Following the announcement made by Dr Foldes, OBGYN in France, stating that women and children of all ages who have suffered the atrocities of clitoral excision, or female genital mutilation the equivalent of male castration in its barbarity, now have the possibility to regain sexual pleasure and be whole once again, thanks to medical advances and scientific progress. Rael, the spiritual leader of the Raelian Movement decided to help as many women as possible to regain their sense of pleasure and founded Clitoraid, a private non-profit organization with the aim to sponsor those women who want to have their clitoris rebuilt.
Considering the huge number of Burkinabe women who are candidates to be operated on and as Clitoraid received offer from a few doctors to travel to Bobo Dioulasso and help rebuild the clitoris of all the circumcised women, the Prophet Rael declared: “Instead of using Clitoraid’s collected money to operate on just a few women, we should create the first Raelian Hospital, the “Pleasure Hospital”, and operate on all African women, for free, with the help of Raelian or non-Raelian benevolent doctor”.
The planned facility should be built in Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. It will be composed mainly of one operation room and two additional rooms. We will need about $70,000 to build and equip it. We will keep you posted on the construction plans in the Hospital section.
It is a crime against humanity that today, in this so called enlightened 21st century, women in under-developed countries are subjected by force to participate in the sex trades, are denied common freedoms as we know and enjoy in the west, and in certain cultures, are slaves to barbaric practices such as clitoral mutilation in the name of religion and, moreover, male dominance. We can all help. we can support our sisters, and Adopt a Clitoris!
Also, if you want to organize fundraisers in your community, contact us and we will provide you with hints and as much help as we can.
http://www.clitoraid.org/
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Tantra Tip of the Day - Send Love into the World
Today my heart is open and flowing with love. There is no particular reason I can point to. I planted some flowers in my garden today and just digging in the soil felt good and now rain clouds rolling in to water my new plants. I realize just how blessed I am to be alive. I feel so much gratitude for my life.
As I think of all the things I am grateful for, a long list rolls out before me, to long to put here. I feel connected to so many wonderful people. I feel I am giving my gifts to the world. I am blessed to have good relationships with the people I love. I live in a beautiful place. I have a healthy body. I’m aware of my connection to Source.
When you focus on what is flowing in your life and feel appreciation for it, love naturally flows out of your heart. When love flows out, it naturally attracts love back. If you need love, then give love. The fastest and easiest way to get anything in life is to give it to others first. Be open to receiving what flows back even if it doesn’t look the way to thought it would. If you don't much flowing back to you make sure you are open to recieve.
Try this: Breathe into your heart for 5 minutes and imagine that your heart is a "Love Star." As you breathe into your heart this star gets brighter and brighter. Allow your whole chest to feel warm and brightbefore you send the love out into the world. You can send it either to a particular person, group of people or to the planet in general. Do this three times today and tomorrow. See what happens. How do you feel? How do people feel about you.
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com
www.TantraForAwakening.com
(C) Copyright 2009, Crystal Dawn Morris, all rights reserved.
As I think of all the things I am grateful for, a long list rolls out before me, to long to put here. I feel connected to so many wonderful people. I feel I am giving my gifts to the world. I am blessed to have good relationships with the people I love. I live in a beautiful place. I have a healthy body. I’m aware of my connection to Source.
When you focus on what is flowing in your life and feel appreciation for it, love naturally flows out of your heart. When love flows out, it naturally attracts love back. If you need love, then give love. The fastest and easiest way to get anything in life is to give it to others first. Be open to receiving what flows back even if it doesn’t look the way to thought it would. If you don't much flowing back to you make sure you are open to recieve.
Try this: Breathe into your heart for 5 minutes and imagine that your heart is a "Love Star." As you breathe into your heart this star gets brighter and brighter. Allow your whole chest to feel warm and brightbefore you send the love out into the world. You can send it either to a particular person, group of people or to the planet in general. Do this three times today and tomorrow. See what happens. How do you feel? How do people feel about you.
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com
www.TantraForAwakening.com
(C) Copyright 2009, Crystal Dawn Morris, all rights reserved.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Tantra Tip of the Day - The Self-Love Inventory
The world is a reflection of your own inner landscape. If you want to create a better world rather than focusing on the problem “out there,” begin by changing what is going on inside of you. The journey begins by accepting all aspects of who you are. How much and how often do you love yourself?
The Self-Love Inventory
How do you love your body? Do you feed it good food? Do you give it enough exercise? Do you touch it in pleasurable ways? Do you wear clothes that feel good? Do you appreciate all your body does for you?
Are you kind to your mind? Do you recognize the mind is addicted to thinking? Are you able to witness your thoughts without taking them seriously? Do you meditate and create space between your thoughts? Is your mind at peace or do repetitive critical thoughts haunt you? Do you offer loving words to yourself each day?
Do you appreciate the emotions flowing through you? When emotions arise do you accept and feel them fully? To you find healthy ways to express both positive and negative emotions? Do you deny, judge or put limitations on certain feelings?
How do you honor your Essence? What is your spiritual practice? Do you meditate or pray regularly? Do you have a spiritual community that supports your spiritual life? Do you feel alone in the world? Are you one with Source?
Notice where you limit love and how you can be more generous and loving to yourself. You can’t give to another, what you are unable or unwilling to give to yourself. First fill up your own cup, and then you have plenty of love to give to others.
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com
www.TantraForAwakening.com
(C) Copyright 2009, Crystal Dawn Morris, all rights reserved.
Friday, May 22, 2009
The Tantra Tip of the Day- The Dance of Ego and Essence
Original Art by Paul Heussenstamm www.Mandalas.com
This was sent to me this morning by a friend. It speaks beautifully about the struggle of the ego to be loved and why it is never satisfied.
Today notice when your ego judges others. Notice when you don't allow the love in. How do you create separation? Are you being present in the Now? See if you can open to Essence and love each moment just as it is.
From Choosing Love: How to Find True Love and Keep It Alive by Gina Lake
INABILITY TO COMMIT
(Edited for lenghth)
The ego doesn’t want to commit to anything—a place, a relationship, a career—because it believes that something better may be possible, and it’s willing to forgo what is present for the possibility of something better that isn’t present. Essence, on the other hand, is committed to whatever is. It doesn’t commit into the future because all that exists is the present, so it commits itself to that. This is the essential difference between the ego and Essence: The ego dreams of something better in the midst of whatever is, while Essence simply enjoys and commits attention and love to whatever is. In fact, committing attention to anything that is present results in enjoyment. This is why the ego enjoys so little—it commits attention to what isn’t present and to what it doesn’t have, and suffers over that, rather than committing attention to whatever is. It loves its fantasies, dreams, and desires more than it loves reality.
To love, we have to fall in love with reality—with what’s true right now, not with what might be true in the future or with what we want to be true in the future. Love happens in the now (like everything, really). That’s why the ego doesn’t know about love—because love is the experience of being in the now, or the present moment, and as soon as the ego experiences the now, it runs from it. Commitment takes a willingness to fall in love with reality—with the real partner who is in front of you—rather than seeking something else, either actually or through fantasy. What you commit to is what’s here right now. Who knows what will be here next? All you ever really have is what’s here right now, so it makes sense to commit to that, in other words, to give your full attention—your love—to that.
Essence experiences “the one” in whomever is showing up, and that’s the difference between Essence and the ego. It’s possible to love whoever shows up in your life. In fact, it’s very wise to do that if you want to be happy. If you don’t want to be happy, you will reject whoever shows up in your life. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be discriminating. Loving and saying yes to those who show up in your life doesn’t mean getting sexually involved with them unless you want to. Essence says yes to them—is open to them—because it is curious. And then it is very wise about getting more involved with them. Essence commits itself to someone only when love is flowing in both directions and the relationship is rewarding on many levels. The ego, on the other hand, may commit out of sexual attraction or because some other need is met through that relationship, which is not a good basis for commitment.
Commitment only makes sense when there is love, but the ego isn’t capable of love. It forms relationships based on needs, and that’s when commitment falters. As soon as someone’s needs aren’t getting met, then the commitment is questioned. Those who are identified with the ego much of the time have a very difficult time committing, while those who are identified with Essence are able to love and therefore able to commit. Eventually everyone learns to love, but relationships can be pretty volatile when egos are in charge. Even so, because relationships provide the ego with many of the practical things it values—sex, security, affection, companionship, support, and help—people who are in relationships for egoic reasons often end up discovering love. This is how life draws people out of the ego and into Essence.
Choosing Love will be published by Hampton Roads in 2010.
Read Gina’s full blog post at, http://www.radicalhappiness.com
From Choosing Love: How to Find True Love and Keep It Alive by Gina Lake, which can be purchased through http://www.facebook.com/l/;Amazon.com
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com
www.TantraForAwakening.com
This was sent to me this morning by a friend. It speaks beautifully about the struggle of the ego to be loved and why it is never satisfied.
Today notice when your ego judges others. Notice when you don't allow the love in. How do you create separation? Are you being present in the Now? See if you can open to Essence and love each moment just as it is.
From Choosing Love: How to Find True Love and Keep It Alive by Gina Lake
INABILITY TO COMMIT
(Edited for lenghth)
The ego doesn’t want to commit to anything—a place, a relationship, a career—because it believes that something better may be possible, and it’s willing to forgo what is present for the possibility of something better that isn’t present. Essence, on the other hand, is committed to whatever is. It doesn’t commit into the future because all that exists is the present, so it commits itself to that. This is the essential difference between the ego and Essence: The ego dreams of something better in the midst of whatever is, while Essence simply enjoys and commits attention and love to whatever is. In fact, committing attention to anything that is present results in enjoyment. This is why the ego enjoys so little—it commits attention to what isn’t present and to what it doesn’t have, and suffers over that, rather than committing attention to whatever is. It loves its fantasies, dreams, and desires more than it loves reality.
To love, we have to fall in love with reality—with what’s true right now, not with what might be true in the future or with what we want to be true in the future. Love happens in the now (like everything, really). That’s why the ego doesn’t know about love—because love is the experience of being in the now, or the present moment, and as soon as the ego experiences the now, it runs from it. Commitment takes a willingness to fall in love with reality—with the real partner who is in front of you—rather than seeking something else, either actually or through fantasy. What you commit to is what’s here right now. Who knows what will be here next? All you ever really have is what’s here right now, so it makes sense to commit to that, in other words, to give your full attention—your love—to that.
Essence experiences “the one” in whomever is showing up, and that’s the difference between Essence and the ego. It’s possible to love whoever shows up in your life. In fact, it’s very wise to do that if you want to be happy. If you don’t want to be happy, you will reject whoever shows up in your life. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be discriminating. Loving and saying yes to those who show up in your life doesn’t mean getting sexually involved with them unless you want to. Essence says yes to them—is open to them—because it is curious. And then it is very wise about getting more involved with them. Essence commits itself to someone only when love is flowing in both directions and the relationship is rewarding on many levels. The ego, on the other hand, may commit out of sexual attraction or because some other need is met through that relationship, which is not a good basis for commitment.
Commitment only makes sense when there is love, but the ego isn’t capable of love. It forms relationships based on needs, and that’s when commitment falters. As soon as someone’s needs aren’t getting met, then the commitment is questioned. Those who are identified with the ego much of the time have a very difficult time committing, while those who are identified with Essence are able to love and therefore able to commit. Eventually everyone learns to love, but relationships can be pretty volatile when egos are in charge. Even so, because relationships provide the ego with many of the practical things it values—sex, security, affection, companionship, support, and help—people who are in relationships for egoic reasons often end up discovering love. This is how life draws people out of the ego and into Essence.
Choosing Love will be published by Hampton Roads in 2010.
Read Gina’s full blog post at, http://www.radicalhappiness.com
From Choosing Love: How to Find True Love and Keep It Alive by Gina Lake, which can be purchased through http://www.facebook.com/l/;Amazon.com
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com
www.TantraForAwakening.com
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Tantra Tip Of the Day - Three Steps to Bliss
Original art by A. Andrew Gonzalez http://www.sublimatrix.com/
In Sky Dancing Tantra there are 3 steps to ecstasy.
Step 1) The Streaming Reflex is recognizing that your body is made of energy and being able to excite and expand that energy whenever you want to. You can learn to experience orgasmic energy outside of a sexual context. What you discover is that you and not your lover are the one who decides how much pleasure you want to feel. This is awakening the pleasure body.
Step 2) The Ecstatic Response is the process of containing ecstatic energy and relaxing into it so that it continuously expands. Bliss is born when you learn to relax in high states of arousal. The effect is one of high energy and deep peace. When you master the ecstatic response you move beyond the genital orgasm and experience the full body orgasm. This is awakening into oneness.
Step 3) The Wave of Bliss this final step is the ultimate in Tantric love making. In it you discover how to turn sexual energy into pure bliss. You discover how to circulate your sexual energy with your partner through your inner flutes, from root to crown. This bathes the brain in orgasmic energy. You learn to ride these waves of orgasmic energy for several minutes to several hours. This is awakening the bliss body.
Once to master these 3 steps sex becomes an alchemical experience that transforms the physical body into the light body. Sex becomes a vehicle for spiritual awakening.
Adapted from The Art of Sexual Ecstasy by Margot Anand.
I will be teaching this process June 6-7, 2009 in Sedona, AZ. In my Awakening the Ecstatic Body Level Two course. If you are interested in this course please visit my website or email me.
www.TantraForAwakening.com
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com
(C) Copyright 2009, Crystal Dawn Morris, all rights reserved.
Labels:
3 steps,
Awakening the Ecstatic Body,
Bliss,
ecstasy,
reflex
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Tantra Tip of the Day- Sexual Healing Talk by Michael Brown
http://www.youtube.com/user/ThePresencePortal
Here is a quote from Michael's book called the Prsence Process
Present moment awareness is not a concept; it is an experience. It is an effortless way of Being that is the birthright of every human in this world. Entering it now is an inevitable consequence of our accelerating evolution. Its invitation is here, now, for all willing to receive its blessings. It calls to every one of us in a silent voice that says, “Stop! There is nowhere to go and nothing to do, but there is everything to be.” This is the invitation, this is the journey, and this is the gift The Presence Process makes possible.
So what is present moment awareness? It is a state of Being in which we effortlessly integrate the authentic and Divine Presence that we are with each God-given moment that we are in so that we are able to respond consciously to every experience we are having. By accomplishing this, our response is always the same: gratitude – a flow of gratitude that washes us of all our illusions. Entering such a state may sound hard and complicated when we are living in time. It is, however, effortless and completely natural because present moment awareness is our birthright. It is the kingdom of awareness through whose gates the prodigal children return. The hard part has been attempting to find what we did not know we had lost. The best part is realizing that we have been looking for something that has already found us.
Try this: Take moments today and allow yourself to focus your attention on pesent moment awareness, the emptiness, instead of what is happening in it. See if you can experience awareness itself, rather than awareness of “something.” Once you discover awareness as separate from things, you are on the path of discovering your true nature.
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com
www.TantraForAwakening.com
Monday, May 18, 2009
Tantra Tip of the Day- The Healing Power of Community
I have spent the last 10 days at the Daka/Dakini Conference and then at the Post Conference Intensive for Teachers and Healers. I feel rejuvenated, inspired and excited to bring this work to the masses. There is so much to share and so many people in the world who need these tools. Even those of us committed to this path and to being conscious still have moments when we get caught up in our egoic needs and harm ourselves and others. Being in a community of like-minded others is so helpful, especially at those times when we need a strong mirror to wake us up to our delusions.
There really is no substitute for community. It feels good to be connected to others on the path and to listen to and be heard by them. It is important for me to feel that I have others walking on the path with me. While virtual community is important especially if you live in a small town or conservative community there is no substitute for physical connection. Face-to-face communication and physical contact be it looking into each other’s eyes to sharing a hug, takes it the connection to another level.
The past 10 days have been great because I have been immersed in that physical connection to my community and with my peers. To be seen, heard and appreciated is just so sweet and juicy. To share laughter and tears expands the heart and feeds the soul. In addition there was a lot of great information shared that I will be incorporating into my work both personally and professionally.
I have always valued community. I have created numerous circles and groups in my lifetime, from women’s circles, to healing circles, to drumming circles etc... Groups are dynamic and have their own life. Starting a group requires a level of passion and commitment. It can be fun to do it with a few friends so the responsibilities can be shared. Community is a basic human need that is often over looked in our "nuclear family" oriented culture.
I encourage you to take a moment and assess your need and desire for community. Ask yourself if these needs/desires are being met. If the answer is no, then spend some time this week connecting with friends, say hi to a neighbor, call someone and plan a date, create a group activity, like a potluck picnic.
Join or create a Meetup group, www.Meetup.com. Meetup is a wonderful online service that helps you connect to people with like minded interests and actually meet them in person to share activities. It is a way to reach out and connect with new people and build community.
Here is the linked to my Sedona Tantra for Awakening Meetup group, http://www.meetup.com/Sedona-Tantra-for-Awakening-Meetup-Group/ . Our next meeting is on Wed. May 20th at 7 pm.
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com
www.TantraForAwakening.com
(C) Copyright 2009, Crystal Dawn Morris, all rights reserved.
Labels:
community,
Daka/Dakini Conference,
Meetup Groups
Friday, May 15, 2009
Tantra Tip of the Day – Feeling into Your Heart
The heart has its own intelligence and wisdom. It radiates a field of electromagnetic energy that can be measured up to 10 feet from the body.
When was the last time you really listened to your heart? I recommend making this a daily practice. Place your hands on your heart, be still, breathe deeply into your heart center and listen. Listen not only with the ears but with you whole being. See what you discover. Try this everyday for a week. How is your life different when you listen to your heart?
Original Art by Paul Heussenstamm www.Mandalas.com
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com
www.TantraForAwakening.com
(C) Copyright 2009, Crystal Dawn Morris, all rights reserved.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
A bit of the story of Crystal Dawn
Here I am in 2007 with my 3 grandkids shortly after Aria was born.
I live in Sedona, AZ. I have been here almost 4 years. I moved here from Sonoma County, CA where I lived for 15 years. My plan was to never leave the little piece of paradise I called home. In March 2005 I was in Tucson, AZ for the birth of my second grandchild. About a week aftermy Granddaughter was born I went to see a friend in Sedona. I had been there twice before. This time when I saw the red rocks my heart cracked open and I knew I had to move to Sedona. I went home and sold my house, quit my job and moved to Sedona with the idea I would take a year off to write a book and learn about being verses doing. It has been quite a journey.
I have been a certified nurse-midwife since 1987 and have delivered almost 1800 babies; I have been at another 500 births as a nurse. I am passionate about birth and I was becoming very disheartened by the direction birth was taking in the hospitals. I felt I needed a break from being a midwife and wanted to write a book that might help women wakeup to what they are missing by choosing the medical model of birth. I wrote a rough draft of my book but couldn't complete it because it was too emotional for me at that time. I am just beginning to feel that it is time to get back to writing it. Last night I saw a wonderful video called Orgasmic Birth that reminded me of my deep desire to shift the birthing paradigm in this country.
I studied Core Shamanism with Michael Harner from 1992 through 2000. In 1995 I started a small Shamanic healing and counseling practice in my forest home in Occidental. Shamanism helped me to deepen my own spiritual practice and heal myself on many levels. I also did 6 Vision Quests over 9 years, the last one being shortly after 9/11/01. These were all very powerful and life changing experiences, much of what I received in my last vision quest is beginning to manifest now.
Since moving to Sedona I have become a certified SkyDancing Tantra teacher. I teach workshops, do events and offer intimacy coaching in person and on the phone. Tantra has also deepened my spiritual practice in amazing ways. I have also been meditating and do self-inquiry work. My desire is to get the Tantra teachings to the masses so the whole planet can discover tools for waking up from the dream, called life.
I learned about David Deida’s work through a workshop called the Yin and Yang of Ecstasy taught my Margot Anand and Jim Benson in 2003 at Harbin Hot Springs. Since then a big part of my spiritual life has been about integrating my inner male and female and moving from a place of separation into wholeness. The past year I have been in a deep process of learning to let go of control and go with the flow. I have been encouraging my feminine side to open, trust and surrender.
I have 2 sons, Eli, 36 and Josh, 32. Eli, has been with his wife Tara for 15 years and they now have 3 kids,11,4 and 2. I am 54 years old and single. I have a few men in my life but no one who wants to commit to the deep spiritual relationship practice I desire. I am open to meeting my beloved and exploring the depths of relationship with Tantra, meditation, self-inquiry and DD’s work.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Sedona Daka/Dakini Conference
I had a wonderful time at the Daka/Dakini Conference this year. It was my forth time attending and my third time presenting. They are doing one in NY in the fall. Learn more at www.SedonaTemple.com
It is great to hang out with people who are committed to healing the planet with love.
It is great to hang out with people who are committed to healing the planet with love.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Tantra Tip of the Day- Practice the Quantum Light Breath
"The Quantum Light Breath is the most efficient process I have encountered to cleanse the soul and inspire creativity. I highly recommend it as a daily meditation."
— Margot Anand,
Author and teacher of The Art of Everyday Ecstasy
What is Quantum Light Breath?
The Quantum Light Breath is a breathing meditation process that accelerates personal transformation by releasing withheld feelings and revealing unconscious programs. It is designed to take participants into an expanded state of consciousness and ultimately into blissful embodiment. Here, Universal Love is experienced as a natural reality, not as an unreachable concept, where there is a deep connection to the Universal Intelligence. Quantum Light Breath participants often describe "Satori," or awakening experiences during the practice.
How Can I Experience Quantum Light Breath?
Listen to a recording made in 2005 with Richard Bock and the Quantum Light Breath Orchestra, this live recording is a powerful, profound, and transformative experience. With deep effective guidance, Richard facilitates an exploration of the healing power of the breath, combined with the deep vibrational sounds of the didgeridoo and toning, as well as flute, harmonium, Tibetan bells and bowls, drums, and other musical instruments. In an atmosphere of permission and direct experience, old belief and holding patterns can easily give way to reveal the radiance of our true nature.
To purchase this CD go to- http://www.quantumlightbreath.com/
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com
www.TantraForAwakening.com
Friday, May 8, 2009
Tantra Tip of the Day - Honor Your Sexuality
Original Art by Paul Heussenstamm www.Mandalas.com
How often do you take the time to honor and celebrate your sexuality?
I remember the wonder I felt at the age 16 when I realized that making love was a path to God. I couldn’t believe that no one every talked about sex in that way. When I gave birth to my first son, I also discovered a direct connection to the Divine Mother as I went through a long labor and gave birth. It was such a profound experience that I decided to become a midwife so I could help other women experience birth in a sacred way. I teach Tantra because it celebrates the embodiment of the Divine in form and is also a path to moving beyond identification with form and recognizing the Divine as formless Awareness.
Today do something to honor your sexuality and celebrate your body as a temple of pleasure.
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com
www.TantraForAwakening.com
(C) Copyright 2009, Crystal Dawn Morris, all rights reserved.
How often do you take the time to honor and celebrate your sexuality?
I remember the wonder I felt at the age 16 when I realized that making love was a path to God. I couldn’t believe that no one every talked about sex in that way. When I gave birth to my first son, I also discovered a direct connection to the Divine Mother as I went through a long labor and gave birth. It was such a profound experience that I decided to become a midwife so I could help other women experience birth in a sacred way. I teach Tantra because it celebrates the embodiment of the Divine in form and is also a path to moving beyond identification with form and recognizing the Divine as formless Awareness.
Today do something to honor your sexuality and celebrate your body as a temple of pleasure.
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com
www.TantraForAwakening.com
(C) Copyright 2009, Crystal Dawn Morris, all rights reserved.
Labels:
Awakening the Ecstatic Body,
honor,
Pleasure,
Sexuality
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Tantra Tip of the Day - Practice Opening and Presence Daily
If your desire is to awaken from the dream called life, then daily practice is essential. You will develop a natural vigilance and notice when you get lost and identified with your story.
Develop a daily practice in which you open yourself to what is arising and experience being in the moment, just as it is. Throughout the day notice when you are caught in a mind-stream of incessant thoughts, creating a story around past and future, losing touch with what is real and call your self back into the present moment.
Keep enough awareness in the body and notice if you begin to contract. As soon as you feel contraction allow yourself to open fully to whatever is arising. Presence and opening don’t require changing what is. Accept each moment. When you bring acceptance into each moment life naturally flows because there is no resistance.
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com
www.TantraForAwakening.com
(C) Copyright 2009, Crystal Dawn Morris, all rights reserved.
Develop a daily practice in which you open yourself to what is arising and experience being in the moment, just as it is. Throughout the day notice when you are caught in a mind-stream of incessant thoughts, creating a story around past and future, losing touch with what is real and call your self back into the present moment.
Keep enough awareness in the body and notice if you begin to contract. As soon as you feel contraction allow yourself to open fully to whatever is arising. Presence and opening don’t require changing what is. Accept each moment. When you bring acceptance into each moment life naturally flows because there is no resistance.
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com
www.TantraForAwakening.com
(C) Copyright 2009, Crystal Dawn Morris, all rights reserved.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Tantra Tip of the Day - Midwives, Birth and Tantra
Today, May 5th, is International Midwives Day. Many of you may not know it but I have been a certified nurse-midwife since 1988. I have helped deliver almost 1800 babies over the past 21 years. I have to say that catching my 3 grandchildren who were all born at home was a highlight. Learn more about it at http://mana.org/IntMidDay.html.
I was reminded of this fact this morning when I received this note on my Facebook Wall from my lovely Daughter-in-love:
It's Midwives Day and I wanted to take this time to thank you for being present and supporting me during three of the most amazing times in my life--the birth of my beautiful children, and your grandchildren. I feel so blessed to have you in my life. I don't know that I would even have known about homebirth without you, but thank goodness I did. My homebirths not only made me feel more powerful, but gave my children a great start into this world. Thank you for being a great mother-in-love and for helping so many mamas and babies.
Namaste,
Tara
Here was my reply:
Thank you Tara,
Being a midwife and attending births has been an important part of my life. Supporting women as they connect to their power and bring forth new life is a gift and an honor beyond words. I want to thank you for trusting yourself enough to birth at home and for allowing me to catch all 3 of my grandchildren as they entered the world. I can't imagine my life without you or them in it.
OXOX,
Mimi ( My granddaughter, Abbey, gave me this moniker.)
One reason I felt called to teaching Tantra was to help women have easier births. I have even written a rough draft for a book about Tantra and childbirth. One day I will finish it.
Being at a birth is about being in the moment. The air is vibrant with “life force energy.” There is a smell to birth that is rich, earthy and powerful. The veil between this world and the Source is thin. Watching new life emerge from a women’s body is a miracle every time. Life is so very precious. Those who work around birth and death know this viscerally. I am honored to be a midwife and I appreciate every woman who allowed me to be a part of her birth.
Do you know the story of your birth? How can you give birth to this moment as fresh and unique? Notice what is being born into your life today.
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com
www.TantraForAwakening.com
(C) Copyright 2009, Crystal Dawn Morris, all rights reserved.
Photo and more info on homebirth can be found at: http://navelgazingmidwife.squarespace.com
I was reminded of this fact this morning when I received this note on my Facebook Wall from my lovely Daughter-in-love:
It's Midwives Day and I wanted to take this time to thank you for being present and supporting me during three of the most amazing times in my life--the birth of my beautiful children, and your grandchildren. I feel so blessed to have you in my life. I don't know that I would even have known about homebirth without you, but thank goodness I did. My homebirths not only made me feel more powerful, but gave my children a great start into this world. Thank you for being a great mother-in-love and for helping so many mamas and babies.
Namaste,
Tara
Here was my reply:
Thank you Tara,
Being a midwife and attending births has been an important part of my life. Supporting women as they connect to their power and bring forth new life is a gift and an honor beyond words. I want to thank you for trusting yourself enough to birth at home and for allowing me to catch all 3 of my grandchildren as they entered the world. I can't imagine my life without you or them in it.
OXOX,
Mimi ( My granddaughter, Abbey, gave me this moniker.)
One reason I felt called to teaching Tantra was to help women have easier births. I have even written a rough draft for a book about Tantra and childbirth. One day I will finish it.
Being at a birth is about being in the moment. The air is vibrant with “life force energy.” There is a smell to birth that is rich, earthy and powerful. The veil between this world and the Source is thin. Watching new life emerge from a women’s body is a miracle every time. Life is so very precious. Those who work around birth and death know this viscerally. I am honored to be a midwife and I appreciate every woman who allowed me to be a part of her birth.
Do you know the story of your birth? How can you give birth to this moment as fresh and unique? Notice what is being born into your life today.
www.TantraGal.Blogspot.com
www.TantraForAwakening.com
(C) Copyright 2009, Crystal Dawn Morris, all rights reserved.
Photo and more info on homebirth can be found at: http://navelgazingmidwife.squarespace.com
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Tantra Tip of the Day- Love, Sex, & Enlightment
This article is reprinted from Margot Anand's Website. http://www.margotanand.com/margot_articles_love-sex-enlightenment.html
Love, Sex, & Enlightment
Many people mistakenly believe that Tantra is a spiritual bastardization of sexual therapy, an excuse to indulge in sexual games or orgies, an addiction to hours of sexual orgasms. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The Tantric path teaches us to embrace and unify the ordinary, the erotic, and the sacred dimensions of life, all of which have their roots in Spirit.
The beauty and wisdom of Tantra is that it enhances sexuality as a doorway to the "ecstatic mind of great bliss". Truly, at the peak of orgasm, we pierce through the illusion of fragmentation and separation, and glimpse the unity and interconnectedness of all beings. And through the other--our partner--we fall in love with life.
Because sex holds this great potential for opening our being to the experience of ecstasy, Tantra has for millennia taught the cultivation of sexual love as an art, as a skillful spiritual practice. Then, as now, Tantra challenges the belief promoted by most spiritual and religious paths that we must suppress or transcend out sexuality to practice meditation or awaken our Spirit.
Tantra arose in rebellion against the repressive orthodoxy of the Hindu priesthood, the Brahmins – especially against the idea that one had to be celibate to gain enlightenment. Tantra acknowledges that sex is at the root of life and that to make human sexuality and erotic union a form or worship and meditation is to practice reverence for life, leading us directly through the pleasure of the sense to spiritual liberation.
Cultivate Ecstasy
As a therapist, I knew that the process of healing emotional wounds by focusing on the past to find their source was limited. Although it can bring about healing, it all too often promotes a fascination with the problematic. Furthermore, when we focus obsessively on our problems and pains, the ecstatic potential in most of life's moments goes unrecognized and unacknowledged, and our lives are emptied of a sacred and joyous dimension. Life appears problematic rather than ecstatic, more a puzzle to be solved than a pleasure to be cultivated.
I realized that existential or psychological pain was actually the absence of ecstasy. It was the outcome of being cut off from the source of one's being, the source of life. On the other hand, cultivating ecstatic states of consciousness and learning how to integrate them into our lives can have profoundly healing effects. I have come to believe that our suffering has its roots in the loss of ecstasy and that reclaiming our natural ecstasy holds the key to our healing and our liberation.
SkyDancing
Over the years, all that I had discovered coalesced within me into a new shape and meaning. I called the body of knowledge and the ritual practices I had developed over many years "SkyDancing Tantra: The Path to Bliss". This path came to me as a revelation rather than a tradition. Yet the path of the SkyDancer is indeed one that goes back to eighth-century Tibet, when Yeshe Sogyel, the consort of Buddha Padma Sambhava, was called the "SkyDancer". Together they developed Tantric Buddhism.
Originally, the SkyDancers were wild, free ecstatic "dakinis", also called feminine buddhas or female awakeners. The word dakini means "woman who dances in space" or "woman who revels in the freedom of emptiness". SkyDancers were, and are, women of passion who were profoundly devoted to spiritual awakening. The path of the SkyDancer is a path of spiritual partnership that teaches the complete reciprocity of male and female practitioners as they learn the art of integrating ecstatic states and ecstatic practices in their daily life. It reintroduces in our world the understanding that to heal the world, we need to rediscover and respect the fact that women can be and are awakeners and initiators and enlightened teachers.
SkyDancing Tantra is a unique path that weaves together traditional Tantric, Hindu, Buddhist and Taoist teaching with my studies in humanistic and transpersonal psychology, bodywork therapies, sexology, yoga, music, and metaphysics.
All of this works with human energy systems through the use of light, music, movement, visualization, and particularly (and primarily) the energy map of the chakras. The tantric
chakra system offers a perfect map for the transformation of energy and consciousness, from raw lust to love, a visionary power, and finally to awakening.
SkyDancing Tantra teaches us that when we learn to approach life with a relaxed body, an open heart, and a peaceful mind, we can access ecstatic states and learn to weave them into the daily fabric of our lives.
Sacredness of Sex
It is crucial to understand the sacred dimensions of sex. Sex lies at the root of life, and we can only learn reverence for life when we learn reverence for sex. People in this culture need training in the art of love. They need to understand that sexuality is a very natural instinct, and there is nothing wrong with it. The damage to human society caused by the condemnation of sex is incalculable. Instead of celebrating sex as the creative force it is, we have turned sex into a furtive, guilt-ridden affair. This has misguided and influenced our entire world view. There is a tremendous effort being made to heal the planet, save the rain forests and to bring peace to warring ethnic and religious factions and yet how can any of this happen when the very source of human love is poisoned?
There is a powerfully creative force associated with our sexuality. It is possible for each of us to become a magician and use that force to heal our life and transform our vision--to realize our dreams. We have all sorts of programming blocking the flow of our sexual power. We need to be open to be able to face those demons, to look at the shadow with all honesty, knowing that truth is erotic. The more you can share your truth, the deeper and the more erotic it will become in the long run.
©Margot Anand. All rights reserved.
Vist Margot Anand's website to:http://www.margotanand.com/index.html
Labels:
enlightenment,
love,
Margot Anand,
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Skydancing Tantra
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