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Thursday, September 27, 2012

Which Door Leads to the Future?

ATTENTION: This will be the last blog post here on Blogger. From now on, all of Anodea's blog posts will take place on the new and improved Sacred Centers website:

WHICH DOOR LEADS TO THE FUTURE?

 

Initiation is a series of tests. These tests determine moral choices, strengths and weaknesses, and the ability to discern truth from illusion. Fairy tales abound about "picking the right door" whether it be the door of life or death, the door of fortune or folly on a game show, or the many doors that open and close on the path of life.

This election year Americans are facing an initiatory test: Do we open the red door or the blue door? On the surface the vote appears to be a choice between the leadership of two men and their VPs: Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. Behind this choice, we appear to be choosing between a Democratic or Republican administration, and between moral values based on how we treat the planet and the future versus a women's right to choose the fate of her own body or a person's right to choose whom they love.

Some say there is little difference between these administrations or the men that lead them - that the money interests will manipulate whoever sits in the White House. And while that is definitely true, expecting anyone we elect to save the planet for us is yet another illusion bound to lead to disappointment. But we can chose to avoid those who would hinder the process.

There is a trickster in every initiation - one who challenges the initiate with the task of discernment. The trickster may promise magic bullets, feed on a person's fantasy of wealth, fame, pleasure, or ease - only to lead the initiate into a discovery of even more illusion. In this case the cost of choosing the wrong door is extreme.

The stakes are higher than ever before. Humanity's impending environmental crises, food shortages, economic crises, climate instability, and change on every level require a leader who thinks in terms of change, even if they are limited by the status quo in how much change they can successfully create.

The real test may come down to a vote between those who dare to think, question, and embrace our future challenges, and those who prefer to believe what they're told on Fox News, who swallow the illusions in attack ads, and believe that "business as usual" will solve the very problems "business as usual" has created.

In an important book that everyone should know about, Why Some Politicians are More Dangerous than Others, author James Gilligan  tracks 100 years of political history, and proves that both suicide and murder rates rise significantly with each Republican administration and fall with each Democratic administration. The reason? High unemployment, reduced prosperity, and bigger gaps between the rich and poor. His study of violence indicates that the most direct link to increased violence is gross inequalities.

Romney is from the rich and serves the rich. He represents the 1% that values wealth and good looks above real humanitarianism - but he represents that illusory pursuit of wealth which is a central value in the culture. Believing that 47% of the population are victims looking for handouts, while his wife has never held a job in her life, proves just how out of touch he is with reality. Yet his comments are a call for all of us to come to maturity, to take responsibility for ourselves, and to pierce through illusion to consider our important future. And lest you think Obama is a shoe-in, check out this important investigative reporting 
from journalist Greg Palast on the peril of election fraud.


As we approach this Equinox with an integration of light and dark, we can see that the darkness of our collective shadow is highlighted for us to see-from the Muslim anti-American sentiment to the attack ads from our most expensive election ever. Hopefully, we can use this darkness to pierce through illusion and pick the door that will lead to the brightest future - one we can all walk through together.

What's in your harvest?

Fall Equinox is known as harvest time, based on the agricultural cycles of our ancestral past. In this time of GMO products and oil-based shipment of food from all over, we seem to be out of touch with that organic reality. Fortunately, more and more people are awakening to the dangers of GMO, and trying to keep that OUT of their harvest. If you are unaware, there's a wealth of information out there, about how GMO corn causes tumors, kidney and liver trouble  and about the dangers of Monsanto to destroy our food supply and seed stock of the future , including the latest video from my friend and GMO activist, Jeffrey Smith, which you can download for free.

But these days, we are all harvesting more than food. We are harvesting whatever we have been creating this past year - from the seeds of vision planted in the winter, cultured in the spring, and nourished with the summer light.

CREATING ON PURPOSE!

One of my proud harvests is a new book is coming out October 1st called, CREATING ON PURPOSE: THE SPIRITUAL TECHNOLOGY OF MANIFESTATION, co-authored by Lion Goodman. This book contains the best of our workshop material from the class, CREATION IS ECSTASY, plus lots of new material, to help you get on track and stay there in finding your highest purpose, and making a contribution, while creating the life of your dreams.

You can pre-order it now and check out the new website to which we will be adding guiding meditations and exercises to increase your powers of clarity and manifestation. If you live in California, mark your calendar for our book release party November 14th, in San Rafael, CA, at Open Secret Bookstore.

To that end, I will also be starting a new online course through The Shift Network, on the process of manifesting your highest purpose. The free call is October 2nd, and the 7-week class will begin October 16th. Check it out here

Our live 4 1/2-day workshop on Manifestation will happen at Kripalu, Feb 18-22, 2013.

There're just a few more workshops left this year, so check them out (information below)!

Blessings,

Anodea

Friday, July 6, 2012

Give Your Life An Overhaul!

Sacred Centers   
Upcoming Workshop Showcases
    
 

Now may be a good time for a systematic overhaul of your life. Sacred Centers core course, CHAKRA AWAKENING (formerly Psychology of the Chakras), is a week-long initiation into each chakra, offered August 3-10 at Kripalu Yoga Center in Lenox, MA. This course spends one full day immersed in each chakra and brings you teachings by both Anodea Judith and Selene Vega (co-authors of THE SEVENFOLD JOURNEY), for a week-long excursion into another world. Step by step you will engage at each level through therapeutic trance journeys, yoga practice, healing practices, ritual ceremonies, chanting, meditation, and much, much more, held at Kripalu's beautiful 300 acre retreat center in the heart of the Berkshires, with the best food you can find anywhere. This will be the 27th year of offering this course, and many people find it life-changing. This August is the ONLY time it will be offered in 2012, so if you've been thinking about this course over the years, now is the time.
 
Meanwhile, Anodea is traveling in Europe, teaching five courses over five weeks in three different countries. She just completed three workshops, including SEVEN WINDOWS TO THE SOUL in Copenhagen to an enthusiastic class, and two MIND-BODY INTEGRATION workshops, one in Denmark at Scandinavia's biggest therapy school, ID Academy, and the other at Lichtfontein, Sacred Centers' Dutch center in Appelscha, Holland, founded by SC graduate Anita Geugien. This will be followed by a Manifestation class in Amsterdam, July 12-15, and the tour will end with the SEVEN WINDOWS TO THE SOUL chakra weekend in Stockholm, Sweden, July 20-22. What a world!

Anodea will be re-issuing Waking the Global Heart next February (launching around Valentine's Day) so next year will be devoted to that material. So check out our chakra courses for 2012 and take advantage of Anodea's traveling while she's still doing it.
Have a great summer and hope to see you in person at one of our exciting workshops.

Chakra Blessings,
Anodea Judith


Chakra Awakening
Psychology of the Chakras

Lenox, MA
August 3-10, 2012
Registration and info: 1-800-741-7353

Sacred Center's Core Course!
Intermediate 7-Day Chakra Intensive 

Now in its 27th year! Students have found it to be life-changing. Be prepared to grow!

This training integrates both mind and body within a spiritual context by exploring the inner psychology of the Chakra System as a model for transformational healing and personal growth. Designed for healers of all types who wish to learn new skills, as well as laypeople in the process of their own healing journey, we will spend one full day on each chakra level, making a total of 7 days of training, with an evening introduction and Sunday morning wrap-up.

Each morning will include guided trance journeys, yoga asanas for opening the chakras, bioenergetic exercises, and partner work for integrating your process. The afternoon sessions take the work to a deeper level with psychological exploration, therapeutic demonstrations, and group process, giving participants a chance to work on their own issues, and to practice these techniques with each other. Two evening ceremonies take you deeper into the realm of the sacred.

WHAT YOU WILL GAIN:
  • A solid understanding of the chakra system
  • A psycho-spiritual framework for diagnosis and healing
  • Yoga practices for each chakra
  • Bioenergetic exercises for the lower chakras
  • Body-oriented techniques for healing difficulties
  • An understanding of chakras and childhood development
  • A deeper understanding of your own issues
  • A transformational experience
Professionals will find new skills to use in their practice, laypeople will find new insights to their own healing journey. This class is eligible for 45 class hours, CEU's possible for therapists, social workers, and yoga teachers. 




Amsterdam, Holland  
July 12-15
Rishis: Club for Free Souls
Any Questions? Contact info: 06 30411883 or Email Saskia  



Seven Windows to the Soul

Seven Windows to the Soul

Stockholm, Sweden
July 20-22
 More Info
Questions?
 Contact by email or +46 706 906 906
 

This weekend workshop gives you both experiential and intellectual tools for understanding the complete chakra system within your own body and psyche. Come prepared to both learn about the chakras and move your own energy into new places.
   
THE ILLUMINATED CHAKRAS Friday Evening Lecture and Video:
(Selected places only - 3 day workshop)
Learn about the underlying energy currents that feed the chakras, what causes blockages, how to use the chakra system for diagnosis and treatment of energetic imbalances, and much more that make the chakras intelligible and useful as a map for life's journey to consciousness. Evening concludes with a 30 minute audio-visual meditation through the chakras from the award-winning chakra video, The Illuminated Chakras: A Visionary Voyage into Your Inner World. (This evening or equivalent is a pre-requisite for the weekend workshop).

JOURNEY OF EMPOWERMENT:
An Exploration of the Lower Chakras. Saturday workshop
This workshop focuses on opening and stabilizing the lower three chakras of the seven layered Chakra System. Often misunderstood by ascension-oriented New Age philosophy, we ignore these chakras at our own peril. In doing so, we lose our connection to our bodies and the earth, to each other, and lose our power to make change.

This work reclaims the essential foundation of the Chakra System by focusing on the elements of earth, water, and fire. Through chakra one, we will reclaim the sacred temple of the body, learning skills for grounding and rooting ourselves in the Earth. In chakra two, we will reclaim the mysteries of sexuality and emotions, as powerful agents of connection with ourselves and others. In chakra three, we will reclaim our personal power and will, fully supported by the foundation of the chakras beneath. Techniques used will include yoga and bioenergetic exercises, interactive lecture and guided meditations. Open to all levels of experience.

JOURNEY OF ENLIGHTENMENT:
An Exploration of the Upper Chakras Sunday workshop
After the challenging work of the lower chakras, the journey through the upper chakras opens us to love, light, and liberation. This workshop focuses on letting go of old patterns so that we can move forward into the future. In exploring chakra four, we use yoga stretches, breath, and meditation to expand our capacity for love and connection. In chakra five, we use sounding and chanting, to open our communication and creativity. In chakra six, we explore our inner vision and learn some basic psychic skills. And in chakra seven, we explore the mysteries of our own consciousness through connection to the divine within and without.

14 CEU's possible for therapists, social workers, and yoga teachers.

Anodea Judith's 2012 Workshops & Teleclasses

Enter the sacred with others on the path through life-changing workshops on personal and global transformation. Expect to be transformed!

 
July 
  
Amsterdam, Holland
July 12-15 
06 30411883 or email Saskia 
  
Seven Windows to the Soul
Stockholm, Sweden
July 20-22
Questions? Contact by email

August
  
Sacred Centers' Core Course!
Lenox, MA
August 3-10 
Kripalu Yoga Center 800-741-7353
  
September

Ottawa, Canada
September 14-16  
  
San Francisco, CA
September 29-30
  
October
 
Lenox, MA
October 14-19 
Kripalu Yoga Center 800-741-7353
  
Lenox, MA
October 21-26 
Kripalu Yoga Center 800-741-7353  
 
November 
Lancaster, PA
November 9-11, 2012
Evolution Power Yoga
Friday night talk: CREATING ON PURPOSE: MANIFESTING THROUGH THE CHAKRAS
 
  
Please note: updates happen frequently. New workshops being added all the time.  Check website for latest listings.



Become a Sacred Centers Affiliate!

Spread the word! Spread the wealth! 
 
Do you know people who would like to boost their own personal evolution? People who want to contribute to the evolutionary shift of consciousness that leads to being more awake, empowered and able to contribute to heaven on earth?

Then become a Sacred Centers Affiliate and create change while generating additional income for yourself!

Word of mouth is the best advertising. You are the ones who understand the value of this work. You are in the best position to spread the word. Now you can get financial reward for doing so. A win-win situation!

Our Affiliates come from people like you who have a network for students and clients who want to learn and grow. You are rewarded generously for referring people to our workshops, Immersions, or products, through simple computer links. Earn $50 or more by introducing new people who then become students of Sacred Centers workshops.

So promote Sacred Centers in any way to your network and when they purchase our courses and trainings (see courses in the agreement for fuller description) - you'll receive a commission.

It is that easy.


or Sign up Now  

 
ABOUT SACRED CENTERS

Anodea Judith
Sacred Centers is a teaching organization founded by Anodea Judith that uses the map of the chakra system for an embodied awakening of individual awareness and the evolution of global consciousness.
We provide cutting edge information, teach workshops and classes, and provide certification training for advanced students who want to carry this work into the world.

Visit our website to find a gateway to your inner world. Explore your chakras, learn, and grow. Become part of our community and help change the world, one chakra at a time.

Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn Visit our blog 

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Emerging from Immersion


Emerging from Immersion

Emerging Anew by Lisa Rose Musselwhite
I haven't written in awhile, as I was "immersed" in Sacred Centers' Annual Immersion, this year occurring in the Spring. Two weeks of intimate workshops happening simultaneously on the glorious hilltop of Earthrise Retreat Center ushered in spring blessings for all of us. We went deep and far together, with a new level of energy awareness and attention dynamics, deeper access to trance states, and more training in Mind-Body therapies and trauma work. Thank you to all who made this a memorable two weeks!   

Yesterday I participated in a teleseminar with the folks from HeartMath on the heart chakra and the Global Heart, the subject of my 2006 book which I am currently updating for a Valentine's release next February through The Shift Network

Toward that evolutionary goal, I would like to recommend Barbara Marx Hubbard's visionary book, Birth 2012 and Beyond, which goes on special sale today. Barbara is perhaps one of the greatest visionaries of our time. Yesterday her book made it to #5 on the Amazon list -- can you order it today and send it to #1?  That makes a strong statement to the world that we are out there!    

Our new website is almost ready to launch, but like hiking to the top of a mountain or finishing a book, "almost ready" has a way of lasting far longer than you expect. But stay tuned for an all new website with easier navigation, and more free offerings from Sacred Centers.

The end of May takes me to San Diego for the ACEP Conference, where I'll be presenting a one-day workshop on Anxiety and Depression. I'm trying not to get too anxious about it, as that would be depressing. Instead learn bioenergetic techniques for addressing these all too common issues.

After that, we hit the trail for five weeks in Europe, followed by our annual Chakra Awakening: Psychology of the Chakras, a 7-day intensive in August at Kripalu - the ONLY time this course will be offered this year.

Thanks for doing your part to make this world a better place.

Blessings,

Anodea Judith  

Read more...

Friday, April 27, 2012

Do You Want to Feel More Alive?

CHARGE: A New Way to Look at Energy Psychology

 
It's not the meaning of life we seek but our aliveness. 
Once we have that the meaning of life is obvious.


Everybody's talking about Energy Psychology these days. We seem to have finally figured out that the mind alone does not heal, and that the body is an essential component of mental health. We also know that allopathic medicine, while capable of many wonders, fails to address the psychological role in the perpetuation of disease. We desperately need models that address this integration in order to become whole.  

Energy is the interface between mind and body. Just as the electricity in your computer allows the hardware and software to interface, the life force that runs through you connects your body and mind. That life force is known by many names: Yogis call it prana; Oriental medicine calls it chi; the Star Wars movies called it "the Force." Bioenergetics is the study of the human personality in terms of the energetic processes of the body. In Bioenergetic therapy, we call this energy "charge."

By whatever name you call it, the internal software of the mind - our thoughts and beliefs-- tells this energy where to go in the body-- and where not to go. It tells us to hold our bellies in, or hold our voice back, to take action or to shut down. How we distribute this energy through the body can make us feel anxious or depressed, vibrantly alive, or full of blockages. When we block our charge we shut down our chakras, our feelings, and our sense of aliveness.

I like to think of the word "charge" as standing for: 

Consciousness Having A Really Genuine Experience. 

If we're full of charge we are intensely alive, regardless of whether that charge feels pleasant or painful. We feel especially alive when we're charged up with excitement or pleasure. But even when we're angry or afraid - we at least feel real and present.  That's because we're having a really genuine experience!

 

We seek charge because we seek aliveness. An experience with a strong charge-- positive or negative-- has a lot of meaning. If we minimize our charge, we minimize our aliveness and life begins to feel meaningless. 

The human body/mind/spirit complex keeps a balance or "economy" of charge throughout life by charging and discharging. We charge up by engaging in challenges, having fun, or receiving love and affection, as well as through more biological activities like eating and sleeping. We discharge through releasing emotion, such as crying or yelling, as well as through work and physical activity.  

However, our "economy" of charge may get stuck at a high charge level, which we call anxiety, or a low charge level which we experience as depression. This is because of faulty regulation in the charge/discharge cycle, where charge is instead bound into body armor, such as excess weight or chronic muscular tension. This body armor forms patterns that can only be broken up by contacting the vital life energy that is bound. No matter how much insight we have, no matter how many cobra poses we do, it is the charge that is the glue of all our complexes, patterns, and behaviors.

Mind-Body Integration teaches you to connect with the basic "charge" or life force, learning to follow it deep into the core, and allowing it to move through the body. Energy then awakens the chakras, clears blockages, brings insight, and dissolves body armor. This process of deep healing is an art, but it can be learned. It will transform your understanding of yourself, your relationships, and your clients.
   
Blessings,

Anodea Judith 

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Optimizing Sustainability


Optimizing Sustainability

  

Blessings of the Equinox! If you've had a long dark winter, you can take a breath now and smell the first fragrance of Spring. For a short time, the nights and days are equal, and at last, the light will begin to overtake the dark. Balance is the key to this Equinox holiday and indeed to the renewal of Spring. Imbalance is simply unsustainable, whether it's the imbalances between rich and poor, humans and the environment, or between men and women. Imbalances always seek to right themselves and come back into balance once again.  

We often speak of checks in the same breath as balance, as in "checks and balances." To become sustainable, the inimitable human urge toward maximizing everything has to have some checks, and I don't mean the kind we deposit in our bank account. In truth, I have never been crazy about the word "sustainable." While I wholeheartedly agree with it in principle, the word speaks more about maintaining than thriving, holding back rather than moving forward with a good balance of joy and common sense.  

I prefer the word optimization, asking the question: What is optimal for our future? Optimizing is not maximizing - it's not going as far as we can whenever we can, but invokes the ideal conditions for evolving and thriving. Below you will see a new series of free telecalls from Shift Network, called THE SPRING OF SUSTAINABILITY. Check it out, it features some of the best minds on the subject of renewable energy, green technologies, and sustainable practices.   
 Meanwhile, in honor of the balance of the season, what is optimal between men and women? And may I begin where I left off on my last post. . . .


For those who read my tirade on Rush Limbaugh in my last blog, please know that we were not alone. There was enough protest that even the U.S. Army pulled its advertising from Limbaugh's show, along with at least 140 othersWhen such an uber male institution as the Army joins forces with the causes of women, we know we're getting somewhere. Thanks, Guys, we really appreciate having your support!

However, not all the news is so good. Mitt Romney declares he wants to do away with Planned Parenthood, denying women low cost health care, breast exams, pap smears, and birth control.     

Meanwhile Senate Republicans are looking to repeal the 18-year-old, formerly bipartisan Violence Against Women Act, which has been highly successful in reducing domestic violence.  Apparently the bill has been amended to now include Gays and Native Americans, and I guess that's just going too far, so let's can the whole thing, and turn our backs on roughly 12 million women per year who were victims of domestic violence (according to CDC's calculations) and ignore the fact that45% of women murdered are killed by their male partner. But hey, that's one way to keep population down while making it harder to get birth control.

But really, I don't get it. We're told that single mothers - women who stick by their children when the fathers run off - are the downfall of the American family. But we're not supposed to use birth control, and we're not supposed to have an abortion either. And now some factions want to deny us any protection when we try to fight off those who would force the aspirin out from between our knees. Maybe we
should all just put on Burkas and hide out until this insanity is over.  

Lysistrata anyone?

 
For those who might have skipped out on studying Greek literature, Lysistrata is a comedy by Aristophanes, performed during the time of the Peloponnesian War (4th century B.C.). In this play the women of Greece start a powerful peace movement by withholding all sexual activity from their heterosexual relationships until a peace treaty is negotiated and signed between Athens and Sparta. It works! And the celebration afterward was spectacular, to say the least.

Let's instead imagine what is optimal - safety and protection for all. Women safe in their home and on the streets; men safe from gangs and going to war. Women able to earn an equal salary for the same work; men not having to carry the financial load by themselves. Children who are planned, wanted, and cared for through adulthood. A way that men and women can thrive together, working in partnership, mutual respect, protecting what is sacred to each.  

Let's become sustainable in our relationships  to each other, to the earth, to a glorious future that awaits us all.

Let's celebrate this Equinox as a love affair between heaven and earth, light and dark, masculine and feminine. And let's fall back in love with our world once again.

Brightest Blessings,

Anodea Judith 

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Rushing Out on a Limbaugh


RUSHING OUT ON A LIMBAUGH

rush limb 
  
I thought it would be old news by the time I got around to writing this, but it looks like the gender storm is just beginning. This time shock jock radio host Rush Limbaugh has gone too far and ignited the kind of feminist outcry I've been wanting to hear for a long time. Maybe it took a blowhard like him to wake us up to the fact that things haven't really changed all that much in the new millennium as far as women are concerned. That's an awakening that will ultimately benefit all of us.

If you're not up on the latest set of insults aimed at half the human population, suffice it to say that the abortion debate has now taken a back seat to arguing about women's right to have any birth control at all covered by insurance. Rush Limbaugh made such derogatory comments to a female law student that Obama himself was compelled to call her and apologize. I won't belittle this blog by repeating Limbaugh's adolescent taunts here but if you really want to know, you can discover for yourself why his advertisers are fleeing in droves.
   
If you want to join the wave of pressure to have him removed from some of the 600 radio stations that host his show, sign the petition here!

It's not like this little comment exists in isolation. The panel of five conservative Congressmen who held the forum on whether insurance coverage of contraception violates religious freedom, refused to allow testimony from any females, saying that the women chosen were not "appropriate witnesses."                                      
Darrell Issa
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.),
Chair of the House Oversight & 
Government Reform Committee.

"What I want to know is, where are the women?" Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) asked Rep Darell Issa before walking out of the hearing after the first panel. "I look at this panel, and I don't see one single individual representing the tens of millions of women across the country who want and need insurance coverage for basic preventative health care services, including family planning.Where are the women?" 

Now, I may sound a bit cynical but I don't know whether having women testify would have done all that much good. We just get labeled as angry bitches and you might be thinking that about me even now. What I think would be more effective is for each of those men to be locked alone in a room with a couple of two-year-olds for 48 hours while strapping a large watermelon to their bellies. If they survive that, then they might be eligible to vote on this issue.

Now of course, the debate has not been balanced where Viagra is concerned. CNN talk show host, Jack Cafferty says it's not the same issue: "Viagra is used to treat a medical condition, erectile dysfunction. Birth control is a lifestyle choice."

Excuse me?  Medical issues are exactly what law student Sandra Fluke was trying to address.
Sandra Fluke: Law Student who was
the target of Limbaugh
  
But really, folks, this is much more than a feminist issue. In a world dying under the weight of overpopulation, where 20% live in bone-chilling poverty, where food production is declining as climate temperatures rise, where clean drinking water is becoming an upper class privilege in many parts of the world, where one out of every three women is raped or beaten--refusing contraception digs a grave for the future of all humanity.

We're better than this. We can work together. We can co-create a glorious future. It's in our hands. But sometimes it requires going on a rant like this one to get us to wake up. Thank you for listening and making your voice heard in this swelling outcry against injustice and stupidity. Please help take Limbaugh off the air. At least  make the statement that we're out here and paying attention. At least half the people of the world will thank you.


Blessings,

Anodea Judith