Category Archives: Uncategorized

Mar 28 2012

Weekly Spiritual Fitness and Nutrition Tip: 3/28/2012

Coming into alignment.   In order for us to be better aligned in all areas of our lives, we have to be sure our physical body is in alignment.  We can do this by strengthening our core, and using better posture.  Even the foods we eat can either bring us into center, or shift us off balance.  Right now, check to see where your shoulder are (are they rounded forward/slouching/raised), now take a deep breath bring the heart center forward and feel the physical body aligning itself.  I’ll post a video on this later this week as it’ll make more sense if you can see the process, but I wanted to ping all of you to start being aware of how you sit, stand and move.  Fitness is aligning ourselves at all times, not just in the workout arena, or behind the computer.  Take a water hose for instance, the more bends it has in it, the less the water can move through it.  Poor posture, core strength and poor nutrition can keep energy from moving through you and into your great work.  Take an inventory right now of food, situations, and times you feel “less aligned”.

Be sure to check out my yoga blog: The Deviant Yogi: Journey of a Yoga Witch  Ill be posting articles on balance, core, and meditations to bring your temple into greater alignment with the spirit.

Mar 22 2012

Changes, Classes, and Crazy Energy

Did anyone get the licence plate on the bus?!

There is crazy energy in the air.  We are going through several retrograding plantes, solar flares, and season changes.  So, what does one do during all the craziness?

We change!

Change and growth really are the theme of the year, and I’m also going to be making some big changes to my blogs, my website, and just to lots of things in general.  I’m working towards taking things to the next level.  My goal is to be of greater service to everyone.  I’m focusing my time, my energy and breaking through stagnation.

Here are a few upcoming changes:

Soulinteraction.com (this site that you are currently reading):  Is going to still be the hub for all things spiritual.  I’ll be posting:

  • Book Reviews
  • channeling/Daily Readings
  • Predictions
  • Vblogs regarding some of the changes coming up
  • Pagan Blog Project Posts
  • Guest posts from psychics, pagans, activists, and those involved in the community.

Deviantyogi.com  This will be the hub for all things Yoga, Spirituality of Fitness, and more edgy spiritual discussions:

  • Yoga Videos and Online Classes hosted by ME!
  • Spirituality of Fitness Tips, Routines, and Diet Plans
  • Intersection of Yoga and my love for Hoodoo
  • Articles on my combination of these two very different traditions
  • Recipes and ordering information for my Yogic Blends/Oils

www.michaelbrazell.com:  This is my main site. I’ll be updating my appearances, classes, upcoming events, and news.  You can also submit payment for readings, sessions, and classes through this site.  It also gives a run down of many of the classes and services that I offer.

 

That’s just a few things that are in the works.  Here is my current class schedule for the DC Area:

Weekly:

Mondays and Fridays 9:30 AM:  Hatha Yoga (75min class) at Golden Heart Yoga DC.   Click to get directions and to come out for a class. (Cost 15.00/drop in)

Mondays 6:30 PM: Bears Do Yoga (60 min class).  This class is FREE and open to all those in that want to share in the local yogic community.  LGBTQS Friendly, and is a mixed level class.

Tuesdays and Thursdays starting in April I’ll be teaching a 6:30am Sunrise Yoga class at Golden Heart Yoga DC.  See above for link.

Monthly:

March 30th:  Soul Interaction Meetup Group.  We will be having an engaging soul based meditation followed by lessons in channeling and mediumship.  Click the link to join the group and to get information on class location

April 28th: Reiki Class at Sacred Circle Books in Old Town Alexandria.  Call 703-299-9309 to register or for more information

 

Stay tuned… More to come!

 

Mike Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

 

 

Mar 17 2012

Divine Listening

We are in a world that rushes from one place to the next.  We are in the constant ebb and flow of the world around us.  We have deadlines, commitments, schedules and technology constantly pinging us.  Very often the divine is also trying to reach through our hectic experience to offer blessing, or guidance.  If we do not take time to slow down, very often we miss these messages.   This is a time where we have to be sure we are taking time to breathe.  We seldom even make time to just be in the presence of our own light as we rush along through the day.  Taking a moment to fully come into consciousness of one single breath can make a big difference.  When we rush, we often also fall.   We end up in situations that are not ours, and we end us using phrases like “I knew I should not have done that”.  Of course we did, but we were going faster than our intuition could grab us, and we were not able to hit the breaks in time.

If you feel like you are rushing through this life, slow down and enjoy it.  Take a moment to be kind to yourself and listen for those messages from spirit.   The intuition is the best guidance system we have, and it holds a much clearer map than we have.  Take a moment to just sit, breathe, and be conscious.

Michael Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

michael@michaelbrazell.com

Mar 16 2012

PBP2012 F: Freedom

This was a tough week for me to find something that would work with the letter “f”.   For me this work really exemplifies how I live my spiritual practice.  Freedom is also word that in invoked constantly in regards to group religious practice, but I want to take it a step deeper.  Do you give yourself “freedom” within your own practice?  Are you rigid in your structure, or do you allow yourself the freedom to mess up, or do you feel that the little statue is going to jump up and slap you for calling quarters in the wrong order?

When I first started yoga as my practice, I felt that I had to do it exactly like my teacher did it.  I thought that I had to follow someone else’s prescription for how my body was supposed to move, be, and connect.  My yoga at that point was someone else’s practice.  One day I decided to just put on some yoga music, and to just let the divine move me through my posture practice.  I knew that some of what I was doing was not how my teacher had instructed, but I felt a sense of freedom.  My body could adjust into the asana (yoga postures) in the way it was supposed to, not how someone else is supposed to.  Now as a teacher, I try to teach my students “the yoga of imperfection”.   We are where we are, and we are all far from perfect.  Allow ourselves freedom to evolve our practice, to let go and to be somewhat free in action, and connection moves us forward.

Breaking our own molds can be tough.  Evolving our practice is not a disrespect to our teachers, our paths, or to the divine.  Without evolution new ideas are not formed.  The one thing to keep in mind is to cause no harm to self or others, and ground yourself in the evolutionary practice.  An easy thing to start with is meditation.  If you feel that meditation can only be done sitting, do a dancing practice.  If you feel a ritual can only be done one way, try it using different energies.

Have fun with your path, and take freedom to the heart.  Allow yourself to open to your mistakes, to your fallibility… it is what truly makes us divine.

Mar 13 2012

Tuesday Spiritual Fitness and Nutrition Tips: 3/13/2012

Here are your Tuesday Spiritual Fitness and Nutrition Tips!

Fitness:  Try something new!  The seasons are finally starting to change, and as it warms up its time to get ourselves back in gear.  Break free from old patterns by trying something new and different.  Shaking up our routines a bit can make things interesting and open us up to possibilities within our fitness path.  Trying group fitness classes, doing a trial at a gym if you’ve never done one, taking a dance class, getting a fitness oriented video game, or my personal favorite–Any DVD by Jillian Michaels.  Even just getting outside and exploring, taking a longer route to work, or even sitting outside for meditation instead of doing it all inside.  Deepen your connection to your path by trying something you’ve never done before.  Start by making a small list of things you might want to try, and begin at the top and work your way down!  Look for free events where possible, and many gyms/studios/etc offer discounted trials and drop in rates.

Nutrition:  Try something new!  If you have never tried being vegetarian, give it a go.  If you are vegan, try raw.  If you are raw, well… try fruits and veggie combinations you might not have tried before.  No matter where we are we can take a step in new directions.  Look for the most unusual fruit you can find, sample it.  Look up the nutritional information for it, and thing of ways to integrate it into eating plan.  Adding one new fruit or veggie a week can spice up your diet, and it gets the creative juices flowing.  Learning about the foods you are eating allows a deeper connection to them.

 

M. Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

michael@michaelbrazell.com

Mar 11 2012

Body Modification aka You Are TATTED UP

Everyday I step out into the world and I turn heads.  I wear a colorful face and my spirituality is written on my skin. Many people ask me why I would do such a thing, but the truth is we all engage in body modification on some level.  If you dye your hair, diet, wear those “slimming belts”, put on make up, cut your hair, or any number of other changes–you have engaged in body modification.  Some of us take this a step further.  For me tattoos and piercings are an act of spirituality.  Each one tells my story, each one holds a memory, and each one allows me to call in new energy.  The symbols I have chosen to wear are sacred, but some of them are just personal.   Judgement, fear, and disconnection hold us apart from looking through the windows and often times we only see the walls we place between one another.  One of the things I love about my tattoos are they take people out of their hurried lives and into a new moment.  Even if it’s just for a second, we connect…Even if they look at me with judgement, we connect.  It’s a beautiful thing.  That kind of spirituality is much deeper than the ink in my skin.

M. Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

michael@michaelbrazell.com

Mar 10 2012

PBP2012: “E” Eating

So, I know what you are thinking.  How does eating relate to not only paganism, but to walking a spiritual path.   Eating is one of the singular most spiritual things that we all do.  The action of taking nourishment into the body to build the temple of the spirit transcends separations we may all have in faith paths.  We choose our food.  There is sacrifice involved in the preparation.  The consumption also brings in a connection to energy in a way that even a non-spiritual person can agree with.  This is also one of the few actions where we still foster a connection to community.  Most food comes from the earth in some way, it brings in the elements:  earth in bringing life, water in growth, fire in creation, and air in spreading the seeds and continuing the cycle.   So, eating is a deeply spiritual action.

With all that said.  This is also one of the areas we take for granted.  We, as spiritual practitioners, use food in ritual, in celebration, and in offering.  Tho, many of us also reach out for food that is not healthy to out minds, body or spirit.  Making food and eating choice be something that is a spiritual act will bring our path work fully into an area of our lives that impacts us directly.  When we begin to connect to the physical body we, we also begin to open up a path for the spiritual self to enter into our vibration fully.  Our body becomes clear, our souls awaken into each moment, and we are able to move through each and every experience fully.  When we drop weight, we begin to let go of limitations.  Our bodies move with greater ease, and we move away from disease.

Prayer work and food also go hand in hand.  Invoking prayerful energy into our meals brings us into greater alignment with gratitude.  In a world that moves us faster and faster taking a moment to connect into the simple act of eating, deeply, meaningfully, and with all of our being allows us to be present in all of our aspects.

How do you connect food into your ritual/path working?   Do you have a prayer that you use before you eat that you’d like to share?

M. Brazell CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

michael@gmail.com

Feb 24 2012

PBP2012: “D”- Daily Devotional Work

The sun breaks through the window first thing in the morning.  We open ourselves up to the day, and we begin with a deep inhale, followed by an even deeper exhale.  Well, in truth… we often dash out of the bed to the sound of a screeching alarm, trip over everything we can on the way out the door to a full work day.  How we start our day can determine how we move through the day.  Starting the day doing a devotional practice can keep us connected to our divine self as we move through the day.  We live in a world that constantly makes demands of us.  We move into those moments, and often times we move unconsciously through these experiences.  We seldom take time to be with spirit unless something forces us to stop and slow down.  Recently I got laryngitis.  I very rarely get sick, but often I find myself rushing through life, giving my energy away constantly.  Having no voice forced me to slow down and take into account where I was giving my energy away.  It also made me take a deeper look at my personal spiritual practice.  They say never run faster than your guardian angel can fly, and in a world full of distractions and temptations this can be valuable advice.

A great way to start the morning can simply be sitting in silence and taking a few deep breaths.  If we have a particular tradition, we can sit in front of our altars, connect to the divine, and open ourselves up to guidance.  There are many ways to connect and ground into the day. Even talking a walk before work connecting to nature, or simply looking up as you make that morning walk to the office.  Consistency is also important in ground ourselves in our divine nature.  When we have a steady practice we have a way to connect into our day and to detox from a stressful day through positive release.  We only need to do a little each day to have a profound effect throughout the day and into our lives.  This allows us to be fully engaged in our spiritual work.  Here are a few ways to do daily devotional work:

  • Yoga
  • Affirmation work
  • Morning tarot or general reading for the day
  • Prayer work
  • Chanting or working with a mantra
  • Singing
  • Dancing around the room while the sun rises
  • Going for a brief walk in the AM/PM and being conscious while you are in that space.
  • Contemplative reading from a sacred text
  • Holding a stone and connecting into its energy
  • Doing a healing practice like Reiki, energy healing, or stretching
  • Breathing.  Focusing on the inhale and the exhale fully.

All of these can be done with just a little bit of time.  Getting up just a little earlier, or coming home and immediately going into your practice can give you a little bit of structure in that spiritual place.  Your daily devotional work can be complex or simple.  It can last 30 seconds or several hours.  Get into a practice of daily divine connection.  You’ll feel more grounded, more connected and more centered.

Mahayogi Das 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

Feb 17 2012

PBP2012: “D”- Demons and Demonic Energies

The demonic take many shapes in the media.  Ghost hunting shows consider “demonic” a rare treasure, movies use them to glorify the battle between good and evil, and we jump from floor to bed to keep them from eating our toes.  As a psychic/medium the demonic is one area I get asked about frequently.  We won’t go into every theory regarding demonic energy as we could fill pages and pages of blog space so I am going to narrow it down to my own personal encounters and workings with this energy.

What I have found are 3 very distinct forms of what I would call “demonic”.

-Divine Demonic

-Thought forms and Negative Energy

-Personal Demons

The divine demonic are the ones that we would consider the fallen.  They are the ones the church prescribe as the legion that follow Satan/Lucifer.  What I have found in my own encounters with dark energy are that these beings are seldom the ones that are present.  These energies have a purpose.  There is a lesson that they are bringing.  Many of the saints were tormented by the divine demonic and it was through that torment that they found their divinity.  Christ was tempted by Satan, etc.  They are the lesson bringer.  We are usually given several chances to make the right decision before we are given the lesson.  You are headed down a road and you feel you should turn around.  You see signs that tell you turn around (a song on the radio,etc), you physically have a reaction that makes you feel like turning around–finally they lesson is brought to you in the form of a car crash.  You were given chances by the divine to step away, and by being willful the lesson landed in your lap.  There is an energy that lines up that “lesson experience”.  These energies are very ancient and very powerful.  They usually do not step into all of our everyday experiences.  This of course is just a very basic touch on the divine demonic.  One of the theories that I particularly like is one the Catholic Church uses, “The devil cannot act upon you without first having permission from God.” So, this plays into the lesson bringer role.  Trust your intuition, listen deeply and trust.  Exorcism can be a way of moving these energies out of a situation, but sometimes just learning the lesson before we get to the point of full manifestation can also be valuable.

Thought forms and Negative Vibrations:  Anger, fear, guilt are examples of negative vibrations.  We can very easily create energy external from our physical bodies.  We can manifest experiences that are not favorable, and when we begin to externalize the blame we can manifest a darker energy.  When we push things outside of us that energy does not just vanish.   It can begin to manifest into “something”.  The danger here is that often we jump straight from the word “energy” to “demon”.  I like to invoke the “Ghostbusters” approach to this.  When the energy is present it needs a form.  When we jump directly to the big bad because that is what WE need to blame, then it will become such.  Here is a loose example.  We are constantly late.  Everything seems to happen to keep us from being on time.  We begin to externalize blame.  It must be something making me late.  Then we begin the process of manifesting an energy to take responsibility for our tardiness.  This energy is more common, and can take many shapes and forms.  The idea is to not allow it to go beyond the initial stages of just energy.  It is easier to cleanse an “energy” than it is to cleanse a “demon”.  We have to use caution with what we assume an energetic form is taking.

Personal Demons:  These are the personal horrors we create ourselves.  The boxes we lock ourselves in, and I’ve seen these often in persons working through addiction.  These cannot be exorcised or thought away.  These have to be reintegrated into the self.  When we begin to invite substance or distraction into our lives, even those energies can take shape.  Deep attachment begins to grow, and in some cases communication to the higher self is suppressed.  This is a difficult energy to work with.  It requires the individual to be present fully in the experience and to own those aspects.  This is not something that is impossible.  It requires surrender, love and connection.  Attachment to things that harm us are dangerous, and can easily sneak into our lives.  Food addiction, drug addiction, caffeine addiction are a few examples.  When we remove the substance we even become physically ill, which sometimes drives us right back to the substance we are trying to run from.

So, I can go deeper into this fascinating area of  metaphysics, but I just really wanted to give you a brief overview of what my personal encounters have been.   The more we learn, the more we are able to eliminate fear when we are faced with it.

Mahayogi Das CFT CSN MAT PAT

www.michaelbrazell.com

michael@michaelbrazell.com