Remember Who You Are by Omkara is a song that inspires spiritual awakening and oneness. I listened to this song during a sacred ceremony I took part in. It’s one of the most beautiful spiritual songs I’ve ever heard. (Note: Here is also a live version with Omkara performing for Mooji.)

Lyrics:

This life is…
This life is..
This life is a dream
This life is a dream
It will be over in the blink of an eye

Remember who you are
Remember what you are

Whose life is this?
Whose hands are these?
Whose voice is this?
What am I?

This life is just a dream
It will be over in the blink of an eye
Remember who you are
Remember what you are
Remember who you are

Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha

This life is beautiful
This life is horrible
This life is wonderful
And this life is just a dream
A dream made of love

Remember who you are
Remember what you are
Remember who you are

Remember
You are before
Before these questions
Before an answer

Remember
You are before
Before everything

Video Source: AwakeningBridge

About  Cassandra Sturdy

I’m an author, transformational coach, energy healer and workshop facilitator who is passionate about spiritual awakening, inner transformation and the global revolution of consciousness.

I create books, courses and paradigm-shifting tools that help people to transform their lives, so they can help transform the world.

I have been helping people to shift and awaken their consciousness so that they can transform their lives for over a decade.

Visit my website to learn more and to get a free download of my spiritual adventure book, The Twelve Attunements.

Source: Mercola.com

Story at-a-glance

By Dr. Mercola

Cannabis, better known as marijuana, has been used for its medicinal properties for thousands of years. It’s been heralded as a “cure-all,” revered for its healing properties, particularly for pain but also as a potential anticancer treatment. Marijuana was a popular botanical medicine in the 19th and 20th centuries, common in U.S. pharmacies of the time.

It wasn’t until 1970 that the herb was declared a Schedule 1 controlled substance in the U.S., a classification reserved for drugs with “high potential for abuse” and “no accepted medical use.” Three years later the Drug Enforcement Agency was formed to enforce the newly created drug schedules, and the fight against marijuana use began. In light of its history as a global panacea for all sorts of ills, it’s classification as a controlled substance is particularly unjustified.

As noted in the documentary “Cannabis: A Lost History,” written, directed and narrated by Chris Rice, marijuana has been “an integral part of human civilization,” featuring in ancient Japanese cave paintings, as well as Chinese and Siberian burial rites dating back to 3000 B.C. Based on the evidence — especially the discovery that the human body is equipped with a cannabinoid system — it appears our relationship with cannabis goes back to the very dawn of the human species.

Historical remnants from all around the world also reveal the importance of cannabis in medicine and spirituality. For example, Taoist monks in ancient China burned cannabis as incense, and consumed it with ginseng — a combination thought to open your psychic centers, allowing you to see the future. Cannabis was also revered as sacred in Hinduism, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism.

Cannabinoids and the Cannabinoid Receptor System

The marijuana plant contains more than 60 different cannabinoids; chemical compounds the human body is uniquely equipped to respond to. The two primary ones are cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the latter of which is the psychoactive component. Cannabinoids interact with your body by way of naturally occurring cannabinoid receptors embedded in cell membranes throughout your body.

There are cannabinoid receptors in your brain, lungs, liver, kidneys, immune system and more; the therapeutic (and psychoactive) properties of marijuana occur when a cannabinoid activates a cannabinoid receptor. Your body also has naturally occurring endocannabinoids similar to THC that stimulate your cannabinoid receptors and produce a variety of important physiologic processes.

So, your body is actually hard-wired to respond to cannabinoids through this unique cannabinoid receptor system. We still don’t know exactly how far its impact on your health reaches, but to date it’s known that cannabinoid receptors play an important role in many body processes, including metabolic regulation, pain, anxiety, bone growth and immune function.¹

The Earliest History of Cannabis

According to the featured video, the earliest written references to cannabis are found in the Chinese Materia Medica, said to be written by Shen Nung around 2800 B.C. The oldest known copy of this book dates back to 50 B.C. Nung is one of three “celestial emperors” revered in the Chinese culture. “Half emperor, half deity, he is said to have ruled over China long before written history,” Rice says.

Nung is credited with inventing agriculture — including the hoe, plow and irrigation — as well as acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Often depicted draped in leaves and chewing on various plants, Nung was the first pharmacologist, experimenting with and recording the health effects of plants. Nung documented around 100 different conditions that responded well to cannabis, including gout, rheumatism, malaria and absentmindedness.

Before Nung declared its medicinal attributes, the cannabis plant, called “ma” in Chinese, had been used for centuries in the production of textiles, paper, rope and pottery. Around 200 A.D., a Chinese physician named Hua Tuo performed the first surgery using an anesthetic — a formula called Ma Fei San, which translates to “cannabis boiling powder.”

For thousands of years, cannabis remained one of the 50 essential plants used in TCM. It was only removed from widespread use in recent times due to its controversial legal status. The film also reviews the history of cannabis in Indian culture. In the Vedas, the sacred text of India, cannabis (bhang) is listed as one of five sacred plants, and the Hindu god Shiva is referred to as “Lord of the bhang,” meaning the Lord of cannabis.

According to the Mahanirvana, “bhang is consumed in order to liberate oneself,” and liberation is the path to immortality. The ancient Egyptians, Persians and Greeks also used cannabis in a variety of ways, including medicinally and for spiritual upliftment. References to cannabis are even found in Islamic, Judaic and Christian texts, although an error in translation appears to have crept into the Bible along the way. The original Hebrew term “kaneh bosm,” or cannabis, is found several times in the Old Testament.

In Exodus, chapter 30, God instructs Moses on how to make a holy anointing oil: “Take for yourself choice spices: 500 shekels of pure myrrh, half as much fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekels of kaneh bosm and 500 shekels of cassia and mix these with olive oil.” In more modern Bibles, kaneh bosm has been translated as sweet calamus. The problem is this plant does not have the properties that the Bible ascribes to kaneh bosm.

According to the film, a 12th century painting found in a Sicilian basilica also “appears to show Jesus near a pot leaf.” The painting is titled “Jesus healing the blind.” Interestingly enough, “modern scientific studies have since proven that cannabis delays retinal degeneration,” Rice says.

The American History of Cannabis

In the U.S., the prohibition of marijuana began to turn in 1996 when California became the first state to legalize medical cannabis. Since then, many others have followed. In 2012, Colorado and Washington state became the first states to legalize its recreational use. Today, the majority of Americans support cannabis either as a medicine, for recreational use, or both. Surveys show at least 4 in 10 Americans have tried marijuana, while nearly 60 percent support full legalization.

A 2013 survey found a majority of physicians — 76 percent — also approve of the use of medical marijuana.² CNN’s chief medical correspondent and neurosurgeon Sanjay Gupta also made a highly publicized reversal on his marijuana stance after the production of his two-part series “Weed,” which aired in 2014.³

The American history of cannabis goes back to our Founding Fathers, who cultivated the plant for industrial purposes. George Washington, for example, is said to have grown more than 100 hemp plants at his home in Mount Vernon, Virginia.⁴ Cannabis is called hemp when being used for its fibers, which are extracted from the stem and constructed into rope, clothing and paper.

Hemp plants are low in tetrahydrocannabinols (THC) levels and therefore do not get you high. During the 17th century, hemp was viewed as an important cash crop. It was used for rope by navies around the world, and as a thick durable linen ideal for clothing and packaging heavy materials. Hemp seed oil was used in soaps, paints and varnishes.

The battle that has raged over marijuana is a long and arduous one. You can read a brief history of marijuana prohibition in the Huffington Post.⁵ Still, movements to legalize marijuana have persisted throughout, starting as early as 1973, when Oregon became the first state to decriminalize cannabis. The most successful movement to date, and the one that produced the first legal marijuana market in decades, is the medical marijuana movement.

Medical cannabis is now legal in 30 U.S. states,^6,7 the majority of which allow limited use of medical marijuana under certain medical circumstances, although some limit medical cannabis to oils or pills only. Eight states have legalized it for recreational use.

A number of municipalities have also created their own marijuana rules, either decriminalizing it, legalizing it, enacting rules that direct city law enforcement to cease arresting individuals for marijuana possession, or making cannabis offenses the lowest priority for law enforcement.

What Can Cannabis Treat?

As mentioned, your body makes its own cannabinoids, similar to those found in marijuana, but in much smaller amounts. These endocannabinoids appear to perform signaling operations similar to your body’s neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and serotonin. Cannabinoid receptors can be found on cell membranes throughout your body. In fact, scientists now believe they may represent the most widespread receptor system.⁸

The fact that your body is replete with cannabinoid receptors, key to so many biological functions, is why there’s such enormous medical potential for cannabis. Even though research has been limited by its classification as a Schedule 1 controlled substance, its list of medicinal benefits is still quite long. For example, cannabis has been found useful in the treatment of:^{9,10,11,12,13}

Among the most exciting research is that on cancer. Not only does cannabis help with the unpleasant side effects of traditional chemotherapy (including pain, nausea and insomnia), but the cannabis itself appears to be a natural chemotherapy agent.¹⁷

Researchers have found cannabis is pro-apoptotic, meaning it triggers cellular suicide of cancer cells while leaving healthy cells untouched, and anti-angiogenic, meaning it cuts off a tumor’s blood supply. Dozens of studies point to marijuana’s effectiveness against many different types of cancer. For example, Harvard researchers found THC cuts tumor growth in lung cancer while significantly reducing its ability to spread.¹⁸

Medicinal Marijuana Can Help Stem Death Toll From Narcotic Pain Killers

Another area where cannabis offers great hope is in the treatment of pain. Overdoses from narcotic pain killers are now the leading cause of death among Americans under the age of 50, and pharmaceuticals in general have for decades been among the leading causes of death in the U.S. According to Dr. Margaret Gedde, owner and founder of Gedde Whole Health and the Clinicians’ Institute of Cannabis Medicine, research clearly confirms that cannabis is safer and less toxic than many prescription drugs.

This includes liver and kidney toxicity, gastrointestinal damage, nerve damage and death. Moreover, cannabinoids often work when pharmaceutical drugs fail, so not only is cannabis safer but it’s typically more effective. Besides treating intractable seizures, one of the strongest areas of research regarding marijuana’s health benefits is pain control.

In 2010, the Center for Medical Cannabis Research released a report¹⁹ on 14 clinical studies about the use of marijuana for pain, most of which were FDA-approved, double-blind and placebo-controlled. The report revealed that marijuana not only controls pain but in many cases, it does so better than pharmaceutical alternatives.

If you compare opioids to marijuana, marijuana is unquestionably safer. Contrary to opioids, a cannabis overdose cannot kill you because there are no cannabinoid receptors in your brain stem, the region of your brain that controls your heartbeat and respiration.

What’s more, marijuana has been shown to ease withdrawal symptoms in those trying to wean off opioids, which are extremely addictive. In states where medical marijuana is legal, overdose deaths from opioids decreased by an average of 20 percent after one year, 25 percent after two years and up to 33 percent by years five and six.

Big Pharma Takes Aim at CBD

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the drug industry is now trying to turn CBD oil into a drug, and hence illegal for sale as a supplement.²⁰ Showing promise for a wide range of ailments, the drug industry sees cannabis as major competition, and rightfully so. June 25, 2018, GW Pharmaceuticals became the first company to gain FDA approval for a CBD-based drug.^21,22

The drug in question, Epidiolex, was approved for the treatment of intractable childhood epilepsy in children aged 2 and older. Another product called Sativex is also awaiting FDA approval. Sativex has already been approved in a number of other countries for the treatment of spasticity in multiple sclerosis patients. In a June 25 statement,²³ FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb stated:

“This product approval demonstrates that advancing sound scientific research to investigate ingredients derived from marijuana can lead to important therapies … This is an important medical advance. But it’s also important to note that this is not an approval of marijuana or all of its components. This is the approval of one specific CBD medication for a specific use. And it was based on well-controlled clinical trials evaluating the use of this compound in the treatment of a specific condition.

Moreover, this is a purified form of CBD. It’s being delivered to patients in a reliable dosage form and through a reproducible route of delivery to ensure that patients derive the anticipated benefits. This is how sound medical science is advanced. So today, in addition to celebrating this scientific achievement and the medical advance that it represents … we should also reflect on the path that made this possible.

It’s a path that’s available to other product developers who want to bring forth marijuana-derived products through appropriate drug development programs. That pathway includes a robust clinical development program, along with careful review through the FDA’s drug approval process. This is the most appropriate way to bring these treatments to patients. This process also includes a review of the purity of a new drug and manufacturing controls.”

FDA Cracks Down on CBD Supplements

As expected, with its approval of the first CBD drug, the FDA has increased its scrutiny of companies making CBD extracts. In November 2017, four Colorado businesses received FDA warning letters for making “illegally unsubstantiated health claims” on their CBD products.²⁴ In a November 1 press release, the FDA said:²⁵

“[T]he agency today issued warning letters to four companies illegally selling products online that claim to prevent, diagnose, treat or cure cancer without evidence to support these outcomes … The deceptive marketing of unproven treatments may keep some patients from accessing appropriate, recognized therapies to treat serious and even fatal diseases.

The FDA has grown increasingly concerned at the proliferation of products claiming to treat or cure serious diseases like cancer. In this case, the illegally sold products allegedly contain cannabidiol (CBD), a component of the marijuana plant that is not FDA approved in any drug product for any indication.”

The warning letters²⁶ also rejected claims that CBD oil can be classified as dietary supplements since Investigational New Drug (IND) applications have been submitted for the CBD-containing drugs Sativex and Epidiolex. This suggests the agency is not just aiming to clean up the cannabis industry’s propensity to make illegal claims; it also raises concerns that the legality of all CBD products is in question now that at least one CBD-containing drug has been approved.

Many CBD Products Are Mislabeled

The FDA scrutiny is not entirely unwarranted, however. A November 2017 study²⁷ in JAMA found only 30 percent of CBD extracts sold online accurately list the amounts of cannabinoids on the label. And, while CBD is very safe, accuracy is still of utmost importance.

The FDA and DEA will also use information like this to push CBD into pharma-only territory. The JAMA study used triplicate tests to analyze the cannabinoid content of 84 CBD products purchased online, along with a 10-point method validation procedure. A 10 percent plus or minus allowable variance was used, which is consistent with herbal product labeling in general in the U.S. According to the authors:

“Observed CBD concentration ranged between 0.10 mg/mL and 655.27 mg/mL (median, 9.45 mg/mL). Median labeled concentration was 15.00 mg/mL … With respect to CBD, 42.85 percent of products were underlabeled, 26.19 percent were overlabeled, and 30.95 percent were accurately labeled.

Accuracy of labeling depended on product type, with vaporization liquid most frequently mislabeled … and oil most frequently labeled accurately … Concentration of unlabeled cannabinoids was generally low; however, THC was detected (up to 6.43 mg/mL) in 18 of the 84 samples tested … Of tested products, 26 percent contained less CBD than labeled, which could negate any potential clinical response.

The overlabeling of CBD products in this study is similar in magnitude to levels that triggered warning letters to 14 businesses in 2015-2016 from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (e.g., actual CBD content was negligible or less than 1 percent of the labeled content), suggesting that there is a continued need for federal and state regulatory agencies to take steps to ensure label accuracy of these consumer products.”

Educate Yourself on the Scientific Evidence Supporting Medical Marijuana

If you’re still on the fence when it comes to giving people the right to use medical marijuana, one of the best ways to still your fears is to look at the research, and look at what doctors are doing in clinical practice. To start, I recommend listening to my interviews with Geddeand Dr. Allan Frankel, in which they discuss many of the medical benefits of cannabis. Other helpful resources include:

It’s great to strive to do your best, but when that feeling becomes a compulsion, when you lose sleep because some project didn’t turn out right, or when nothing you can do feels quite good enough, you have veered into the unhealthy territory of perfectionism.

My aim here is to help you determine the difference between a healthy pursuit of excellence and an unhealthy need for perfectionism so I’m providing a few steps you can take to make sure you stay on the sane, happy side of this metaphorical fence.

Here Are 5 Ways You Can Pursue Excellence Without Falling Into Perfectionism:

1) Have a passionate idea of where you want to go with a project, but keep it loose. When you fixate on doing something only one way, you limit your creative options and you miss opportunities to do it an easier or more playful way.

2) Give it your best AND embrace “mistakes” as possible gifts. Think of them as input from the Universe and work with them. It’s great to have a Plan A, but life may steer you in another direction, and that direction could be more rewarding. When I was making my healing album, “Chakra Love,” we made a few “mistakes” that we ended up loving and kept them in. If we didn’t keep an open mind, we may have rejected them off-hand and that would have been a shame.

3) Learn to say “Good enough.” Know when enough is enough. Be sure to apply this idea on a graduating scale. If something is a very short-lived project (something that will be put away or thrown away in a few days), put less time into it and find satisfaction more easily. If something is a longstanding project or one a lot of people will see, allow more time for it and raise your standard just a bit. For instance, if you’re washing your car, “good enough” should come pretty quickly, since you’re just going to drive it and get it dirty again right away.

Whereas, if you’re making a painting a client has commission for their home, you should raise your standard a bit, because the art will be on their walls for years. The important thing is to not treat all projects the same. Perfectionists insist on perfection, even when the thing they are making perfect will have very little shelf life. Don’t fall into that trap.

4) Partner on projects with easy going, fun-loving people who understand that the process of creating is just as important as the thing being created. Other people’s energy and attitudes rub off on you. If you have perfectionist tendencies, don’t work for or with those who are worse than you. It will exacerbate the situation.

5) Purposely make mistakes. Yes, I DID say that. I know, you wouldn’t dream of doing that. I’m telling you, if you are an incorrigible perfectionist, it will be extremely therapeutic. Purposely making mistakes will help you get comfortable with them and show you the world doesn’t end when you make errors, boo boos or blunders.

So, when you’re done with your masterpiece, dishevel it a bit. It just may keep you sane, and more often than not, people love the added “human” touch. If this step feels daunting for you, start with little things. For instance, after you create that absolutely perfect “up do,” pull out a few strands of hair and let them dangle freely. Or once you make your bed with throw pillows perfectly placed on top, take one off and literally throw it back into the mix (that’s why they’re called “throw pillows” anyway).

There, five easy ways you can avoid the perfectionist trap. I hope you found this helpful, because for me, for now, it feels good enough.

Vicki Howie is the Creator of Chakra Boosters Healing Tattoos™ (find out what inspired her to create them here). Check out her new book “The Key to Your Chakras” here on amazon.com. Vicki is also the Creator of Chakra Love and the Chakra Life Cycle System®, as well as the Co-Editor of Conscious Life News. You can visit her website chakraboosters.com, facebook page and youtube channel for lots of free chakra info and gifts. Vicki’s biggest joy is to help you unleash your full chakra power and step into your highest potential.

By Mateo Sol | Loner Wolf

Sound is one of the purest forms of energy in existence.

Sound inspires us, uplifts us, helps us to communicate, express ourselves, and even heal at a deep level.

Have you ever stopped to consider how amazing it is that everything around you is fundamentally composed of energy that vibrates at different frequencies? Thanks to science, we know that the denser an object is, the lower its vibration is, and the lighter something is, the higher its vibration is.

Vibration also corresponds to emotions. When we identify with emotions such as anger, hatred, jealousy, guilt, paranoia, and self-loathing, we actually lower our vibration. On the other hand, when we stop identifying with these emotions and instead see them simply as energy fluctuating within us, we begin to experience “high vibration” states such as love, peace, gratitude, creativity, and self-fulfillment.

It’s important here to remember that there’s nothing wrong with feeling any type of emotion, including uncomfortable ones. Unfortunately, many new age writers use the term “low vibration” to condemn and therefore spiritually bypass emotions such as anger or grief. Ironically, condemning these emotions actually generates more fear and resistance within the psyche, which further solidifies a “low vibrational” state of being.

While the best way to experience high vibration states such as love and bliss is to stop identifying and attaching to thoughts and emotions, there are helpful catalysts out there which help to center your energy. One of these catalysts is known as the Solfeggio Frequencies.

What are Solfeggio Frequencies?

The Solfeggio Frequencies are a series of 6 electromagnetic musical tones that the Gregorian Monks were said to use when they chanted in meditation. Rediscovered in 1974 by Dr. Joseph Puleo, the Solfeggio Frequencies are said to deeply penetrate the conscious and subconscious mind, stimulating inner healing. Dr. Puleo was intuitively led to rediscover these healing frequencies in the Book of Numbers (a book in the Hebrew Bible), using a numerological technique to decipher the six repeating codes he found. The result was the rediscovery of the Solfeggio Frequencies.

Physicist, inventor, and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla once said, “If you only knew the magnificence of the 3, 6 and 9, then you would hold a key to the universe.” Interestingly, these three numbers form the root vibration of the six Solfeggio Frequencies.

These are the Solfeggio Frequencies:

• UT – 396 Hz – transforming grief into joy and guilt into forgiveness
• RE – 417 Hz – clears negativity and removes subconscious blockages
• MI – 528 Hz – stimulates love, restores equilibrium, repairs DNA
• FA – 639 Hz – strengthens relationships, family, and community unity
• SOL – 741 Hz – physically cleanses the body from all types of toxins
• LA – 852 Hz – awakens intuition and helps you return to spiritual balance

Each of the syllables that describe the Solfeggio Frequencies were taken from the first stanza of the medieval hymn to St. John the Baptist:

Ut queant laxis Resonare fibris

Mira gestorum Famuli tuorum

Solve polluti Labii reatum

Sancte Iohannes

The literal translation from Latin is: “So that your servants may, with loosened voices, resound the wonders of your deeds, clean the guilt from our stained lips, O Saint John.” (Source.)

6 Powerful Solfeggio Frequencies that Raise Your Vibration

The Solfeggio Frequencies were said to be used in over 150 Gregorian chants, and are said to increasingly raise your vibration when listened to. Each Solfeggio tone helps to peel back layers of negativity and energy blockages, helping you to experience emotional and spiritual release.

Many people describe listening to these tones as calming, inspiring, cleansing, and even revelatory in that they help us to experience clarity and understanding about the problems in our lives. Others who listen to the Solfeggio Frequencies may experience headaches or even repressed emotions like anger rise to the surface in response to the mismatch of vibration. In other words, these sound healing frequencies may have a “purging” effect on your energy field, which might make you feel a bit queasy! On the other hand, you might react to these sounds extremely well, so please do listen and experiment.

1. UT – 396 Hz

The 396 Hz Solfeggio Frequency helps those who struggle with feelings such as guilt, fear, and grief. This tone is highly grounding and cleansing. I also highly recommend trying out binaural beats as a form of healing, such as this track that helps to remove anxiety.

2. RE – 417 Hz

This sound frequency helps you to clear negativity and removes subconscious blockages in the form of limiting core beliefs, toxic thinking patterns, and harmful habits. The 417 Hz tone is primarily about facilitating change and connecting you back with the Divine Source. Binaural beats is another form of music therapy that can help with clearing negativity (check out this track).

3. MI – 528 Hz

The “MI” tone is often thought of as the “love frequency.” This sound vibration is also said to be central to creation and is thought to restore inner equilibrium, increase awareness, repair DNA, and stimulate transformation.

4. FA – 639 Hz

This sound vibration increases understanding, tolerance, interpersonal harmony, and empathy. As such the “FA” tone is said to strengthen relationships, family connection, and unity with others. If you’re struggling in your work or personal relationships, this sound frequency may help you create more harmony. If you’re interested in attracting and manifesting more love, this binaural beats meditation is also a wonderful tool.

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE AT LONER WOLF…

By OMTIMES MAGAZINE

Have you ever heard that story that music makes kids smarter? Have you heard of the “Mozart Effect”? Do you know where all these beliefs that relate music and intelligence come from? Have you ever wondered if this statement has any scientific basis? Can Music inspire noble behaviors and infuse the little ones with compassion?

There are many circumstances or activities that can help boost intelligence in children. Music is one of them, but it is not the only one. Many studies have attempted to establish a link between learning a musical instrument and intelligence. And then? Who does not learn to play an instrument will be less intelligent?

Music certainly brings many hidden benefits to the children’s brains and their hearts. Buddhist music seems to infuse the children with a positive dharmic effect, bringing awareness and giving them perspective on the importance of the life of sentient beings, from a broader perspective.

It seems that music prepares our brains for certain types of thinking. For example, several surveys have found that after listening to classical music, adults can perform specific spatial tasks more quickly.

But why does this happen? Apparently, the “classical musical pathways” in our brain are like the ways we use for spatial reasoning. So, when we start to listen to classical music, the spaceways would already be “on” and ready to be used.

In fact, music brings many benefits to the infant’s brain as well as to the minds of adults. Many types of research have focused precisely on proving the effect that music exerts on the minds.

The Buddha’s counsel for parents is straightforward: help your children become generous, virtuous, responsible, talented, and contribute to their becoming self-sufficient adults. The most important lesson parents can convey to their children is that every action has its costs.

Each giving moment in our lives is an opportunity to practice mindfulness. Nevertheless, it is up to us to choose how we want to think, speak or act.

Buddhist Music can inspire our children as they discover and open themselves to understand the world. Our abilities to make kind and compassionate choices in our lives will eventually influence our practice on compassion, happiness, and ability to experience joy.

11 Buddhist Songs (with lyrics) for your kids:

Buddhist Music To Inspire Children #1 – Birth of the Buddha [Listen]

Lyrics/Music: Daniel Yeo

In the ancient land

A child is born

Once in a time so long

And the gods and men

So they said

Homage to the Lord

*Namo tassa bhagavato arahato

Samma-sambuddhassa.

*Translation: Homage to that Lord, the Worthy One, Perfectly enlightened by Himself.

Buddhist Music To Inspire Children #2 – To Love Is To Care And Be Kind [Listen]

Lyrics/Music: Imee Ooi

Be kind to all your friends and family

Be kind to cats and butterflies and trees

Don’t hurt the fishes swimming in the sea

Here is what the Buddha says to me

To Love is to care for all living around us

To Love is to be kind to all beings around us

Get the Lyrics and Listen to the Other Nine Songs at OMtimes…

By Elizabeth Logan | Yahoo

Are you ready for an aggressively 21st-century sentence? Benedict Cumberbatch and his Uber driver apparently saved a Deliveroo guy. According to British paper The Sun, Uber driver Manuel Dias picked up the Sherlock Holmes star and his wife Sophie Hunter to take them to a club in London. “I went to turn down into Marylebone High Street and we saw four guys were pushing around a Deliveroo cyclist,” recalled Dias. “My passenger jumped out, ran over and pulled the men away. They turned towards him and things looked like getting worse, so I joined in.”

“I had hold of one lad and Benedict another. He seemed to know exactly what he was doing. He was very brave. He did most of it, to be honest,” said Dias of the incident. It’s unclear exactly how two men fought off four muggers, but it may have helped that one of the rescuers was a huge movie star. “He stood there instructing them in the street, shouting, ‘Leave him alone’…It was only then I recognised Benedict. Then it all got a bit surreal. Here was Sherlock Holmes fighting off four attackers just round the corner from Baker Street,” continued Dias, adding, “They tried to hit him but he defended himself and pushed them away. He wasn’t injured. Then I think they also re­cognised it was Be­ne­dict and ran away.”

See, this is why celebrities shouldn’t ever wear disguises. What if they need to help someone?

[Read more here]

Robert O’Leary, JD BARA, has had an abiding interest in alternative health products & modalities since the early 1970’s & he has seen how they have made people go from lacking health to vibrant health. He became an attorney, singer-songwriter, martial artist & father along the way and brings that experience to his practice as a BioAcoustic Soundhealth Practitioner, under the tutelage of the award-winning founder of BioAcoustic Biology, Sharry Edwards, whose Institute of BioAcoustic Biology has now been serving clients for 30 years with a non-invasive & safe integrative modality that supports the body’s ability to self-heal using the power of the human voice. Robert brings this modality to serve clients in Greater Springfield, Massachusetts and New England (USA) & “virtually” the world. He can also be reached at romayasoundhealthandbeauty@gmail.

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release                                             

Contact: Betsy Klein, 714-478-0353

5th Annual ILLUMINATE Film Festival Offers Movies That Stir Your Soul:
Michael Franti, Mooji and More 

Film has the power to illuminate, to make us feel deeply, essentially taking us to a place beyond ourselves.  As a medium, it opens hearts and minds, and our response to it is both visceral and personal. Underneath this response lies the unspoken connection between us all, and nowhere is this more evident than at the ILLUMINATE Film Festival. Renowned for their groundbreaking immersive approach to the film festival experience, the 5^th annual ILLUMINATE Film Festival returns May 30th-June 3rd.  The premier conscious film festival, which some have referred to as the Sundance of the conscious film industry, ILLUMINATE is dedicated to elevating awareness and inspiring lasting transformation through cinema.

Each season, ILLUMINATE searches out the year’s most compelling, paradigm-shifting, life-affirming films. For their 5th annual Festival, they have selected 26 conscious narratives, documentaries and shorts. The schedule includes evening spotlights, special guests, post-screening presentations with directors and producers, filmmaker panels, nightly parties and live musical performances.

View the entire 2018 Illuminate lineup and schedule here.

“Film as a medium has a paradigm shifting power. Our commitment to audience members is to support them on their own journey.” Says Festival Founder and Executive Director Danette Wolpert, “This year’s lineup answers both micro and macro-level questions: how do we become the best and fullest version of ourselves? How do we make a true and measurable impact on the world?  Individually and collectively, how do we rise?”

Participants in the festival are able to mingle with some of the renowned thought leaders of today, as well as like-minded individuals set on being the change they wish to see in the world.

The festival kicks off Wednesday, May 30th with a free screening of The Push featuring the inspiring story of the indomitable Grant Korgan. Opening Night features the Festival World Premiere of the Emmy-nominated Live Your Quest, which shares the wisdom of Michael Beckwith, Jack Canfield, Lisa Nichols, Tom Chi and others who explore the science, psychology and spirituality behind living a life of passion and purpose.

The festival will close with the latest from musician Michael Franti; Stay Human. This heart-drenched film reflects on Franti’s personal journey facing adversity as a child, struggling to find his voice as a musician, and how he came to find inspiration through six stories of extraordinary change-makers across the globe who chose to overcome cynicism through optimism and hope.  There will be a Q&A with Franti after the film.

New this year is the festival’s $5,000 cash prize, the Mangurama Award for Conscious Documentary Storytelling, which will be awarded to the most transformative non-fiction film that exhibits a strong story arc, compelling subjects and high production value.

For the first time, ILLUMINATE will be offering the cutting-edge Reel Healing Online program. This multi-week educational web series, hosted by both established and emerging leaders in the field of transformation, will allow participants to more fully integrate a film’s message into their lives after the festival wraps.

One of the luminaries offering a Reel Healing Online program is rising star and bestselling author Hal Elrod whose work has been featured in segments on every major television network. Part of the next generation of game changers, his film The Miracle Morningfeatures leading research detailing extraordinary but simple processes, made up of daily practices, that allow people to quickly transcend their limitations, enabling them to maximize their full potential.

In live discussions, festival goers will hear from visionary thinkers such as national GMO expert Jeffrey Smith, Reverent June Juliet Gatlin, spiritual advisor to the late Michael Jackson, Tom Chi, founding team member of Google X, and John Raatz, who co-founded the Global Alliance for Transformational Entertainment with author Eckhart Tolle and actor Jim Carrey.

Other highlights include an online Satsang with enlightened master Moojibaba, a Reel Healing with Somewhere in Time producer and Spiritual Cinema Circle co-founder Stephen Simon, and 11 world premieres including 3100: Run And Become, a sweeping examination of running’s spiritual nature; Calling All Earthlings, an exploration of the controversial ET and Nikola Tesla inspired electromagnetic dome built by George Van Tassel, a one-time Howard Hughes confidante; From Shock to Awe, a gripping look into controversial therapies for PTSD; The Edge of Paradise, which tells the story of Taylor Camp, a hippie paradise started by Elizabeth Taylor’s brother in 1969, You Are What You Act, a feature doc that exposes an intriguing body mind pattern among many of the world’s action heroes; The Way Home, which points people past their limiting beliefs and attachments; Black Star, which explores art as a healing modality for addiction; and Living Music, a documentary short chronicling a rehabilitative journey of artistic experimentation and unconventional healing.

In addition, the festival will host its 5th Conscious Film Convergence, a series of film-industry programs offering panels on pitching, film funding and distribution. Added to the offering this year are the Take Twenty Mentoring Sessions, a speed networking opportunity where advice seekers can spend twenty minutes each with pioneers and leaders in conscious entertainment.

Finally, ILLUMINATE will be honoring author Lynne Twist with the Conscious Visionary Award. Author of The Soul of Money, this SuperSoul Sunday favorite and founder of the Pachamama Alliance is a recognized global visionary committed to ending world hunger, supporting social justice and environmental sustainability, and reframing our society’s relationship with money.

VIP All-Access Passes include unlimited film screenings, VIP receptions, Conscious Film Convergence panels, Luminary Living Room series and the Virtual Reality Zone. (Access to Filmmaker Labs is not included.) Passholders also receive priority theater access.

For tickets go to: https://illuminatefilmfestival.com/tickets-passes.

The 2018 ILLUMINATE Film Festival is scheduled for May 30 – June 3, 2018, at the Sedona Performing Arts Center and Mary D. Fisher Theatre. For more information, visit www.illuminatefilmfestival.com.

Sponsors of the 5th annual ILLUMINATE Film Festival include: Sedona Chamber of Commerce, Natural Action Technologies, Chocolatree Organic Oasis, El Rincon, Conscious Life News, The Lodge at Sedona and Sedona Real Inn & Suites.

ILLUMINATE Film Festival, a 501(c)3 sponsored organization, is the world’s premier film festival for conscious cinema. For more information, visit www.illuminatefilmfestival.com or call 928-421-1108.

Christina Grimmie continues to bring love and light to the world nearly two years after her tragic death. On Friday (just in time for Mother’s Day), the late singer’s family released the song, Little Girl, which Christina wrote when she was 12 years old to comfort her mother, who was battling breast cancer at the time.

Little Girl is an original, never released song by Christina Grimmie that shares a moving story about the profound level of love and support that exists between mother and daughter.

“I am proud to share this extremely personal song with other mothers and daughters as well as Christina’s fans,” her mother, Tina Grimmie, told PEOPLE exclusively. “It is very special to me and carries a part of not only Christina but our unique bond. I miss her daily and I take comfort in knowing that this song might help other mothers and daughters through their fearful or tough times.”

The phrase “little girl” was used frequently by Tina to comfort Christina as a young girl when she was afraid. The irony of the song is that Christina speaks these words back to her mother at a critical and difficult time in her life, following her loss and current battle with cancer. This song was held personally by Tina (aka Mama Grimmie) because it was something special between her and Christina. Tina has decided to share this personal message to encourage mothers and daughters worldwide.

Listen, watch, and enjoy this beautiful music video featuring Christina’s previously unreleased single, Little Girl, released just in time for Mother’s Day. You may want to have some tissues handy.

The acclaimed ILLUMINATE Film Festival in Sedona, Arizona is back May 30-June 4 and this year’s Conscious Film Convergence (CFC) headliners includes some of the most influential leaders working to advance conscious film content today.  The industry component of the Festival, the CFC is geared to filmmakers and offers attendees an invaluable opportunity to learn from and interact with speakers both at sessions and nightly parties. True to the mission of the festival, the goal off the CFC is to elevate global consciousness through cinema by supporting emerging voices in the field of conscious entertainment.

ILLUMINATE hosts the extraordinary Take Twenty Mentoring Sessions as part of the CFC. The brainchild Festival Founder Danette Wolpert who envisioned what twenty minutes of uninterrupted, full focus, one-on-one time with an industry leader would do for a filmmaker.  Participants can discuss projects, ask questions, pick their brains on finance, marketing, distribution. Take Twenty is only available to Filmmaker, All-Access or Convergence pass holders on a first-come, first-served basis

The series opens on Friday, June 1, with Funding Your Dreams. Moderator JoAnne Fishburn the Founder and CEO Good Influence Films will guide a lively discussion featuring Claire Aguilar the Director of Programming and Policy for the International Documentary Association, filmmaker Lisa Leeman whose films include Awake: The Life of Yogananda, One Lucky Elephant and Crazy Wisdom and Producer and Founder of Mangusta Productions / mangu.tv and  venture capitalist  Giancarlo Canavesio.

This  scintillating group  of experts will share what it takes to get a project out of dreams and onto the screen. Expect insights from their own successes and challenges as they share helpful hints for writing pitch documents, winning grants, landing investors, tapping film funds and leveraging broadcasters.

On Saturday, June 2, the CFC series continues with Pitching With Presence featuring John Raatz the Co-founder of the Global Alliance for Transformational Entertainment and Valerie Vandermeer the Founder of Post Paradigm Consulting & Scaling Change.  From sabotaging body language to conceiving, crafting and developing a pitch this workshop will show participants how to master one of the most challenging aspects of the film industry.

The series closes with Distribution Magic from 2017’s Finest also on Saturday, June 2.  Distribution experts will unpack creative approaches as they case study how some of the newest models were used in last year’s conscious film releases HEAL, Walk With Me, and Samsara. They’ll reveal the secrets of success for theatrical, non-theatrical, theatrical-on-demand, DVD, digital/VOD, and re-releases. This exciting panel features the CEO of Conscious Good Trina Wyatt and Producer of HEAL Adam Schomer and CEO of GATHR Films Scott Glosserman.

ILLUMINATE also hosts the extraordinary Take Twenty Mentoring Sessions as part of the CFC. The brainchild Festival Founder Danette Wolpert who envisioned what twenty minutes of uninterrupted, full focus, one-on-one time with an industry leader would do for a filmmaker.  Participants can discuss projects, ask questions, pick their brains on finance, marketing, distribution. Take Twenty is only available to Filmmaker, All-Access or Convergence pass holders on a first-come, first-served basis

Finally The Huddle brings veteran filmmakers, producers, distributors, marketers, publicists, financiers and brand partners face-to-face and heart-to-heart to explore the collective potential to elevate human consciousness.  This collaborative, experiential, dynamic by invitation only event is unprecedented in the film festival world. For more information about The Huddle please contact the ILLUMINATE Film Festival.

ILLUMINATE also hosts a very special filmmaker lab series.  This year they are honored to have Paola Di Florio and Peter Rader facilitating this exciting Filmmaking Lab, “From Source to Screen.” Di Florio and Rader are the filmmakers behind the globally successful Awake: The Life of Yogananda, which won the Audience Award at ILLUMINATE 2014 and went on to a global theatrical release, followed by digital/DVD & Netflix.

To apply for the Filmmaker Lab, please send an E-mail to lab@illuminatefilmfestival.com with “Source to Screen Lab” in subject line. Describe your project in 500 words or less. Include a brief bio, where you are in your process, your goals in bringing your project to the marketplace and what you hope to get out of this lab.  The deadline to apply is May 11th.

For tickets go to: https://illuminatefilmfestival.com/tickets-passes.

ILLUMINATE Film Festival, the world’s premier film festival for conscious cinema will be held May 31-June 4, 2017. CFC events will be held at the Sedona Performing Arts Center, 995 Upper Red Rock Loop Road, Sedona, AZ.

For more information, visit www.ILLUMINATEFilmFestival.com.

PRESS RELEASE – For Immediate Release
Contact: Betsy Klein, 714-478-0353

Sedona, Arizona (May 6, 2018) Renowned for their groundbreaking immersive approach to the film festival experience, the 5^th annual ILLUMINATE Film Festival returns May 30th- June 3rd.  The premier conscious film festival, ILLUMINATE is dedicated to elevating awareness and inspiring lasting transformation through cinema.

With this intent, each season ILLUMINATE searches out the year’s most compelling, paradigm shifting, life-affirming films. For their 5th annual Festival, they have selected 26 conscious narratives, documentaries and shorts. The schedule includes evening spotlights, special guests, post-screening presentations with directors and producers, filmmaker panels, nightly parties and live musical performances.

“As a medium, film viscerally immerses us, opening our hearts and minds to larger possibilities.” Says Festival Founder and Executive Director Danette Wolpert, “This year’s lineup answers both micro and macro-level questions: how do we become the best and fullest version of ourselves? How do we make a true and measurable impact on the world?  Individually and collectively, how do we rise?”

Participants in the festival are able to mingle with some of the renowned thought leaders of today, as well as like-minded individuals set on being the change they wish to see in the world.

The festival kicks off Wednesday, May 30 with a free screening of The Push featuring the inspiring story of the indomitable Grant Korgan.

Opening Night features the Festival World Premiere of the Emmy-nominated Live Your Quest, which shares the wisdom of Michael Beckwith, Jack Canfield, Lisa Nichols, Tom Chi and others who explore the science, psychology and spirituality behind living a life of passion and purpose.

The festival will close with the latest from beloved world renowned musician Michael Franti; Stay Human. This heart-drenched film reflects on Franti’s personal journey facing adversity as a child, struggling to find his voice as a musician, and how he came to find inspiration through six stories of extraordinary change-makers across the globe who chose to overcome cynicism through optimism and hope.

New this year is the festival’s $5,000 cash prize, the Mangurama Award for Conscious Documentary Storytelling, which will be awarded to the most transformative non-fiction film that exhibits a strong story arc, compelling subjects and high production value.

For the first time, ILLUMINATE will be offering the cutting edge Reel Healing Online program. This  multi-week educational web series, hosted by both established and emerging leaders in the field of transformation,  will allow participants to more fully integrate a film’s message into their lives after the festival wraps.

One of the luminaries offering a Reel Healing Online program is rising star and bestselling author Hal Elrod whose work has been featured in segments on every major television network. Part of the next generation of game changers, his film The Miracle Morning features leading research detailing extraordinary but simple processes, made up of daily practices, that allows people to quickly transcend their limitations, enabling them to maximize their full potential.

In work-in-progress WeRise, a group of the nation’s top social innovators propose new models of success in business, medicine, education, politics, entertainment, technology and happiness to empower humankind. An inspiring call to action, it features insight from The Dalai Lama, Arianna Huffington, John Mackey, Alanis Morrisette, Moby, Joe Dispenza, Tony Robbins, Lynne Twist and more.

Other highlights include an online Satsang with enlightened master Moojibaba, a Reel Healing with Spiritual Cinema Circle Co-founder Stephen Simon and 11 world premieres including 3100: Run And Become, a sweeping examination of running’s spiritual nature; Calling All Earthlings, an exploration of the controversial ET and Nikola Tesla inspired electromagnetic dome built by George Van Tassel, a one-time Howard Hughes confidante; From Shock to Awe, a gripping look into controversial therapies for PTSD; The Edge of Paradise, which tells the story of Taylor Camp, a hippie paradise started by Elizabeth Taylor’s brother in 1969, You Are What You Act, a feature doc that exposes an intriguing body mind pattern among many of the world’s action heroes; Black Star which explores art as a healing modality for addiction; and Living Music, a documentary short chronicling a rehabilitative journey of artistic experimentation and unconventional healing.

In addition, the festival will host its 5th Conscious Film Convergence, a series of film-industry programs offering panels on pitching, film funding and distribution. Added to the offering this year are the Take Twenty Mentoring Sessions, a speed networking opportunity where advice seekers can spend twenty minutes each with pioneers and leaders of the conscious film industry.

Finally ILLUMINATE will be honoring author Lynne Twist with the Conscious Visionary Award. Author of The Soul of Money, this SuperSoul Sunday favorite and founder of the Pachamama Alliance is a recognized global visionary committed to ending world hunger, supporting social justice and environmental sustainability, and reframing our society’s relationship with money.

View the full selection of films and the schedule HERE on ILLUMINATE’s website.

VIP All-Access Passes include unlimited film screenings, VIP receptions, Conscious Film Convergence panels, Luminary Living Room series and the Virtual Reality Zone. (Access to Filmmaker Labs is not included.) Passholders also receive priority theater access.

Patrons can take advantage of discounted early-bird pricing through April 20^th.  Early Bird All-Access Passes can be purchased online for $349 until April 20 ($444 after that date). Passes are on sale now and can be purchased at www.illuminatefilmfestival.com.

The 2018 ILLUMINATE Film Festival is scheduled for May 30 – June 3, 2018 at the Sedona Performing Arts Center and Mary D. Fisher Theatre. For more information, visit www.illuminatefilmfestival.com.

Sponsors of the 5th annual ILLUMINATE Film Festival include: Sedona Chamber of Commerce, Natural Action Technologies, ChocolaTree Organic Oasis, International Documentary Association, Conscious Life News, The Lodge at Sedona and Sedona Real Inn & Suites.

ILLUMINATE Film Festival, a 501(c)3 sponsored organization, is the world’s premier film festival for conscious cinema. For more information, visit www.illuminatefilmfestival.com or call 928-421-1108.

Today, on Earth day, I want to share this beautiful song that is an Ode to Mother Earth. And, it’s also a healing song for the first chakra. Below are the lyrics so you can get even more benefit by singing along. Note that in Sanskrit, “muladhara” means “root lock” (our chakra connection to Mother Earth). “Shree” and “swaha” are forms of salutation and celebration.

By Vicki Howie & Jeff Bonilla

Muladara Swaha (4x)

Gaia Gaia Shree

Gaia Swaha Shree (3x)

Love Mother Earth

Love her mountains and her valleys

Love her oceans and her skies

Love her fields and her deserts

Love all her seasons

And everything she gives us

Love Mother Earth

Gaia Gaia Shree

Gaia Swaha Shree (3x)

Muladara Swaha (4x)

Swaha (4x)

Click HERE if you’d like to download a free copy of the Heart Chakra Song from the album Chakra Love.

Video Source: Shots of Awe with JASON SILVA

In this highly entertaining 3-minute video, Jason Silva explains how music can heal us. Below is the full transcript:

The human mind can only perceive three dimensions of physical space and then the fourth dimension of time. So again, space and time is the space in which we dwell – the dimension in which we live. We can’t see or perceive other dimensions, so for the time being we are limited to this four-dimensional reality. 

What’s really interesting is our capacity to pattern that four-dimensional reality. And one of the reasons that I love things like music is that music and cinema and media is a kind of painting in time. You know, whereas other artwork like if you look at a painting on the wall. That is a static 2D image – that is not necessarily an experience that unfolds in time. It’s an experience that unfolds in space.

But music is a pattern slice of space and time. Music is a subjective experience that you actually step into and that actually unfolds in the dimension in which we actually live and breathe, which is that four-dimensional reality. So, when you talk about the power of rhythm, when you talk of a power of collective ecstasy – why people go to concerts, why people go to festivals – because the musicians essentially start by instrumental rhythm. So, all of a sudden, they create a collective synchronized rhythm, that again, is patterned in space and in time.

And you’re hearing it, and it loops around. It’s like dat-da-dat-dat-da-dat… 

So, you start to pattern the rhythm that unfolds in space and time. And then you invite the audience to step into it. So, all of a sudden everybody becomes synchronized, you know. So, we all become one thing and that’s what’s called collective experience. 

In that ecstasis, in that merger where everybody become synchronized under one patterned experience that unfolds in space and in time is when music purges us. It’s when music leads to that aesthetic arrest, that consummation. We pop out on the other side of that experience saying, “Oh my God, that festival was amazing. I feel so connected to the people; the vibes were so good. You had to be there to know what I feel.”

These experiences are ineffable – they are beyond articulation. Words do not give them justice. We can’t just tile the experience over with description. You have to see it to believe it; you have to experience to know what I’m talking about.

The ineffability of these of these musical ecstatics – of this capacity of music and concert and vibe and people together to create these shared ecstasy, this electronic Buddhism, in which the self vanishes – is one way in which we escape death. It’s one way in which we pierce the finite, and for a second we become infinite. 

And this is a beautiful thing. It’s why I pattern playlists of music on my phone. That’s why I hang out with friends and always want to play the music in the background. I mean, this is what we do: we pattern, we colonize, we decorate, we architect, we stage space and time!

We are four dimensional engineers, my friends. That’s what we are.

By Jill Mattson | * JIllsWingsofLight

Smile or Smirk?

Photo cred: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/entertainment-arts-35031568/does-mona-lisa-have-a-hidden-personality

I’d waited my entire 35 years to go to Paris and finally, I was there! First on my list: the Mona Lisa. Little did I know what the Mona Lisa would teach me about mindfulness, selfies, and humankind’s inability to be present to beauty and life.

So, I’m at the Louvre, the finest art museum in the world, winding my way through the maze of galleries to find the holy grail of paintings, The Mona Lisa. With  great anticipation, I stepped into the spacious room where she was enshrined. As I approached the legendary painting, I found a massive crowd of people crammed together, just like me, craning to get a glimpse of the worlds most famous painting.

Then I noticed something strange. Nobody was looking at Mona. Not really. Rather, almost everyone was looking at the view finder on their smart phones and cameras trying to take a photo of her. As I looked around the room, I noticed a pattern. People would fire off 10 or so photos, a few selfies with the Mona Lisa, then scurry off to some other masterpiece to do likewise. What for? To go home and document the art that they didn’t really look at? The art they didn’t take the time to connect with. The art they never really experienced?

Guilty?

I’m guilty of this, are you? You are having an extraordinary experience but you fear it will end so you try to capture it. You pull out your camera phone and take a shot or video and post it on Facebook or Instagram or whatever because somehow that will store that memory on the cloud somewhere and you can always access it later, right? 

But have you ever come back home and tried to show some innocent, unsuspecting person your photos? It goes like this, “Here’s the Grand Canyon, only it’s so much bigger than the picture suggests, and oh, you should see it. Here’s the great restaurant we ate at, but oh you should taste the amazing food, this photo doesn’t do it justice.”

Just as unsuspecting observer‘s eyes start to glaze over and they start looking at their watch, you decide you’re going to holster the photos because they don’t do the experience justice anyway.

Besides, if you spend the entire time behind the lens of your camera to try to take the moment, to own it, you’ll come home and realize that you’re trying to remember something that you never really experienced in the first place. You were never really there. At least not present, anyway. 

So never take photos, right? Never post anything on social media? No, there’s nothing wrong with posting to social media but maybe try taking a photo and then put your camera away and then really try to experience it for a while. And sometimes maybe try allowing yourself to simply experience it, sometimes even without the camera. Soak it up and experience it to the fullest. Be 100% there. Let your sense really open up to it. Smell it, breathe it, see it, feel it, taste it (although if you try to taste the Mona Lisa you better be prepared to lose your tongue. Besides, that salty babe is a vintage that is much to refined for my pallet.)

Tranquility

After I’d spent a good time with the Mona Lisa, seen many other pieces, I had reaching my LMCL (Louvre Maximum Capacity Limit, which for me was 5 hours, despite the fact that I’d only scratched the surface of what’s available to see at that museum). After a lovely refresher at nearby  café (read stuff my face with several éclairs), I wandered over to the Musée de l’Orangerie where Monet’s Water Lilies are on display. The scene was very different than in front of the Mona Lisa.

Here, it was quiet, serene, and uncluttered. I sat and stared at the Water Lilies for 30 minutes in abiding tranquility without the rampant selfies. Something about this painting just sat you down and invited you to experience it. Besides, what I saw at the Mona Lisa taught me that I didn’t need to take a selfie to really experience the art.

What I’m getting at is that yoga and meditation help us to practice this presence so that when we are in an extraordinary experience, or even a seemingly mundane experience that with awareness could prove to be incredible, we are totally there, senses alive, ready to experience it. I’m thinking about events like hanging with our kids, focusing on a project, experiencing a concert, or looking at the MONA LISA. Sometimes in a yoga class, I see the fidgets, the distant stares, and absent mindedness of someone whose mind is somewhere else. I want to say, come back. We’ve missed you. Be here, now. Be there later.

Yogi Scott Moore, scottmooreyoga.com

Scott Moore is a senior teacher of yoga and mindfulness in New York City and when he’s not teaching or conducting retreats, he writes for Conscious Life News, Elephant Journal, Mantra Magazine, and his own blog at scottmooreyoga.com. Scott also loves to trail run, play the saxophone, and travel with his wife and son. Check out his yoga retreats to places like Hawaii and Amalfi Coast and his Yoga Teacher Mentor Program

By Collective Evolution | Collective Evolution

Documentaries hold a power unique to any other type of film.

The following list of documentaries showcases films that may inspire a new outlook on the world we live in. There were so many to choose from that compiling this list proved challenging, however, each one of these films stands as prudent commentaries offering valuable insight into the wonders and workings of the world at large. Enjoy!

Check Out Our Latest Film

The Collective Evolution 3: The Shift

The film explores the never before seen shift in consciousness sweeping across our planet and what it will mean for humanity moving forward. One thing is clear, everything in our world is about to change. Watch it here free.

“Hungry For Change exposes shocking secrets the diet, weight loss and food industry don’t want you to know about; deceptive strategies designed to keep you coming back for more. Find out what’s keeping you from having the body and health you deserve and how to escape the diet trap forever.”

2)  Fed Up

“Everything we’ve been told about food and exercise for the past 30 years is dead wrong. FED UP is the film the food industry doesn’t want you to see. From Katie Couric, Laurie David (Oscar winning producer of AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH) and director Stephanie Soechtig, FED UP will change the way you eat forever.”

3)  Tiny

“TINY is a documentary about home, and how we find it. The film follows one couple’s attempt to build a “tiny house” from scratch, and profiles other families who have downsized their lives into homes smaller than the average parking space. Through homes stripped down to their essentials, the film raises questions about good design, the nature of home, and the changing American Dream.”

4) Cosmos

” ‘Family Guy’ creator Seth MacFarlane, in a departure from the type of material he is best known for, pays homage to Carl Sagan’s award-winning and iconic ‘Cosmos’ with this docu-series. Through stories of humankind’s quest for knowledge, viewers travel across the universe. Scientific concepts are presented clearly, with both skepticism and wonder, to impart their full impact. Renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson hosts, and Sagan’s original creative collaborator, Ann Druyan, serves as an executive producer.”

5) Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead

“100 pounds overweight, loaded up on steroids and suffering from a debilitating autoimmune disease, Joe Cross is at the end of his rope and the end of his hope. In the mirror he saw a 310lb man whose gut was bigger than a beach ball and a path laid out before him that wouldn’t end well— with one foot already in the grave, the other wasn’t far behind. FAT, SICK & NEARLY DEAD is an inspiring film that chronicles Joe’s personal mission to regain his health.”

6. Forks Over Knives

“Forks Over Knives examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods. The major storyline in the film traces the personal journeys of a pair of pioneering yet under-appreciated researchers, Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn.”

7) Cowspiracy

“Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret is a groundbreaking feature-length environmental documentary following intrepid filmmaker Kip Andersen as he uncovers the most destructive industry facing the planet today – and investigates why the world’s leading environmental organizations are too afraid to talk about it.”

8) In Plane Sight

“911: In Plane Site: Director’s Cut is a 2004 documentary which promotes 9/11 conspiracy theories. Photographs and video footage from the September 11 attacks are presented and the documentary claims that the public was not given all of the facts surrounding the terrorist attack.”

9) Pump

“This is the movie that will change your attitude about fuel forever. PUMP is an inspiring, eye-opening documentary that tells the story of America’s addiction to oil, from Standard Oil’s illegal tactics to the monopoly oil companies enjoy today. The film explains clearly and simply how we can end this monopoly — and finally win choice at the pump.”

10) The Human Experiment

“The Human Experiment lifts the veil on the shocking reality that thousands of untested chemicals are in our everyday products, our homes and inside of us. Simultaneously, the prevalence of many diseases continues to rise. From Oscar® winner Sean Penn and Emmy® winning journalists Dana Nachman and Don Hardy, The Human Experiment tells the personal stories of people who believe their lives have been affected by chemicals and takes viewers to the front lines as activists go head-to-head with the powerful and well-funded chemical industry. These activists bring to light a corrupt system that’s been hidden from consumers… until now.”

[Read more here]