fey appeared to be part of the
cactus, though I knew it was a distinct being.
FAERY WORK
Faery lore is vast and wonderful and includes a
wide array of superstitions and beliefs. Seen as
spiritual beings with magical powers, faeries are
portrayed as mischievous — even vindictive when
angered. Maeve and Aine would like to point out
that faeries care deeply for Earth and are
committed to her health. While the nature angels
are sometimes angered at the misuse/lack of
connection some humans show Earth, their
communications with us are motivated by
frustration and a desire for us to change our
behaviors rather than revenge.
Nature angels also serve as guardian angels for
our pets. When my pets are outside, I ask the
faeries to watch over them. Sometimes, after 30
minutes or so of futilely calling my cats to come
inside, I will ask the faeries to bring them home.
Inevitably, my pets are home within five or so
minutes of asking for help. Faeries can also assist
us with our gardens and houseplants. I often call
on the nature angels to help my plants flourish or
to give me guidance on how to best care for one
that is ailing.
Here is another joke from the faeries: Why don't
cats play poker in the jungle? Too many cheetahs!
Maeve and Aine are stressing to me the
importance of asking humans to be more
Find a quiet spot and simply notice
the beauty of the natural world.
Allow your heart to fill with love,
beauty and joy. While doing this, let
the faeries know you would like to
begin communicating with them.
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December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 39
calling all angels
respectful and careful with the environment.
They ask us to pick up litter when outside, to
use green cleaning products and to minimize our
impact on the natural world by being respectful
in thought and action when in nature. When I’m
out walking and see a discarded bag, I know the
nature angels are asking me to pick up litter.
Sometimes I’ll come across the trash first and
not have anything to put it in. When this
happens, I ask the faeries to bring me a bag or
container, and typically within a few minutes of
the asking, I’ll come across a bag or box to put
the litter in!
HOW CAN I MEET A FAERY?
Faeries, as caretakers of the natural world, have a
slower vibration than archangels and guardian
angels. This slower vibration allows many people
to sense faeries around them. Some people feel a
lightness/joyfulness when nature angels are near
and others see colored lights out of the corners of
their eyes. I tend to feel their presence more than
“see” them.
Meeting a faery or nature angel is very much
the same process as meeting your guardian angel.
Most important is a sincere, loving and open
heart. Next to that, it is best to be out in nature.
Find a quiet spot and simply notice the beauty of
the natural world. Allow your heart to fill with
love, beauty and joy. While doing this, let the
faeries know you would like to begin
communicating with them. Stay open to what
you are feeling, seeing and sensing. Don’t be
surprised if you have to do this a number of times
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before you actually connect with faeries. To
improve your chances of creating a relationship
with the nature angels, live a life that is respectful
of Earth — recycle, use products that are gentle
to the environment, pick up litter, support
environmental causes, etc. Anything you do that
shows the faeries you sincerely love and respect
Earth, will help you connect with them.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Archangel Michael is urging me to share information
about his role in our lives and how to work within
his energies. As he is one of the archangels I am most
strongly connected to, I will honor his request and
focus my next column on him.
Until next time, may your heart know joy and
your spirit soar as you grow ever more grandly
into the full expression of your Highest Self.
ABOUT DEANNA AUGUST, MA, ATP
Deanna August is an Intuitive Advisor, Angel
Communicator and author. After earning her
graduate degree from an accredited body/mind/spirit
counseling program, August attended Doreen Virtue’s
Angel Therapy Practitioner training in Laguna Beach,
Calif. When working with a client, she uses her intuitive
abilities to receive information from the client’s guides
and angels, and supports that with counseling
techniques. This unique approach brings a therapeutic
and practical perspective to the advice her clients are
seeking. August is currently writing a book about how
to communicate with angels. For more information,
visit www.deanna-august.com.
EE
December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 40
elevated events
L
2010 - 2011 Event Calendar
Below is a list of events including worldwide seminars, lectures, retreats and more. While it is
impossible to list every spiritual, consciousness-lifting event taking place, we have done our best to
include the ones we are aware of, or that have come across our desks. If you have an event you would
EE
like to list here, please feel free to e-mail us at [email protected].
DECEMBER 2010
December 3-5, 2010
Getting the Love You Want:
A Workshop for Couples
Harville Hendrix and Helen LaKelly Hunt
Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
Stockbridge, Mass.
www.kripalu.org
December 3-5, 2020
The Power of Emotions and
Intuition to Heal
Dr. Judith Orloff
Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
Stockbridge, Mass.
www.kripalu.org
Fee: $295
December 3-5, 2011
Kundalini Yoga:
Breathing the Inner Body of Light
Daniel Orlansky
Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
Stockbridge, Mass.
www.kripalu.org
Fee: $21
December 4, 2010
A Day with Debbie Ford
and James Van Praagh
Clearing Your Magnetic Field:
Becoming a Magnet for Love,
Money, and Opportunities
Wilshire Ebell Theatre
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Los Angeles
www.hayhouse.com
Fee: $100
December 4, 2010
Abraham-Hicks Law of
Attraction Workshop
9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Phoenix Airport Marriott
1101 N. 44th St.
Phoenix, Ariz.
www.abraham-hicks.com
Fee: $195; $245 at the door.
December 5-10, 2010
The Wise and Loving Heart:
Living With Freedom and
Compassion
Jack Kornfield
Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
Stockbridge, Mass.
www.kripalu.org
December 6-11, 2010
Perfect Health
The Chopra Center
La Costa Resort & Spa
Carlsbad, Calif.
www.chopra.com/perfecthealth
Tuition: $3,175-$3,575
December 10, 2010
21st Century Energy Medicine
Workshop, The Shamanic Shift
Deborah King
Deborah King Center
Asilormar, Calif.
Fee: $225
www.deborahkingcenter.com
December 10-12, 2010
Digestion and Transformation:
Ayurveda and Yoga for the Doshas
Robert E. Svoboda and
Scott Blossom
Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
Stockbridge, Mass.
www.kripalu.org
Fee: $235
December 10-12, 2010
The Skinny Thinking Experience:
Heal Your Relationship with Food,
Weight and the Body
Laura Katleman-Prue
Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
Stockbridge, Mass.
www.kripalu.org
Fee: $200
December 13-18, 2010
Perfect Health
The Chopra Center
La Costa Resort & Spa
Carlsbad, Calif.
www.chopra.com/perfecthealth
Tuition: $3,175-$3,575
December 16-19, 2010
Secrets of Enlightenment
December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 41
elevated events
The Chopra Center
Carlsbad, Calif.
www.chopra.com/secrets
Tuition: $4775
December 24-26, 2010
Kabbalah & Yoga Retreat
Rabbi Sigal Brier
Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
Stockbridge, Mass.
www.kripalu.org
Fee: $205
December 26, 2010
New Year’s Spiritual
Renewal Retreat
Thomas Amelio
Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
Stockbridge, Mass.
www.kripalu.org
Fee: $340
JANUARY 2011
January 2-4, 2011
The Wisdom of Your Body:
Gentle Yoga and Mindful Eating
Liz Owen and Rivka Simmons
Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
Stockbridge, Mass.
www.kripalu.org
Fee: $215
January 8-15, 2011
Omega Costa Rica
Sierra Bender; Melissa Blacker;
Richard Leider; Florence MeleoMeyer; Steven Michael Pague;
Stephan Rechtschaffen; John
Welwood; Jennifer Welwood
www.eomega.org
January 15-22, 2011
Omega Costa Rica
Judith Ansara; Beryl Bender
Birch; Linda Francis; Robert Gass;
Lucia Rose Horan; Steven Michael
Pague; Stephan Rechtschaffen;
Gary Zukav
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www.eomega.org
January 16-18, 2011
The Women’s Workshop of
Soul Mate Attraction
Margo Davis-Hollander
Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
Stockbridge, Mass.
www.kripalu.org
Fee: $210
January 22-29, 2011
Omega Costa Rica
Joan Borysenko; Gordon Dveirin;
Lucia Rose Horan; Annette Knopp;
Gina Norman; Steven Michael Pague;
John Perkins; Stephan Rechtschaffen
www.eomega.org
January 26, 2011
Mastering the Art of Manifestation:
An Evening with Dr. Wayne Dyer
7-10:00 p.m.
Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County
Convention Center
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
www.hayhouse.com
Fee: $35-$50
January 28-30, 2011
The Art of Reiki: Reiki 1
Libby Barnett
Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
Stockbridge, Mass.
www.kripalu.org
Fee: $195
January 29, 2011
Abraham-Hicks Law of
Attraction Workshop
9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Renaissance L.A. Montura Hotel
Los Angeles
www.abraham-hicks.com
Fee: $195; $245 at the door
January 29-February 5, 2011
Omega Costa Rica
Lucia Rose Horan; Roger Jahnke;
E.H. Rick Jarow; Annette Knopp;
Ann Kristin Lindsay; Steven
Michael Pague; Stephan
Rechtschaffen
www.eomega.org
January 30-February 1, 2011
The Art of Reiki: Reiki 2
Libby Barnett
Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
Stockbridge, Mass.
www.kripalu.org
Fee: $195
FEBRUARY 2011
February 5, 2011
Abraham-Hicks Law of
Attraction Workshop
9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
San Francisco
www.abraham-hicks.com
Fee: $195; $245 at the door
February 5-12, 2011
Omega Costa Rica
Psychic 2.0 Bootcamp
Colette Baron-Reid
www.eomega.org
February 5-12, 2011
Omega Costa Rica
How to Write A Memoir
Exercises to Get You Started
& Keep You Going
Nancy Slonim Aronie
www.eomega.org
February 5-12, 2011
Omega Costa Rica
The Natural Singer
Claude Stein
www.eomega.org
February 19-26, 2011
Omega Costa Rica
Heart of Devotion Retreat
Krishna Das
December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 42
elevated events
www.eomega.org
February 25-27, 2011
The Shadow Process Retreat:
Your Immersion into Emotional
Freedom with Debbie Ford
Bahia Resort Hotel
San Diego
www.hayhouse.com
Fee: $795-$995
February 25-27, 2011
Ayurveda and Weight Loss:
A Permanent Solution to Weight
Gain, Cravings, and Emotional Eating
John Douillard
Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
Stockbridge, Mass.
www.kripalu.org
Fee: $235
love
rocks
MARCH 2011
March 4-6, 2011
Mastering Mediumship
James Van Praagh
Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
Stockbridge, Mass.
www.kripalu.org
Fee: $350
March 11-13, 2011
A Workshop on The Artist's Way:
Creative Myths and Monsters
Julia Cameron
Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health
Stockbridge, Mass.
www.kripalu.org
Fee: $295
March 12-13, 2011
I Can Do It! 2011
Queen Elizabeth Theatre
Vancouver, Canada
www.hayhouse.com
Fee: $160-$300
March 12-19, 2011
Omega Costa Rica
Drawing on the Right
Side of the Brain
Lynda Greenberg
www.eomega.org
March 26-April 2, 2011
Omega Costa Rica
Sacred Chant & Jivamukti Yoga
Sharon Gannon; David Life;
Miten; Deva Premal;
Shyamdas
www.eomega.org
from the inspired heart series
Each one of a kind handcrafted plaque
features natural heart shaped rocks
personally found by the artist. Plaques
can stand upright, be placed in display
stands, and are also equipped for hanging.
Custom word orders are available.
For orders or more info visit:
www.kathymorawski.com
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“The heart shaped rocks
placed in my artworks are natural and
as they were found and unaltered. I consider them
as gifts from the Earth. It has been suggested they could
also be gifts left by angels. It is my wish that these
earthy tokens be reminders that we indeed are loved.
And that love rocks!” – Kathy Morawski
December 2010
E l e v a t e d E x i s t e n c e 43