This Wednesday Gathering we learn our own Universal Peace Journey with Joe Kennedy, Jr. in an experiential evening of movement, music, speech, photos and other creative and playful ways! How do you shift dull parts of your life and work to be fun and playful? How can you bring joy and spirit into the everyday?

The purpose of this workshop is to learn creative, fun and practical tools to help enrich our daily lives. We will use movement/body exercises, texts, musical instruments, photographs and more on our journey.
You will leave with (1) an expanded awareness of the many possibilities each day can bring and (2) practical activities you can use at home to deepen your creative connection with life on an ongoing basis.

Joe Kennedy Jr. is a performer, musician, teacher, artist, free spirit, and workshop developer. He uses voice, keyboards, world instruments, poetry, dance and video to share his vision of hope. He has played with artists of all types all over the world. Joe creates unique school programs for the Choral Arts Society of Washington, The Washington National Opera and the Kennedy Center, including Let's Make TV and Let's Make Computer Music programs. He is currently sharing Universal Peace Journeys, an original interactive multi-media production featuring student participation. Joe recently received a grant from the American Composers Forum. In addition to performing and teaching, he produces and hosts a weekly television show, Close To Nature, which has been on Arlington Independent Media for over 6 years, and he has an ongoing Creative Nature workshop series for people of all ages. You can reach Joe at: www.universalpeacejourney.com, naturezen at yahoo.com or 703-371-4495

This entry was posted on July 27, 2011 at 1:41 PM and has received 1329 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This Wednesday Sandbox gathering we learn how to help make complex decisions Tarot with Diane Rukmini Bongiorni
Tarot cards have been used by mystics and occultists in efforts at divination or as a map of mental and spiritual pathways, perhaps from
ancient Egypt or the Kabbalah. Dr Carl Jung said that ‘the cards are descendants from the archetypes of transformation’. Come learn the meanings and how to use Tarot cards for decision-making. 

A tarot card reading will give you the general outcome of the ways matters are progressing, IF you don’t make any changes to the way you are thinking, feeling or acting – and the cards assume you don’t make any changes. There is very little in life that could be classed as “fixed.” We all have free will in our choices, decisions and actions. Sometimes things may hit you unexpectedly, however you can always decide how you react to those.

If the outcome is looking rather challenging, you have the opportunity to make changes, so that you can steer your life in a more positive direction. See some light at the end of the tunnel, when all looks dark, bleak and hopeless around you. It can bring some hope, optimism and encouragement to your life. Often that will be enough to open up your own inner resources such as creativity, problem solving, intuition and the ability to notice a different way forward.

You can consider an “alternate future” to the one which is currently unfolding and make better, more informed choices for yourself. You can explore various options to create the future you desire, and look at ways of enabling you to get to where you really want to go. You can then make the most informed choices and decisions, as the cards can make you aware of potential positives and challenges in each path. Tarot cards cannot make any decisions for you.  (From http://www.learntarotonline.com/articles/tarotcanhelpwith.html)

Rukmini has been reading tarot for over 35 years.  She has been blessed with the gift to receive deep guidance and information in very complex situations.
She is also a Feng Shui consultant, energy healer, and tarot reader.You can reach her at 202-744-3698 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            202-744-3698      end_of_the_skype_highlighting or rukminidmaria at hotmail.com

This entry was posted on July 27, 2011 at 11:55 AM and has received 1245 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

 Michael/Michelle here:
Summer solstice is nearly here, and many people will celebrate with 
different rituals. So now is the perfect time to learn about creating 
your rituals. I have found that a ritual together with sacred space can 
lead to deep inner transformation and give meaning and closure to 
otherwise upsetting events. Or help create greater meaning to happy ones!

I am currently in New Mexico for the Kundalini Yoga Summer Solstice 
festival (http://www.3ho.org/) with about 2000 other yogis. I spent the
day before the festival at Ojo Caliente hot springs - there is something 
about hot mineral springs, and water in general, that I find very 
relaxing. After an hour of soaking in the waters I found my mind 
emptying and my body relaxing (hmm could it be that a full mind tends to 
cause a tense body?). I have read that rebirthers use each of the four 
elements for rejuvenation and I can definitely say that water is good! 
(Air or breath is used a lot in yoga and works well too. Fire gazing is 
hypnotic and relaxing too. As for Earth, well being in the mountains of 
Peru was very connecting to spirit for me!). For me it is good to take 
time for myself and not overdo things like I used to. When I traveled on 
Monday I worked for 2 hours on email, had a relaxing lunch, followed by 
a massage and then took my time packing so I was not rushed driving to 
airport. At one point I reminded myself not to feel nervous and did some 
releasing on an old pattern I had of stressing out before travel.

I have seen a lot of changes in myself in last few weeks - I think with 
the 3 eclipses this month (6/1, 6/15, 7/1) plus the solstice there is a 
lot of energy for change in the air. I also experienced some back ache 
which I have done lots of healing on. For me it was nt just an immediate 
physical issue but an opportunity for me to learn better how to connect 
to the Earth and strength my lower chakras. And to notice a lot of 
tension that I had been holding in my legs and hips which were pulling 
on my back muscles. Tension that I had had for years! Thank you spirit 
for bringing me the back pain so I could work on these issues and 
transform them :-)

love
M/M

This entry was posted on June 20, 2011 at 9:47 PM and has received 942 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This Wednesday Sandbox gathering we learn how to engage in deep, dogma-free spirituality with Dr. Anatole Ruslanov. Why do we crave DEPTH that seems inherently missing in modern culture? Join a much needed conversation where we shall touch upon the following questions:

• What are the true goals of all spiritual practices?
• What are your goals in life?
• Who are you down deep the well of your soul?
• Why would you be doing anything but jumping into this deep well now?
• It is time to see what YOU can become!

Spirituality, or knowing the real you, is a birthright of all living beings -- because it is built in: we cannot be other than ourselves. Humanity, however, is incredibly good and efficient at being distracted away from happiness and satisfaction by culture, social mores, insecurity, etc. Thus, we humans need a way to our very own inner being, the source of all happiness and satisfaction.

You can find the way yourself. It is not that difficult in theory because it is not like you can run away from being you. In practice, following a system that is proven to work is a much better idea -- an efficient and effective way. It is similar to studying in college vs. by yourself -- you benefit by the system, by people more experienced than you, and your peers are there as well, to make the journey together a fun group affair. Doing it on your own is an admirable but more work in practice.

Dr. Anatole Ruslanov is the founder of Modern Seers, an international organization providing profound impetus towards culturally-neutral spiritual practices that are truly effective in culminating in an authentic, dogma-free spirituality. Dr. Anatole is currently a professor of computer science at SUNY Fredonia. He has recently returned from a 10-month tour of South Asia , including teaching a semester in Bhutan .

Dr. Anatole Ruslanov is a naturally gifted mystic and a life coach, mentor, healer, and teacher.

He was formally ordained in Varanasi, India as a tantric monastic after completing full monastic training. He is a Lineage Holder of Advaita Shaiva Tantra Yoga Tradition and an initiate of the ancient tantric Avadhuta Order. He has also had a substantial training in Zen and Vajrayana Buddhist traditions, Native American Toltec traditions, and Russian Orthodox Christian mystical spiritualities. Dr. Anatole has been practicing tantra yoga meditation for 36 years and teaching for 27 years.

Dr. Anatole founded Modern Seers Inc. (formerly Abhidhyan Yoga Institute) in 1991 and is the originator of Abhidhya'na Yoga (macromeditation), Abhidhya'na Insight Meditation, Abhidhya'na Yoga Philosophy, and Abhidhya'na Yoga Community.

Anatole has a baccalaureate degree in mathematics and a doctorate in computer science. He is currently employed as an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the Department of Computer and Information Sciences at State University of New York at Fredonia.

Dr. Anatole is passionate about going deeper and taking you deeper!

Dr. Anatole’s involvements and personal interests include:

•     A no-nonsense approach to spirituality that embraces our complete humanity;
•     Life and transformation coaching;
•     Spirituality divested of religious dogma;
•     Vajra meditation teaching and teacher training;
•     Natural, organic food and living foods;
•     Energy-efficient, ecologically-sound community living;
•     Non-dual spirituality and spiritual practices;
•     Practice of science and rigorous inquiry as a spiritual path.

More info at http://www.modernseers.org/

This entry was posted on June 11, 2011 at 3:07 PM and has received 946 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This Wednesday Sandbox gathering we join Cathy and Barry Smiler who will lead a discussion of Polyamory As A Spiritual Path. Our format will be more conversation than lecture as we explore this topic together.

Polyamory can be a powerful path of personal growth, a framework for
considering deep issues of self-empowerment, responsibility, community and what keeps us from real emotional intimacy and deep communication with ourselves and others. It's a truism that everybody does poly
differently, but what that really means is that if you want, every aspect of how we live and relate can be on the table for
consideration, not simply the elements around sexuality. When seen in this way, the poly vision of co-creating relationships offers a powerful opportunity to reconsider who we're close to, and why and why not. Taken the right way, this ongoing opportunity to re-evaluate all our boundaries to intimacy can be a powerful and growth-expansive spiritual practice.

Cathy and Barry have been leading poly discussion groups, workshops, and other events for years, initially in California and nowadays in the DC/MD/VA region, and especially in the Baltimore area where they
live. They can be reached at polyjunction (at) gmail (dot) com or through the BmorePoly Meetup at http://www.meetup.com/BmorePoly/

This entry was posted on March 31, 2011 at 8:31 PM and has received 1305 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

How to deal with hot button stuff - when I am centered (always good to ground and deep breath if triggered!) I read the email as the observer. It is like one of those martial arts where if someone punches at you you don't take it straight on - you side step at the last minute and use the opponent's energy to rush on by you. Do this mentally when attached and the punch doesn't land on you - it fly by you as you observe it going by.

Another method I just learned from Donna Eden book is called holding the "Oh My God" points. These are the bumps about an inch about each eyebrow. Hold them with your finger tips with thumbs on tempers for 30 seconds while you deep breath. These acupressure spots trigger more blood to flow to the forebrain (cerebellum) instead of the reptilian brain which is more reactive. This helps me see things from a higher perspective instead of reactivity and being stuck in old patterns.

And  I remind myself that my judgment is not me. And that usually it is something in me that is cause me to be triggered by someone else. How can I love that part of me that is like the triggering person in someway? Perhaps some Ho'oponopono - mediating on that disowned part of me with "I love you, thanks you, please forgive me, I am sorry" works for me.

This entry was posted on March 31, 2011 at 5:48 PM and has received 717 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Tantra is an ancient form of Yoga and is unlike most forms of Yoga today it is non-postural yet it activates, clears and balances the Chakras (energy centers) of the body.  When these centers are balanced, you feel more alive; you look more attractive and sexy, you manifest what you desire.

Tantra originates from 6000 year old Egyptian, Indian, and Tibetan practices that teach us what our bodies are capable of: more pleasure, agelessness.

Wouldn’t you want these benefits if you found the practices quick and easy?

Learn something new and transform your life.  

Sunday, April 3rd. 10AM - 7PM
Cost: $160 if you register in advance (includes DVD, newsletter & handouts)
$175 at the door
Classes offered in NY, Philly, Baltimore, West Palm, Boston, Phoenix
Call (202) 686-7440 for more info on Butterfly Tantra or
Click www.butterflyworkshops.com 


Are you suffering from the relationship blues?

Many of the people who attend Bliss™ have come to a place in their relationships where they are feeling stuck or flat. Intimacy that may have been there has vanished.
Maybe you've seen some of these issues:
§  If you are a man, are you feeling too stressed to get it up? Or is it all unexpectedly over with before things even get warmed up?

§  If you are a woman, do you feel like your life is so busy that you have no time to be sexy? Are you just feeling bored in the bedroom?

§  If you are a women, would you like more time being ravished and less time with the "slam bam, thank you mam" approach of sexuality?

§  As a man or a woman, has past sexual abuse made intimacy challenging? Would you like some simple techniques that you can use to express yourself more sexually but aren't sure how yet?

§  Do you find yourself drinking or taking drugs to let loose sexually? Would you like to find ways to move past this?

These are the types of topics we cover during the Bliss™ workshop. Even with many of the topics feeling heavy, we have discovered simple ways to ease into covering the topics with fun together. (And at no time are you required to discuss any topic you don't wish to. We allow participants to move at their level of comfort.)
Bliss™ is tailored to helping participants to find the problems that are coming between them and their partner and doing simple exercises that help remove these obstacles.
*      *      *
A few of the things you'll get while attending Bliss™…

§  Find out how to prolong lovemaking. At the same time, we'll show you how to achieve deeper and more present in lovemaking, too. The process is simple and overlooked by most.

§  Learn to how use sexual energy to rejuvenate the body — using it to stimulate creativity and to also reverse the aging process!

But with Bliss™, we go even further than bedroom time — we look at what is holding you back as a person…
§  Feel great about yourself – happy, more attractive, self-confident, increase your capacity for more pleasure, experience joy and fulfillment as a way of life.

§  Be more healthy by finding out simple ways to eliminate stress along with toxins from your body. We will show you ways to become more safe and whole.

§  Create a more full life for yourself. We will show you easy ways to create intentions — finding a lover, a more fulfilling career, the money you deserve, along with less stress.

§  Learn to more easily navigate those challenging relationships in your life — family, friends, co-workers — anyone that challenges us.

*      *      *
Who attends Bliss™…

The people who have attended Bliss™ are both singles and couples. They are people who are ready to grow in their sexuality. They have come to a place in their lives where they aren't ready to settle — they want to grow, blossom, feel more.
Many couples have attended Bliss™ struggling with their relationship — and afterward, feel like they've been given a new lease on their connection. Our friend and student, Michele said this:
TESTIMONIAL

"Our marriage was on the rocks. We had visited three psychologists in the last six months with no success. A weekend with Laurie is all it took to finally find the triggers that were preventing us from being closer. Now we are like two kids in love again!
– Michelle, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
*      *      *
What you can expect when you attend Bliss™…

During the Bliss™ One-Day Intensive workshop, we will be sharing a number of fun group exercises together. While in the comfort of our private studio, we will sit and discuss the small things that create blocks in our life.
TESTIMONIAL

 
"There is great magic in seeing how body based wisdom such as Tantra can grow a person and turn him completely around for the better… Thank you for the gifts you gave me when I needed it the most."
–Wes Wolcott, Hemet, CA
We've found that one of the challenges that lovers often have is to move more deeply in lovemaking. We've created a series of easy and fun exercises that can be done as singles or pairs that help people touch the right places in themselves and each other.
Note: even though this course covers our human sexuality, all participants will remained clothed throughout the course and we have a strict "no sexual contact rule" in effect throughout the workshop.
*      *      *
ATTEND BLISS

Our next Bliss(tm) workshop will be held in:

Washington, DC on
Sunday, April 3, 2011

REGISTRATION

Registration fee only $160 from today until April 2, 2011.

$175 at the door.

Reserve your spot today! (Only 7 spots are left until we are full!)

Location: address given when you register

To register call: (202) 686-7440 or for more info www.butterflyworkshops.com

Laurie Handlers is a spiritual leader and dynamic speaker.  She holds a Masters degree in Education and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Sociology.  She has taught Butterfly Tantra workshops for women, men, couples and singles since 1999.  She is an international presenter and workshop leader and has been featured in articles, on radio and TV in the United States and abroad. You can order her Shamanic Release & Latihan CD her Bliss: Beginner’s Tantra DVD or her new book Sex & Happiness: The Tantric Laws of Intimacy on her website below. You can catch pod casts of her radio show at www.tantracafe.com.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from Laurie's Sex & Happiness: The Tantric Laws of Intimacy book:

• “If I could distill all my advice about Tantra and sex into one sentence, that sentence would be, Make love in the unknown. In answer to all your fears and doubts about sex, I’d simply say to you, bring back your beginner’s mind. Come to the bedroom with no expectation. Come with openness in your heart for whatever happens.”
•  “In Tantra you'll feel more peaceful, more tolerant, more aware of the world that has nothing to do with doing; everything to do with being.”
• “Intimacy with another requires first and foremost coming to peace with your own emotional and physical needs.”
• "Through Tantra, the power of sexual energy is able to render transformation."

This entry was posted on March 24, 2011 at 6:02 PM and has received 1328 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Math modeling of census data in 9 countries suggests that organized religion is in decline and will become as extinct in future as ancient languages are today.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/23/religion-to-go-extinct-in-9-countries-experts-predict/

This entry was posted on March 24, 2011 at 12:47 AM and has received 776 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

This is a great way to clear your aura of stagnent energy and relax.

• One cup of salt (preferably natural salt without additives)
• One cup baking soda
• Optional A few drops of lavender essential oil for extra relaxation

Bless the water and salts and ask angels to help with clearing your aura and releasing any negativity into the water.

Soak in tub for an hour - longer than you might feel comfortable. Sometimes I let my head soak in the water and submerge for a while (will have to shampoo your hair afterwards if you do this as salt water like sea water will make it matt). Rinse off in the shower.

If you feel like it then take a nap afterwards or do a meditation and feel how relaxed and clear your energy feels now compared to before the aura bath.

This entry was posted on March 13, 2011 at 4:52 PM and has received 946 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I am fascinated by how we can change hard to shift habits such as income levels, weight, health, self-criticism. (I have been working on shifting my money habits for several years now!) I am also interested in memes and morphic fields - especially the large society wide morphic fields that can affect us without our realizing it - the assumptions that are never questioned and form part of our reality. For example gender roles, patriotism, the value of money and work.

I am also a fan of Wayne Dyer - I saw him live last time he was in DC - great speaker - and his movie The Shift is excellent. So I think this new book of his "Excuses Begone" will be good. And I have read "The Biology of Belief" - a great scientific look at how beliefs affect our cells and the biological/chemical mechanisms behind that.
Michael

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Now Available in Paperback! Excuses Begone! Dr. Wayne Dyer Paperback List Price: $14.95 Discount Price: $11.96 (Save 20%) The Biology of Belief Bruce Lipton, Ph.D. Paperback List Price: $14.95 Discount Price: $11.96 (Save 20%) Virus of the Mind Richard Brodie Paperback List Price: $15.95 Discount Price: $12.76 (Save 20%) PBS Special Excuses Begone! Don't miss Dr. Dyer's Public Television special! Dr. Dyer's television special, Excuses Begone! airs this month. Check your local listings to find out what times Wayne's extraordinary public television special will be broadcast in your area and get ready to say, "Excuses Begone!" Learn how to change the self-defeating thinking patterns that have prevented you from living at the highest levels of success, happiness, and health by saying Begone—to all your excuses! You'll ultimately realize that there are no excuses worth defending, ever, even if they've always been a part of your life—and the joy of releasing them will permeate to your very core and you'll awaken to the life of your dreams. Move out of established thought patterns and realize that there is nothing standing in your way of living at your highest levels. Find out how with Excuses Begone! Dr. Dyer Recommends In his PBS special and the Excuses Begone! book, Dr. Dyer also discusses the research of two of his colleagues, Dr. Bruce Lipton and Richard Brodie, to help us challenge our excuses and embrace new beliefs. The Biology of Belief Bruce H. Lipton, Ph.D. This book is a groundbreaking work in the field of new biology, and it will forever change how you think about thinking. Through the research of Dr. Lipton and other leading-edge scientists, stunning new discoveries have been made about the interaction between your mind and body and the processes by which cells receive information. It shows that genes and DNA do not control our biology, that instead DNA is controlled by signals from outside the cell, including the energetic messages emanating from our thoughts. Using simple language, illustrations, humor, and everyday examples, he demonstrates how the new science of Epigenetics is revolutionizing our understanding of the link between mind and matter and the profound effects it has on our personal lives and the collective life of our species. "I encourage you to immerse yourself in The Biology of Belief. You’ll be inspired to reset your mind to the possibility that your beliefs carry far more weight than you realized in determining what you can do, what you’ll undertake, and how far you’re capable of going." —Dr. Wayne Dyer In addition to our genetic makeup, the other big excuse that most of us use to justify unhappiness, poor health, and lack of success is the family and cultural conditioning we’ve been programmed with. To that end, there’s a fascinating area of inquiry known as memetics, which deals with the mind and is analogous to the relationship of genetics to the body. Virus of the Mind Richard Brodie Virus of the Mind is the first popular book devoted to the science of memetics, a controversial new field that transcends psychology, biology, anthropology, and cognitive science. Memetics is the science of memes, the invisible but very real DNA of human society. According to Brodie, it’s "a thought, belief, or attitude in your mind that can spread to and from other people’s minds." In Virus of the Mind, Richard Brodie carefully builds on the work of scientists Richard Dawkins, Douglas Hofstadter, Daniel Dennett, and others who have become fascinated with memes and their potential impact on our lives. "Your beliefs have made these memes seem like second nature to you. While excuses are just thoughts or beliefs, you are the decider of what you ultimately store away as your guide to life." —Dr. Wayne Dyer

This entry was posted on March 10, 2011 at 4:58 PM and has received 1452 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.