Dear Yogis,

Just because you don’t hear a booming voice or someone calling you from a cloud in your bedroom “Eli, Eli….”,  doesn’t mean that you are not chatting with God.  It certainly doesn’t mean you are nuts.  “Conversations with God” would never have come into being if Neale Donald Walsh had dismissed the voice.   That “someone” talking to you, that whisper in your mind all day… that, that still small voice could be God.  Trust it, and answer…  Here is my message today.

When you look at a rose, what do you see?  When you look at a rose your mind clicks in and you see roses you have seen in the past. You remember your first corsage, your first rose in your own garden, your wedding bouquet.  You see the colour, shapes, the perfume, but you may never see “the rose”

Imagine if The Buddha looked at the rose, what would The Buddha see? I think He would see eternity. The minds of every being in existence, and he would love them.  Who is seeing the rose? What is it? Is it a rose? Is it death? Is it all of humanity? Is it perfect love?

We only see what our mind is conditioned, imprinted to see (we spoke about that yesterday).  You would be looking at the same thing as The Buddha, only the imprints have changed. 

Meditate and think “rose”.  Be aware – as the noises, the background chatter fades away.  Lose the feeling of  the chair, the sounds and smells of your room, eventually the feeling of thinking and eventually the awareness of self.  You will be perfectly, perfectly still. Empty.

Maybe when you return you will know..

You will know that one day you will become an Enlightened One,  and you will know that future lifetimes really do exist.

You will know that the Path you have chosen is true, you are not crazy, and you will know that you love everyone and everything.

You will know that you have seen a different reality, and you will  know that one day you will die.  All is well –  your time in this place is not real.

You will know you are different because you have experienced emptiness and need no longer suffer as before.

You will carry this knowing with you forever.

Meditation is they key.  No amount of asanas will give you the key.  They will lead to it, they will prepare you for meditation which is the role of asana, you can even meditate whilst you are doing asana, but it is not the same quality of meditation you will reach on your cushion. Try it – as I always say, start with 3 minutes.

Today the weather is soft and dreamy, swirling mist, very medieval.   All we need is the sound of the bagpipes far off to make it a “Harry Potter ” day.

Last night I was making RED STRINGS for my students around the world who purchase them and the book from my etsy site.  I had the idea that you would like one.  The first 10 people to contact me will receive one from me.  If you would like a Red String, please email to yogafirst2@bigpond.com and send your address and you will get one in the mail.  Red String/Wool, red wine, red blood on door posts. Why wool? According to the Zohar the world  “spins with judgement and spins with mercy”.   Pain occurs when there is too much judgement and not enough mercy. What is the significance of these objects, and how should they be used?

The RED STRING is called a “protection and blessing cord.” Traditionally, a lama ties a knot in the cord, then prays over it and blows the power of his mantra into it. Then he places it around one’s neck as a blessing. When I first asked my own Dharma teacher about this in the 1970’s,  he told me the cord is symbolic of remaining within the protection of his compassionate embrace even after departing from his physical presence. Other teachers have told me they take the protection cords off only to have dental work or surgery, and then put them on again afterward, as the strong protection field might impede the medical procedure.

HAVE A LOVELY DAY my yogis.  We are coming into a difficult time… when people think everything is “as it was” it has never been less so. For us – that is a good thing.

NAMASTE, Jahne