Reiki I & II Class Returns to August Moon, Vancouver

New Reiki I & II 8 Week Course Study (@ August Moon Center - Vancouver, WA)Class Limit 10 People, Pre-registration required, Eight Tuesdays Starting March 4th, 2008, 6 to 9pmTuition: $160 - Returning students contact me for tuition amount.

Instructor: Kris Vockler

@ August Moon Center (111 W. 39th Street, Vancouver, WA 98660 - 360.737.MOON)

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New Meditation Class; Meditation Around the World @ August Moon

New Meditation Around the World (@ August Moon Center - Vancouver, WA)

$40 for Four Tuesdays, Starting January 15th, 6 to 9PM - Call or Email to Sign-up: 360.609.1001 or laboheme.orchid@gmail.com

Ever wonder why people meditate and how they learned it?

This class is meant to be a Meditation 101 class, each student will learn several meditations in each class as well as what groups of people practice each meditation, why and the cultural context that might have shaped them.

From Mindfulness in Buddhism to Kundalini Awakening….

Topics: Benefits of meditation, reasons why people meditate, basic instruction on each meditation, Buddhist Mindfulness meditation, Chakra Opening and Balancing meditation, Manifesting Dreams/Desires meditation, Kundalini Awakening meditation, and more!

Each class will include instruction, history and discussion as well as guided meditation practice. Each student will get written course material as well as a CD of each meditation guided for home practice.

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Power of Gratitude…How To.

There are so many tools for which one can bolster and build their spiritual path, one of the most powerful is Gratitude. It’s a simple act yet has so many chemical reactions in the brain and affects on life. Gratitude at it’s definition is a positive emotion or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive. Yet it goes further than that, it’s not just something that one has received but a practice in seeing the gifts that might not be so obvious. Doing some practice in seeing what you might have that needs gratitude can be all that one needs to get started. Often we overlook things we need Gratitude in; our family, waking up in the morning, our meditation practice, the sun, the rain, a co-worker, our health. It need not be saved for that which was just given to us, the act of expressing Gratitude builds a positive flow of energy to us.

Now, it’s time to try the practice out, maybe starting with the following post on Gratitude Magic; The Gratitude Project. Try the exercise out and see what happens. Another great way to do this is to simply integrate it into your meditation practice. As of late, as I sit to do my mindfulness meditation, I do two things first; one is to express Gratitude for something, just one thing and then second I practice Loving-Kindness. If you aren’t sure what Loving-Kindness or Metta is, check out my last post on what it is or this article published. I simply state my Gratitude and then state the Metta practice and then I sit. What have I noticed? Well, quite a bit, first I’ve noticed that I am softer towards those who might have normally rubbed me the wrong way. It would appear that the Metta statements are falling over into the wake life and I find myself wishing happiness and a lack of suffering to those who are seemingly engaging me in negative things. The Gratitude builds a feeling of happiness over what I have and what I didn’t know I had.Gratitude is at it’s base a practice of many paths, from the simple act of bowing in Gassho or Namaste to a friend or teacher to appreciating what you have.Try it, unless you really don’t want to see positive changes.

Gassho,

~La Boheme

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Dream Interpretation; What Does it all Mean?

We have written about dreams several times here at the blog, and how people find us in Search Engines is a lot of the time in searching for dream interpretation. Yet it’s not all that easy of a task to just look-up a meaning and see if it fits. No matter if you come from a Jungian or Shamanic view of dreams, they will remain a personal part of you. How can a dictionary of dreams help this? Often it can add insight, prime the pump and help you, picking a dream dictionary is difficult but most people I know will pick several and one just resonates with them.

The key is figuring out what it means to you. Several searches by readers here have been things such as; “What does a Chinese or Asian person mean in my dreams?” Depending on where you live and in which culture you grew up, the answer will be different. What does an Asian person mean to you, how do you feel about them; holders of eastern knowledge or maybe you subscribe to the ‘bad driver’ mentality. In searching for a meaning and coming to this site or any site, none of us can tell you what it means.

In light of this, I advocate doing a “Mind-Map” of your dreams so you can see the themes as they move and maybe the answer will jump out at you. An aspect of a dream, returning several nights, each with their own context from dream to dream will give you the insight.

See this post on some tips to help remember dreams as well as how to Mind-Map: What Do Your Dreams Mean?

The best anyone can tell you is what something means to them.

~La Boheme

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Beyond Zen Zeitgeist (Thanks Google)

Best of 2007

Call this Beyond Zen’s Zeitgeist; what was most searched to find us, most searched on the site, most viewed post and all the stats.

Enjoy ~

LaBoheme

Where are you?

#1 United States (77.56%)
#2 Canada (5.99%)
#3 UK (5.34%)
#4 Australia (1.81%)
#5 India (0.65%)
#6 Netherlands (0.60%)
#7 Germany (0.60%)
#8 New Zealand (0.46%)
#9 Ireland (0.42%)
#10 Singapore (0.37%)

Where do New visitors come from?

Greece, Singapore, Thailand, Russia, Jordan, Sri Lanka, Czech Republic, Belgium, Poland, South Korea.

What you liked the most?

#1 Manifestation with Elephants Meditation
#2 Carnival of Lightwork August Edition
#3 What do your dreams mean?
#4 Reiki Training Page
#5 Carnival of Lightwork September Edition

Most Used Keywords?

“http://www.beyondzen.org/”, “upeksha”, “beyond zen”, “michelle croft”, “kris vockler”, “meaning of the color black”, “meanings of dreams”, “equanimity symbol”. Just to sample a few….

What’s Popular this Month?

#1 A Story of Compassion and Dying
#2 “About Kris”
#3 Bardo, Death and a Moment of Transition
#4 What Do Your Dreams Mean?
#5 “About Reiki Training”

Keywords?

“Lightwork”, “buddhism, dreams, black”, “acupuncture and the number 12”, “indian meanings of dreams”, “kundalini awakening during acupuncture”, “kundalini awakening online radio”, “upeksha and writing”, “what does water mean in your dream:”

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Bardo, Death, and a Moment of Transition

Often when I tell a story I shy away from those in which I was part of or a party to, to me it smacks of ego-center and self-serving. Yet this story, as it happened to me, was one of great compassion and love for my family. I did nothing but be present and party to something so amazing, I will never forget it.

Not far after my Grandfather passed away, the wife of one of his brother’s also passed away. Her husband had passed on some years before and she lived the rest of her life without him. I am very fond of that side of my family, although my father and my immediate family are not blood relation, you would never have guessed it. My Father and I are direct blood relations to this family in every spiritual sense of the word.

My Mother called to tell me that my great Aunt was passing, in hospice and not expected to live much longer. I remember thinking to myself; “It’s ok, I can go see her at 2PM tomorrow”. Why 2PM? I’m not sure but I knew that I had the time and that was the perfect time. So the next day at 2PM I went to the hospice center to visit. When I arrived I found my family all huddled around her in various states of shock, fear, sadness, love, kindness, and compassion. I was immedately welcomed and took a place in a chair next to my cousins.

As is customary in our culture, we all sat around and told stories of this woman, remembering the past and enjoying each other; laughing and crying together. As I sat there I thought to myself; “What can I do right now? What should I do? What is appropriate?” In studying Buddhism for years I wasn’t sure how to behave in front of my family at this moment, if I said anything, would it come out lost on a crowd who didn’t study Buddhism as I did or would my words we welcome?

After some time, a little voice in my head said, go see her, put your hands on her. This didn’t bother me either as I had been studying Reiki for years and placing my hands on an other to ease pain and suffering is a pleasure. I asked; “Do you all mind if I hold her hand”? Of course my family was like, “Please, get up here and join us”. So I did, I placed my hand in hers and joined the stories around her bed and tried to project energy and compassion onto this woman who was about to pass. The moment was very enjoyable as when I joined the group the stories seemed to flow and become more intensified.

Some more time went by and another voice in my head said to place a hand on her chest and one on the crown of her head. It felt so natural to do this, it felt like home to be in the energy field of not only my great Aunt but my family. It felt like being home, truly a good feeling.

What I felt was truly amazing, I could feel my great Aunt in the throws of her last few moments on earth. It was at this moment that I knew why I was to be there at 2PM, it was truly her last hour. With my hands placed on her head and chest I could feel her energy slowly untangling and lifting away. The next vision in my mind was of her husband and my Grandfather who appeared to be waiting for her to arrive. Right then, at that moment, I knew it was time for her to pass.

I told my family; “Come everyone, join around, put your hands on her, you can feel her; she’s here and she feels good”. Slowly each person in the room, about 15, got up and joined the rest of us around this woman and placed their hands on her feet, legs, hands, chest, head and stomach. I felt as if I wasn’t myself, like the sound of my voice wasn’t mine, I was elsewhere. Then I said to every one in the room; “Hold great thoughts of compassion and love for her, she is leaving now, she needs to know it’s ok and she is loved and love is waiting for her when she untangles from this life”, everyone did that, the room got silent.

In that moment when the room became silent, everyone could feel her. As soon as the last person put their hands on her, the room got very quiet yet very loud with love for what felt like forever but surely was just a few seconds. She passed on in that moment, the second the last person joined, she left. In that moment, what Tibetan Buddhists call Bardo, we all experienced that time in between when one life ends and another begins. The moment didn’t last forever and one everyone realized what had just happened, the tears began to fall. They were tears of joy for the ending of this life and the joining of pure love on the other side, where her husband and my Grandfather waited to welcome her and bring her into everything.

I didn’t do anything other than just be there, I could not have been more grateful to have done so in that moment. I can only hope when I pass from this life I can be in the presence of those who have witnessed my life and help me pass as we did for her.

In Tibetan Buddhism there are 6 levels of Bardo; This Life, Meditation, Dream, Dying, Dharmata, and Existence. They are the fragmented in between states, the gap between the ego and the self and the gap between the self and the next.

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A Story of Compassion and Dying

The Three Monks of blogging– Wade of The Middle Way, Kenton of Zen-Inspired Self Development, and Albert of Urban Monk.Net - have asked in this holiday time of year for us to share our stories of compassion. To see the original post please click he following links: [The Middle Way], [Zen-Inspired Self Development], and [UrbanMonk.net].

Here is my story…

My Grandfather died just over a year ago, today would have been his birthday. The call I got just before he died is one I’ll never forget; “Kristi, this is Grandma, I need your help, Grandpa is stuck in the bathroom”, “I’ll be right there I said”.

I would do anything for my Grandfather, he was in my mind the embodiment of everything that Buddha taught but didn’t know it. For about a year my Grandfather had begun a slow downhill fall to leukemia so it wasn’t a surprise at the end but that didn’t make it any better. When I got to my Grandparents house, there was Grandpa, stuck between the toilet and the wall, naked. He had grown too weak to help himself and was too heavy for my Grandmother to help him. He was in pain but we still had a chuckle as he said; “Little girl, I’m stuck” and I said; “and naked!”. He always had a fantastic sense of humor and kept it until he could not speak anymore. We wrestled a while as we tried to figure out how to get him back to his chair and after some time we did it at the expense of some humiliation on his part and pride on mine to be able to aide the man I adored so much.

Although he wanted to live to the end in his home, we both knew it was time for him to go to the hospital, the leukemia effects had fully taken over and his body was shutting down. Calling my Father to tell him he better come over, we needed to get Grandpa to the hospital, was rough as he at the same time was dealing with losing his father and being an only child and feeling fully responsible for his parents well being.

We stuck by him at the ER until it became obvious he needed hospice to aide in his final moments in this life. While in the hospital I had gotten a call from a good friend that his step Mother was also in the hospital across town and in her final moments in dealing with cancer. For the next few nights I spent time between a family who’s wife and mother I had grown very fond of and my own Grandfather, both about to die. During this, I started to lose my grip on “what was death” and “how could they go” and “what is next”. Keeping my family and theirs in humor and food was my goal, at least it pushed my agony away.

I wasn’t present for either of their passing, it happened late at night, but I was fully present in my own misery and suffering, as well as a possible loss of faith to boot. They both died within an hour of each other.

The next day when word had gotten around that Grandpa had passed and I was still in shock, the most kind act of compassion came my way. A friend had sent me an email, simply saying; “I know how this feels and we are thinking of you. Can I do anything for you?” Along with it she sent a graphic, seen below, of Buddha’s passing and those around him in agony.

Her simple act of; expressing her knowing of being in my shoes, a simple question of how can she help me, and an image of Buddha’s passing all swarmed in my head. This was the simple act I needed to keep my belief in Buddhism, humanity, and how a life lead with compassion is the only way to live. Thank you my friend.

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Young Living Oil Blend PanAway; Eased My Sore Muscles

I buy oils from several sources, one of which is Young Living who provides a vast catalog of blends and individual oils. I’ve had one called ‘PanAway’ for some time but hadn’t used it yet. About a week and a half ago I pulled a muscle in my lower back and it spread to all of my lower back. Of course the two things have helped the most were the services of my Acupuncturist and my Chiropractor. Yet when you are healing from something like this the muscles are still sore and often cramp up, which can lead to more damage.

Although most of the pain is gone I still have one muscle on the left side that stays tight and very sore in the mornings. So, two days ago I started using ‘PanAway’ on the sore area and I swear the pain vanishes in about 15 minutes. I made sure I didn’t take ibuprofen or anything else that might make the pain go away. Just a few drops rubbed into the skin over the sore muscle and no pain, no stiff muscle.

Where the heck has this oil been my whole life???

So, here is what’s in it:

Manufacturer: Young Living

Name: PanAway

Blend of: Helichrysum (Nerve and skin regeneration), Wintergreen (Has a cortisone like result), Clove (Antiseptic, not sure what this might add to the muscles), Peppermint (Greatest benefits to the digestive system, again, not sure what it does for sore muscles).

Precautions: Some people might find the Wintergreen, Close and Peppermint to be an irritant. Test on the skin first and if not major reaction occurs then it may be added directly to the skin. Otherwise, a few drops in the desired massage oil and then put on the skin. Also used as direct vapor inhale, diffuser or in a bath.

La Boheme

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New Research Topic @ BeyondZen; What is Love?

For years I’ve been thinking about what is Love, how do you define it and where does it come from. I know! Not an easy topic, many philosopher’s and scientists as well as metaphysical studies have all tried. It’s all of the following: emotion, feeling, attitude, expression, chemical reaction, etc. I’m guessing that a word that has so many meanings in the English dictionary will be very hard to pick apart, heck, many great minds in the world have tried.But there is something missing, it’s like we can describe the symptoms but not the root of what Love is.

I’ve read interesting articles and had similar discussions on Love being the pure energy of the Universe, a stretch I know, and that pure energy was what exploded in the Big Bang. Maybe worth exploring here, maybe not.

Over the next year we at Beyond Zen are going to tackle and attempt to build on what we know of love, not sure how we are going to do that but we will.

So, now is your turn, what is love? I urge you to comment and tell us what you think it is, not what it looks like or what chemical changes occur when one is “in love” but try to get at the root, is there more behind the curtain or not? What do you think?

La Boheme

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Florida Newspaper Explains Reiki, Healing on All Levels

Photo from:http://www.overhall.com/body_work.htm

Charged Up About Reiki by Matthew Solan

A recent web trawl of articles finds a recent article by the Sarasota herald Tribune on Reiki and what it is.

Following the opening of a new healing center, Sarasotahealing.com, the Sarasota Herald Tribune features; “what is Reiki”? From the article; “Reiki is a 4,000-year-old Japanese healing modality that works to balance the chakras, or energy centers, located in specific areas of the body. A Reiki therapist channels the universal energy around us to where it’s needed by placing his or her hands on and around your various chakras. ‘Reiki is a powerful and precise system of healing,’ says Sonia Morissette, Reiki master and owner of Sarasota Healing (www.sarasotahealing.com). ‘It accesses universal life force energy, which helps promote healing in all living things at physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels.’”

The article goes on to describe what “Chakra’s” are and how Reiki works with them; “A chakra is a vortex of energy. There are seven: root, sacral, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye and crown. Described as being about the size of your hand and resembling a spinning wheel, chakras spin at different speeds, fast or slow, and vibrate at various frequencies. The first spins the slowest and the seventh the fastest. When a chakra is “blocked,” it spins too slowly or quickly, or even in the wrong direction. When this occurs, physical and emotional problems can manifest, such as depression, anxiety, fatigue, chronic pain and insomnia. Reiki gets the chakras to work smoothly again.”

Click the link above to read the full article.

La Boheme

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