Category Archives: soul evolution

May 20 2012

PBB2012: J is for Journey

This has been a year of remembrance. Sometimes I find myself getting caught up in the ins and outs of life, the ups and downs, the lights and the darks, and the varying shades of gray. Sometimes we forget that the road itself is the destination, the journey is the process by which we connect into divine space. I’ve been fortunate to start working through T. Thorn Coyle’s “Kissing the Limitless”, and one of the things I love about this book is that it takes you backwards through the dark soil of your life. It allows you to find the soul seeds that you might have planted (or that might have been planted for you). Sometimes we sit in the upheaval and only see those things as damaging, when in reality those things may have been the spark we needed to grow into the spiritual people that we are. The journey we are on is just as important as the destination. We at time forget to look at the road. It’s many twists and turns, we only notice the times we trip on pebbles, but we get up. Sometimes we scrape our knees, and we learn to heal. Many of us do journey work as part of our practice. I am not saying that we should not have a destination, but we shouldn’t let the destination be the only thing we keep our eyes on. I have found that my journey needs to be fluid. I need to have space and the most difficult box for me to get out of is the one I place myself in. We often times fragment ourselves in this growing process. As those walking the spiritual path, it is important for us to re-assemble ourselves. Those thoughts from the past that grab you the strongest are sometimes the places where you have left a small piece of yourself. Go back and see what your lessons may have been in that phase of your journey. Listen to the road, otherwise you might find yourself in one of those crazy cul-de-sac spirals.

When we move into new places, we have to have appreciation for where we have been. The road ahead is built from the bricks of our past experiences. Those synchronicities that in the moment many have seemed “coincidence” that shifted us into who we are. My theory is that if we are still breathing when all is said and done that the divine must have some greater purpose for us. That the turmoil was just a stepping stone to something greater.

What have been your gifts from the struggle of your journey? Would you change your past, or do you find compassion for your road? Where are you headed traveler? What do you do to slow down and see the road beneath your feet?

Michael A. Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

www.deviantyogi.com

michael@michaelbrazell.com

May 9 2012

It’s Time to Pay Up: Universal Contracts

Change is in the air… and not just because it is spring.  One of the beautiful things about my job is that I get a front row seat to the lives of others.  Normally, I might get to do one life path reading.  This is where someone is deciding to do something new, make a big change, or step in a new direction.  The majority of the other readings were the usual: money, love, job, etc.  Every week, I am seeing more and more people making massive changes.

The one common denominator in these changes is a move towards spirituality. People are looking to be of service, to connect to community, to be part of something and not just another cog in the machine.  I’ve seen doctors become painters, CEOs become writers, and people finally living their dreams both big and small.  I find a beauty in the finality of 2012.  What if it does all end?  How did you live your life?  Did you live it in joy and love, or are you anchored into tons of regret?  What would you change if you only had one more day, or a few more months?  At times it feels like the universe is calling in contracts that we made in the “in-between” life.   I am seeing people go through these rapid awakening cycles.  It’s a beautiful thing.

I am a firm believer that our purpose in this life is to just be happy.  The only thing we are required to do is breathe.  Everything else we do is a choice.  We can choose joy or sadness, love or hate, and everything in between.

Change can be incremental.  You don’t have to go out right this very moment and quit your job… unless you truly want to.  If you could do anything for the rest of your life, and be completely happy… what would it be?   Whats stopping you from doing it?   What steps can you take to get there?

We forget to dream.  It’s time to sit with a piece of paper and start dreaming.  If you have ever wanted to do anything with your life, but have held back… write it down. Let your imagination soar.  Clown college, starting a business, becoming a professional poet, etc.  If you are drawing a blank, even better.  Blank is a good starting point, it just means that you are allowing fear to block your outcome..

What do you feel your purpose is?  What did you come into this life to do?  Are you doing it?  If not, what would get you jump started in to making it a reality?

We’ll be going deeper in the coming weeks.   For now… get that paper/journal out and start dreaming.

Michael A. Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

www.deviantyogi.com

michael@michaelbrazell.com

May 4 2012

PBP2012: I is for Imagination!

Stagnation is an ugly monster that sits on the edge of our spiritual practice.  It lies in wait.  It’s soldiers of choice are boredom and routine.  In steps our hero, Imagination!

Creativity is a great thing in our spiritual practice, it allows us to have fun and to not take it all so seriously.  In a fast paced digital world we tend to lose that creative spark.  I am aware that it shifts, but for me, there is a tangibility in imagination.  Remembering back to when a sheet and a table became a mountain, or action figures springing to life, rushing into battle.  Imagination is a key element in spirituality.  On some levels we are using our minds eye to access realms that are just beyond our vision.  There is a beauty in being able to close our eyes and see the Star Goddess or Shiva as we see them.  Imagination is also key element in accessing and deepening clairvoyance.  Understanding symbols, going beyond prescribed messages and taking it deeper.  At times it is a powerful thing to look at the work through the eyes of a child.  This morning I had the chance to see this play out, as often times the divine brings me.  There was a mom and her little girl sitting on the metro this morning.  The mom was deeply engaged in her blackberry, but the child was in a far distant place.  In the child’s hands where these small pieces of paper, and she was deeply involved in a discussion with the paper–and then the pieces of paper were also talking to one another.  I was just out of earshot, but there was a beauty in that moment. When paper becomes more than paper, when distant realms become accessible because we realize they are not that far away.  Bringing that child like quality into our spiritual practice allows us to see it in its simplicity.  Why does it all have to be so complicated?   Things can just be a little outside of the lines and we can be okay with that.

Here are a few exercises:

  • Go to the store and buy a toy, then go home and play with it.
  • Buy a coloring book
  • Swing on a swing
  • sing nursery rhymes
  • Pull out some Dr. Seuss, or your favorite Books from yesteryear.  I loved the Ramona series, Where the Sidewalk ends.

There is a simplicity with these actions.  What if we approached our divine connection this way?  With open arms, and eyes wide open.  If anything, this will shake up your routine a bit.  Break free from your attachments to a process and just be present.

Love and Light

Michael A. Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.deviantyogi.com

www.michaelbrazell.com

May 2 2012

Soul Interaction Discussion Question

How do you define the soul?  Is it definable?  If your intuition is divine guidance, where is it tapping into?  What is your wellspring of divinity?

 

Each week I’ll be posing questions to take us deeper.  Feel free to answer below, write them in your journal, use them as prompts for discussions in your spiritual groups, etc.  This is a great year for a bit of introspection.

Love and Light

Michael A. Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

 

Apr 28 2012

PBP2012: “I” is for Intuition

A lot of people ask me if being psychic is something that you are born with, or if is something you can learn.  We all come into this place with a deep knowing of where we are supposed to be on our path.  It is like we are born with an internal GPS system that allows us to steer into and away from different lessons and situations.  The response I like to give is:  ”We are all born intuitive.  Some people come in with AOL dial-up, and others come in with SAT LINK, but we can all choose to upgrade when we are ready.”  As magick workers and those on a spiritual path we have to work on the deep listening aspect of our chosen crafts and path.  Magick and intuition do not just flow through us when we are in ritual or in front of our altars.  Our lives are an action of living in spirituality and our intuition is always there guiding us.

Being intuitive means that you receive that guidance from the “soul space”.  There is always something talking to us from within.  That little voice that only has our best intent and compassion for us.  It is the driver in the car with the better map.  I personally know when I take the wheel and refuse the directions that life becomes more bumper car than Sunday drive in the country side.  Our intuition is how the divine relays that deep guidance and information to us.  In degrees of separation it is: self-soul-divine.  This allows us instant access to everything that is outside of us, but it comes through us.  There are many theories on how the intuition works, where that information flow originates from, and depending on your tradition you relationship to your intuition might vary a bit.  How we connect is not as important as connecting.  Establishing a daily connection with your intuition is important for not only deepening your practice but for establishing trust for self and our divine connection.

What is your relationship to your intuition?  What is your process of deep listening?   How does intuition play into your daily practice or your ritual work?

Michael A. Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

michael@michaelbrazell.com

www.michaelbrazell.com

www.deviantyogi.com

Apr 8 2012

Heart Center Meditation with Susan Zummo

 <object width=”640″ height=”480″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/FHbzwRvhvNk?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0″></param><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param></object>

Here is a wonderful meditation to start off the week.  Susan is not only an amazing teacher, but I consider here my spiritual mom.  I’ll be doing a post soon on my journey into, and after taking the PAT (Perceptive Awareness Technique) class.  Susan is a wonderful teacher, and her classes are a lot of fun. She connect through humor, honesty, and love.  You can always tell when a teacher is living their talk, and Susan is most certainly one of those teachers.

For more information on Susan, P.A.T, and workshops that Susan will be hosting, please visit:  www.susanzummo.com (She also has online classes!)

Susan Zummo is a highly motivated and qualified teacher of higher awareness. She is one of three nationally certified teachers of Perceptive Awareness Technique, Inc. (P.A.T.) and Soma Pi™ healing, an Integrated Awareness graduate and Intuitive Performance Coach. With over 25 years experience, Susan has been helping students connect with their Higher Mind through Intuitive Counseling sessions, P.A.T. seminars and healing workshops. Her teachings have helped her workshop attendees to reinforce their belief in self and their connection to a higher source.  Her workshop participants regard her as one of the most committed and positive spiritual teachers they have had the fortune to meet.  Susan’s professionalism and compassion are her trademarks.  Most of her students come to her through the glowing recommendations of former students.

Mar 26 2012

My Weekend of Self Possession with T. Thorn Coyle

“Golden bright mystic light piercing the bowl of night

Draw down the Light
Draw down the Star of Opening
Welcome you, limitless
Light in Extension”

 These lyrics from Song of Tiphareth pretty much sum up what I experienced this weekend at T. Thorn Coyle’s Self Possession workshop.   The weekend began with a night of drumming, journeying and community.  We moved through a powerful weekend and reached into the depths of our being.  So, before I get into the details of what I learned, let’s take a trip backwards in time.

At the beginning of this year like many others I faced a lot of upheaval.  I felt like the I was a bad puppy and my universe was just slapping me around with the Sunday edition of the Washington Post.  At times I felt like I was doing nothing more than spinning my wheels.  At worst, I felt like moving to some mountain and just retreating away from the world.  This can be especially tough for those of us that are not only spiritual, but we “do spirituality” for a living.  I love my work and the connections that I have with those around me, but even that was feeling draining.  Now, I’m no stranger to Thorn’s work.  My partner David talks about her constantly, and has been to several of her workshops.   I’ve had a copy of Kissing the Limitless  lying around for about a year.  I’d open it on occasion and flip through, connected with some of it here and there, but never really took on the work it was asking of me.  In DC we have been fortunate enough to finally have a Pagan community Center come into full manifestation.  David thought it would be great to have Thorn come in for a workshop.  I tossed out there, that if she did the Self Possession workshop that I would think about going.  So, time passed and the schedule was set.  More upheaval set in, and David offered to help cover the cost of the class if I would go.  So, it seemed the universe was doing everything but driving me to the front door and I took this as a sign to go.

So, why all the back story?  It is when we are at a moment of defeat, when we finally surrender that we can enter into a state of grace.  When we have no other choice but to let go, that the universe aligns every thing for us to come out of that dark night of the soul.  I am fortunate that I have wonderful people in my life.

The first thing you notice about Thorn is her presence.  Her energy is intense, as it has to be for the work that she does.  When opening and aligning the souls of others you become a torch that ignites those around you through just your very being.  They are the teachers that have actually done the work, they wear their humble nature like a cloak and through them we see that the journey is possible.  I also noticed her tattoos, and honestly it was nice to not be the only mega tattooed person in the room.

The process of soul possession is about coming into alignment with those sometimes fragmented pieces of ourselves.  To love our life not only for the joys, but for the struggles. That we can connect to our innate divine nature through unbinding the energetic anchors we hold onto.  Thorn leads the class in a very intuitive fashion.  You can see and feel her listening to the soul of the class and this allows her to give our group exactly what we need to facilitate growth.  We created Soul Timelines, danced, drummed, chanted, and found little pieces of ourselves that we have forgotten to hug.  I am not going to go into every detail from the weekend, as I am still processing much of what I learned.  I can honestly say that this weekend changed my life.  I am more awake and away that I have been in a long time.  My first awakening came from learning the PAT (Perceptive Awareness Technique) from my Spiritual Mom Susan Zummo.  I am going to write a blog about that experience soon.  The other part that I loved about this weekend was the community that  formed through the experience.  You do not often see people taking on deeper soul level work.  Working through the soul’s energy tends to take us into the deeper, sometimes tougher lessons.  Our group was made up of community leaders, practitioners, healers, and seekers.  I felt sad when the weekend was over, but know that as we all go out into our respective communities that we take something new back to facilitate an igniting of that soul energy.  We are now the torches for our communities and it is time to do this great work.

The teacher is that person just a few more steps down the road than we are, showing us that it is possible as long as we keep moving, breathing, and connecting.  I offer thanks and appreciation to all of my teachers, those that are known and unknown, the ones that are of this energetic realm and beyond.

The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called “truth.”  ~Dan Rather

For more information on T. Thorn Coyle and her upcoming events, please visit her website at:

www.thorncoyle.com

You can also sign up for online video classes and discussion at:

www.thorncole.com/fiat-lvx

Also consider supporting her Solar Cross Temple.  They do a lot of great work in the Pagan Community:  Pagan elder care, prison ministry, environmental work, work with the poor and the homeless.  Consider making a donation to help keep this important work moving forward.

www.thorncoyle.com/solar-cross

Michael A. Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

michael@michaelbrazell.com

Feb 21 2012

Tuesday Spiritual Fitness and Nutrition Tip: 21 Feb 2012

Here is your spiritual fitness and nutrition tip!  Enjoy, get moving, and create the best you possible!

Fitness:  The fitness world can be an overwhelming place to step into.  Just like any new addition to your life you’ll want to take some time to educate yourself on what fitness is and how you can best apply it to your life.  Reading books about fitness, other people’s journey into fitness, blogs, and even watching you tube videos on fitness can be a great way to get the ball rolling.  This is a time you want to really activate your discernment.  Trust your intuition when it comes to the things you are reading.  The one true axiom in fitness is: “If it is too good to be true, it probably is.”  Do not trust quick fixes and promises.  Skip over advertisements and read about processes, workouts, and application of techniques.  Even reading a few books on anatomy to learn about how the body works can help you understand the process your body goes through when moving into a greater state of health.  Often we go running into new things without arming ourselves with the information necessary to be effective in our pursuits.  Take a few moments to read and grow.  I’ll post some resources in the next few days, so stay tuned!

Nutrition:  Sugar.  Most of us have a love hate relationship with it.  It creeps in to areas of our lives, and in some ways can be addictive.   We also need to take caution with the fruits we are eating.  Many of us give up cakes and cookies and make a transition to heavy fruits.  This is a good thing, but if you are eating too many fruits that are high in sugar you can also create the same overload effect.  This is especially important if you have sugar issues like diabetes or high blood sugar.   You’ll want to supplement your diet with fruits that are low in sugar.  You can check this on the glycemic index.  Even healthy foods have limitations as to quantity you want to consume.  Having a good mixture of low glycemic foods in the body keeps the insulin levels balanced out, which will also keep you feeling satiated.

Mahayogi Das CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

michael@michaelbrazell.com

Jan 29 2012

The Power of Emptiness

Emptiness can be a very scary thing.  For many of us, the thought of being “without” certain things in our life can cause anxiety and fear.  There are other times where we fill our lives with things that serve as place holders for other things, or we settle for less than what we know we deserve so that we can “feel” sustained or complete.  The act of hitting bottom, or coming to a place where things are taken from us, where we take some sort of control and purge elements from our life is an action of entering “the void”.

There are a couple of different ways at viewing emptiness.  We can sit in the darkness and be in dread of moving forward, or we can look at it as the gift of now being able to fill ourselves with “new everything”.  Loss takes us into a process of learning to have to move through attachment, emotions of fear, and we begin to take account of all that we have in our lives. Loss is powerful.  Losing anything that we’ve held onto, or has held onto us for a period of time creates a rift when it is no longer there.  An example that I will use to illustrate this is relationships.   Often times I see clients that are transitioning out of relationships that have gone on for many years.  When the relationship ends, we realize habits, patters, emotions that come to the surface that we might not have been aware of.  A tool for moving through this stage of transition quickly is to write down and become aware of those patterns, emotions, and feelings as they come up.  When we are able to sit with those in a tangible way, it allows us the freedom to examine them fully, and when we want to.  If we leave them in our mind we quickly can distract ourselves away from coming face to face with elements of the self and the parts we play in manifesting transition or loss.

The more important thing that I want us to take a look at is how to transition to a place where we look at loss as a gift rather than a burden.  When we go to a place where we lose, or chose to give up the things that bind us we regain a sense of power over our direction.   Rather than the cup being half full or half empty–pick the cup up, pour it out, and fill it up with anything your heart desires.  Sometimes a half full cup will sit too long, and we become attached to waiting for “something, or someone” to come along and fill it the rest of the way.  Finding power in emptiness is about regaining control of everything in your life.  Pick up your experience and fill it with something.

The first question I ask my of my clients that are in a place of emptiness is:  If you could do one thing for the rest of your life what would it be?  Often times the answer is “I don’t know”.  One of the reasons we don’t know is because we have never been given the chance to “be” or “do” anything we’ve ever wanted.  Another reason is that we’ve often surrendered our ability to “be” or “do” to others either through sacrifice or control.  The idea is to start small.  If you are coming out of a relationship where a former partner controlled every action even simple things as choosing which movie to watch or which restaurant to eat at can be difficult.  Having choice  can create fear when we’ve never been able to go to that place freely.

One simple tool that anyone can do is to create a dream list.   What things can you add to your life that will bring you overflowing joy and abundance?  To not limit the list.  Pick one or two small things that you can do right away.  Some small and simple things can be:  play with play dough, sing a song at the top of your lungs, go for a walk, bake a cake.  More complex things can be:  learn to oil paint, write a book, change careers,  start a new hobby, open a business.  Be creative and free of judgement.  There is nothing you cannot do and everything you do adds ripples to the endless stream of your life.  Somethings you might take on brand new and they will be permanent fixtures in your life, others will simply be momentary bursts of joy and connection.  We have to allow give ourselves permission to go into the darkness, but we cannot give ourselves permission to stay there.  Being in the dark only means that its time to turn on the light, even if it’s just a nightlight, we must shine.

Start today and shine.  Not everyone is going through loss, but these are steps we can take now to make transition easy if we are faced with it.  We can have speed bumps or mountains in our path.  How quickly we move through them will determine on the work we do before we get there.

Mahayogi Das CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

michael@michaelbrazell.com

 

Jan 27 2012

PBP2012: B- “Bindi” aka What does that little dot on your forehead mean

Through my yogic journey, I have had the opportunity to take initiations into different aspects of yoga.  Through yoga we also learn different ways to bring a fuller connection to aspects of our practice. The “bindi” is one of the tools I was least familiar with, but now use fully in my practice.   Most of us have seen Hindu women with the traditional red marking on the center of the forehead, and a big misconception is that this marking only signifies marriage.

The “bindi” is also applied to bring awareness and attention to the third eye.  One of my favorite kirtan singers BhagavanDas says it best, “The bindi brings

Bhagavan Das

full awareness to the third eye.  People will look, you will see it when you look in the mirror, and this adds energy to your third eye.”  Just to be completely honest, people will stare… especially if you are male and wearing this symbol.  I personally feel most connected when I take a moment to apply it.  It’s a very personal act of connection with the divine, a deep connection to the third eye center.

There are a couple of important reasons to wear it, and I’ll also talk about application in case any of you reading might want to take the bindi for a test drive:

One of the reasons I like wearing it is not just the significance of the third eye energy, but that it helps me to connect deeper to my spiritual path.  When others stop and look, or even talk to me about the bindi it gives me a chance to share my journey with someone else.  We live in a world where life is moving quickly, and little things like this catch people off guard and it slows them

down, causes them to stop, and connect for a moment.  A bindi can be worn by both men and women.  It is a connection to the divine, and in some ways is an outward representation of that connection.  It focuses the energy into our intuitive center and helps us to focus.

The bindi is traditionally applied with sandalwood paste and kumkum powder. Sandalwood is important for many reasons.  It’s fragrance has calming properties, and when applied to the forehead allows us to smell it, feel it and embrace it.  We know that it is there, and the forehead is where we hold most of our worry, so it brings cooling to our “worry center”.   The kumkum is the red powder that is applied on top of the sandalwood paste.  You can easily find powders in different colors, and different methods of application.  I’ll detail my personal process, and feel free to apply it as you see fit.

Some people just apply the adoration as a fashion statement, and where there might be nothing wrong with this, there are deeper energies present in simple actions.  There are individuals that take yoga solely as a physical practice, but the spiritual aspect is inherent whether you want it or not.  So just keep that in mind when connecting to practices that may have a latent spiritual symbolism.

You can use as a tool to focus your meditation, you can use it to build your connection to your intuition, and it can outwardly help you connect to your spiritual path.

1)  I first take a moment to center myself and I call in my personal deity, guides and angels.

2) I apply a small amount of water to my left palm, and add a small amount of sandalwood powder then mix them with my left ring finger until a paste forms.

3) once the mixture has formed into a paste I take my right ring finger and apply it to the spot right above my nose, centered between the forehead.  I apply it by making small circles, and its usually no bigger than the size of a nickel.  While I apply it I usually say a mantra.  This mantra penetrates into the third eye during the application process.

4) Now to apply the kumkum powder.  What I have found best for getting the perfect little circle is to take the eraser end of a pencil, lightly tap the powder covering the eraser fully.  Then take the eraser and press firmly into the center of your sandalwood past circle.  I hold long enough for me to say the mantra one more time, then release.

Some people apply the bindi without the sandalwood, some use their finger when applying the kumkum, some use applicator kits, and there are many other ways of adorning oneself.  The most important part is finding what works for you, and finding your reason for applying it.

Have fun with it.  Even if you don’t find yourself drawn to using this spiritual tool, hopefully now you will have a deeper understanding of its meaning.  Namaste!

Mahayogi Das CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

michael@michaelbrazell.com