John Gray on Health and Happiness

In a personal message to the Administrator of the Mind Body Spirit Magazine, John Gray writes "So much of my work can be summed by saying, "If you don't know your past, you will not know your future! I try to help people move forward by looking at their past mistakes and removing the blocks that are holding them back from finding happiness. Basically, unloading their baggage so they can enjoy their future (which is usally a combination of parents, siblings, friends, exes, etc) and is also the basis for most of my health work - unloading the baggage from past health decisions, which can be a combination of poor diet, not enough exercise, genetic traits and even prescribed medications.

How To Breathe Like A Professional Singer!

Why do singing lessons need to discuss the way to breathe properly? Isn't breathing just part of being alive and something that we do all the time without even thinking about it. While we certainly all breathe, not everyone breathes properly, and one of the secrets to singing success is being able to breathe properly.

Proper breathing is one of the key aspects to learning to sing. Breathing correctly affects the quality of your voice tone and also helps you sing long notes when you need to. One of the most common mistakes made by people when they first sign up for singing lessons is that they think that breathing for singing is the same as breathing for, say, aerobics or regular activity.

Shamanic Guided Journey

 

A popular guided meditation as per modern shamanic insight and wisdom. Do not operate a vehicle and ensure you are not interrupted for the duration of the journey. Beginning with a relaxation prior to the guided journey. 

A Better World is Possible

Circle Network Book Review: A Better World is Possible by Bruce Nixon, ISBN: 978-1-84694-514-4 Published by: O-Books as Paperback: £14.99 and E book: £8.23 409 pages Author’s website where you can download your free ebook: www.brucenixon.com

Bruce Nixon is a veteran change agent, activist, writer, speaker, facilitator and business school teacher and he is passionate about sustainability, global justice, inclusive democracy and non-violence. In this comprehensive book, he brings all his knowledge and experience into the analysis of the state we are in, how we got here, and – more importantly – how we can turn things around and create a new and positive society by facing “the biggest challenge in our history”.

Mind Mapping Demonstration

Designed by Tony Buzan in the 1970s, this is a very useful way of collating psychological material. This video demonstrates how to create a 'mind map'. I use them all the time as a writer to organise the information for my feature articles. The most simple for is a spidergram, which has been available since my childhood days.

Stephen Wollaston interview

Introducing Stephen Wollaston, also known as Santoshan to Mind Body and Spirit Magazine readers. Please tell us something about yourself please:

Santoshan: During the 70s I played electric bass guitar in 'Lady June's Elysium’ (the singer, Lady June, was quite known at the time) and I also played in the Wasps, who were one of London’s first punk groups. I stopped playing to concentrate on graphics work to make a living. My creativity surfaced with the ability to write, particularly after becoming close friends with the ex-Benedictine monk and medium Glyn Edwards, who asked me to co-author a book with him. Around that time, I took a degree in religious studies and a post-grad certificate in education, and interest in English language and transpersonal psychology. I began teaching humanities subjects as well as English language. Yet I have continued to enjoy graphics work and have written on various interrelated spiritual topics. I have released eight books to date.  

Music Choice for November

 

Mind Body Soul Magazine's music choice for November is titled Cuckoo and has images from the England's Lake District. With every thanks to Richard Crookes for the magical music. You can check out Richard's blog by clicking this hyperlink:

www.stillglidesthestream.wordpress.com

Chris Street asks ‘Is London the City of Revelation?’

There have been several attempts to re-build London as ‘The New Jerusalem’. The first was by the Knights Templar who, in 1185, modelled their Temple Church in Holborn on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and sited the building exactly the same distance from St. Pauls Cathedral as the Holy Sepulchre is sited from the Dome of the Rock. Clearly they saw a connection, or wanted to create one. Approx 500 years later, following the Great Fire of London, Sir Christopher Wren conceived his own plan to re-build London as the New Jerusalem, whilst his rival, John Evelyn, devised a design for the city based upon the cabbalistic tree of life.

Mind Body Spirit Magazine Music Choice

 Homeless man plays the piano in a public space! 

How to Make a Vision Board by Jack Canfield

 

You can skip the advert at the beginning of the video.

Your brain will work tirelessly to achieve the statements you give your subconscious mind. And when those statements are the affirmations and images of your goals, you are destined to achieve them!

Creating a vision board is probably one of the most valuable visualization tools available to you. This powerful tool serves as your image of the future - a tangible representation of where you are going. It represents your dreams, your goals, and your ideal life.
Because your mind responds strongly to visual stimulation-by representing your goals with pictures and images-you will actually strengthen and stimulate your emotions...  and your emotions are the vibrational energy that activates the Law of Attraction. The saying “A picture is worth a thousand words,” certainly holds true here.
If you have already defined your dreams, it’s time to illustrate them visually.

Saving Planet Earth

Most people feel powerless to do anything to save our planet from global warming, pollution and over population by humans, that decreases all other species, sometimes to the point of extinction.

However, even the smallest change, when a nation gets involved, can make a huge change. 

These are the major daily household pollutants: convenience plastic and polystyrene packaging; synthetic clothing with nylon, polyester, acrylic, etc.; plastic microbeads in toothpaste and cosmetics; wet wipes and nappies. Add to this cell phones, palm oil, air travel, nuclear disasters and accidental oil spills, deforestation, and you can understand how our unique and finite planet struggles to maintain its wellbeing, the wellbeing that we are all dependent upon, approaching 7 billion now and many more billions in the future whose health will definitely be affected. 

The Great Transition

THE GREAT TRANSITION FROM FOSSIL FUELS TO SOLAR AND WIND

The worldwide transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy is under way.

As fossil fuel prices rise, as air pollution worsens, and as concerns about climate instability cast a shadow over the future of coal, a new world energy economy is emerging. The old economy, fueled largely by coal and oil, is being replaced with one powered by solar and wind energy.

The Evolving Energy Transition

Eco-shamanism

 We are learning from the ancient tribal peoples - age old wisdom - that we must care for what we have or we will lose it. Shamanism is the original form of contact with nature spirits for the health and wellbeing of individuals and the tribe. All who heard the voice of God, prophets, sybils, seers and others, such as Moses, Jesus, Muhammed, were the equivalent of shamans. Eco shamanism is about listening to the nature spirits and caring for and protecting nature. Our unique and finite planet is in danger due to humankind's use of resources, and lack of awarerness with regards to how we dispose of toxic substances. Protecting the seas, the soil and the air is now a priority as is conserving the biodiveersity of our planet where every species relies on each other. 

A Call to Greatness - Bruce Nixon

"The 21st Century Revolution - A Call to Greatness" by Bruce Nixon is book is for people all over the world who want to prevent the environmental catastrophe and create a happier, fairer, more peaceful world. It will help you make sense of the situation, find solutions and decide how you can participate in bringing about the radical changes that are needed.

 The greatest challenges in human history

• Climate Chaos and Destruction of the Eco-system
• Growing Economic Injustice
• Resolving Conflict without Violence and Valuing Difference
• Radical Reform of out-dated Democracy
• And, that key part, the need for “ordinary people” to inform and empower themselves.

All these are interrelated; everything is connected. For instance the tragedy of mass migration results from this mix. So this book offers whole system analysis and whole system solutions.

The 'Fireworks' Moment - The Spectacular Artwork of Mark Golding

I would like to introduce Mind Body Spirit Magazine readers to the extraordinary ‘fireworks’ mandala style artwork of Mark Golding from Lewes in South England. In addition to being a distinguished artist, Mark is a poet, writer, counsellor and philosopher. Mark has been through trauma and depression in his life and recalled the moment of wonder and delight experienced when seeing the beauty of the firework and this has inspired his incredible artwork which has a scientific and mathematical basis.

The Grail - Relic of an Ancient Religion

The Grail was written with an unspoken idea ever in mind – that paganism is the belief system of the future. Modern paganism is often a reaction to organised religion, with its intolerance and inconsistencies, and to the destructive materialism of a capitalist world.  The paganism practised by earlier societies was nothing less than a matter of survival.  Without water, for example, we die very quickly.  Along with those other elements – air, fire, earth – water, clean drinking water, is an absolute must.  And yet our attitudes to water are odd: we have commercialised it, privatised it, polluted it and treated it with chemicals.  Ever since shrines were de-sacralised during the Reformation, water has been nothing but a commodity.  An early pagan would be unable to comprehend our reckless behaviour towards the water we need to survive.

Kabbalah Spring Cleaning

Spring time is great opportunity for us to do internal purification for the soul and spirit. There is no need to probe deeply into the depth of the soul to know that quite a few "spiritual toxins" are accumulated in our thoughts and feelings, casting shadows on our inner light, and dim it.

We are hoarding anger on a daily basis, and if we do not remove it from our system on time (when still young ...), we may develop animosity towards anyone and anything that exist in our environment, act furiously, and our judgment and decision-making abilities may be ruined. Sometimes we may suffer bad mood and mental/emotional restlessness that are originated in our internal imbalance.
Many of us build a protective layer (in Kabbalah terms: "shell") that exhibit us as successful, important, jubilant people to the outside world. In order to nourish this external image we keep ourselves in constant pursuit after fame, wealth and material success. We may even become enslaved to the external identity and move away from our genuine inner soul, which does not need any costumes, because it is bright and shining by nature, being a spark of the divine soul.

Fritz Perls and Gestalt

Fritz Perls was an innovatory humanistic practitioner whose Gestalt Therapy became very popular during the 1960s. The word 'gestalt' comes from a German word which explains foreground and background images. Perls was a rather controversial figure but his psychotherapy provides fast insight and change.

Letter from Caroline Myss - a 'must read'

Hi Everyone,  

Well, I appreciate your feedback on my post yesterday. And now I will offer some feedback, if that’s okay by you, as they say. First, there is something to be said for matters of spiritual conscience – not consciousness – but conscience. That is, there comes a time when good people need to speak up when confronted with the face of evil. If not you, then who? Speaking up is not being “political”; it is an act of conscience. I am not promoting anything political. I am pointing a finger at the decline of the quality of life in our nation, in our leaders, in our society-at-large. If we do not speak up, we will ultimately forfeit the right to speak up at all. If you call the right to speak up political, it is you who are mistaken. And I would ask you, “Why are you not screaming from the rooftop?”

Druidry

The Greeks learnt much from the Celts, including philosophy - Aristotle considered the Druids to be the inventors of philosophy and were the world's greatest scholars with mathematical skills greater than those of Pythagoras who learnt his skills from them. Druids studied for twenty years, learning geography, history, astronomy, physics and theology and spoke Latin, Greek and Hebrew. It is also thought the made human sacrifice to placate the gods. Druids had an oral teaching and wrote nothing down so we have no first hand knowledge of them. They were bards, prophets and priests. Druid is a word that orginates, it is thought, from the Gaulish or Greek words for 'oak' and 'knowledge'. Pliny spoke about the Celtic priesthood as worshipping in sacred oak groves and conducting the cutting of mistletoe from the branches of the oak tree with great ceremony. The Druids were both male and female and were not only shaman priests, but also visionaries, judges, medical doctors, astronomers and keepers of personal and tribal histories. Julius Caesar describes them as a privileged caste who were exempt from paying taxes and military service. It is likely they believed in re-incarnation. An interest in Druidry was revived in Victorian times.

Albert Ellis - Rational Emotive Therapy

This is a video of Albert Ellis (1913-2007), creator of Rational Emotive Psychotherapy (RT). Out of the three demonstrations, Fritz Perls, Carl Rogers and Albert Ellis, Ellis is my favourite! His therapy is direct, clear and can be confrontational but it works quickly and profoundly.Albert Ellis has always been a favourite of mine. He seems to be able to get to the heart of the situation (but does not often spare the client's feelings!).