Accesing bliss using the 5 Koshas
Current mood: grounded
Category: grounded Life

The 5 Koshas

1. The Physical Body (Annamaya Kosha)

This includes our "solid" body like our tissues and organs.

2. The Energy Body (Pranamaya Kosha)

This includes our "fluid" body such as our circulation and breathing.

3. The Psycho-Emotional Body (Manomaya Kosha)

This includes our "mental" body such as our thoughts and emotions.

4. The Wisdom Body (Vijnanamaya Kosha)

This includes our "cognitive" body such as our intellect and intuition.

5. The Bliss Body (Anandamaya Kosha)

This includes our "spiritual" body that knows it is always connected to God (Source) and hence lives with gratitude, appreciation and happiness in treating life here on Earth as the amazing gift it is.

How to Apply the 5 Koshas

1. The Physical Body

Keeping this Kosha in balance includes properly taking care of our bodies. Our bodies are our vessels and our vehicles while here on this planet to experience the physical realm.

Hence to generate balance at this level one needs to incorporate:

• Proper nutrition - feeding the body what it needs to function optimally
• Avoiding toxins - not putting anything into your body that harms it in any way
• Exercising - move every joint in our body to its full range of motions regularly

2. The Energy Body

To keep this Kosha in balance we need to remember that our physical energy comes from and is driven primarily through our breathing. Once our body incorporates the correct gases into itself it then needs to circulate them around our body.

Hence to generate balance at this level one needs to incorporate:

• Deep breathing routines throughout the day
• Avoiding harmful substances that also circulate in the blood stream and hinder the appropriate substances from proper circulation
• Incorporating regular body movement for enhanced circulation (ex. avoiding long periods of continuous sitting)

3. The Psycho-Emotional Body

To optimize this Kosha, we need to focus on one main aspect and that is the ability to maintain a conscious state by trying to live as much as possible in the moment of now. This allows one to be in control of their thoughts and hence experience emotions as actions rather than as reactions.

Hence to generate balance at this level one needs to incorporate:

• Regular moments of stillness throughout one's day to bring ourselves into the presence
• Bringing awareness to our thoughts and emotions without labeling or judging them and accepting them as "what is"
• Making conscious intentions of how I want the "what is" thoughts and emotions to be experienced in the moment of now - we give meaning to our experiences

4. The Wisdom Body

Balancing this Kosha involves realizing that we are creative and evolving beings. This life journey involves constant learning and change. We are here to experience ourselves as physical beings and hence it is hindered by being stagnant and resistive to changes and new growth.

Hence to generate balance at this level one needs to incorporate:

• Minimizing mind numbing media that lead to unconscious or vegetative states
• Maximizing reading, learning or sharing of new thoughts and ideas
• Contributing and sharing your "truth" with as many people as possible

5. The Bliss Body

Attaining and balancing this Kosha requires an active and conscious being on our part in order to pull the beauty out of every experience. It is not just about a positive attitude but about living with passion. This Kosha is sometimes the hardest for people to achieve balance in as parts of the other Koshas imbalance interfere with full and proper expression of this one.

Hence to generate balance at this level one needs to incorporate:

• Gratitude - Having as many of these moments as possible throughout each day from the food you eat to the sky you look upon
• Appreciation - Understanding that everything in this Universe is interconnected and from God and hence to be looked upon as a precious gift for our experience here
• Passion - Inviting this state into everything you do as it will give a higher meaning to the above two states

9:49 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

God within
Current mood: creative
Category: Life

Aaahhh... The smiling warmth of the sun feels so good. I welcome the heat. I look up to Grandfather Sun and breath in with my third eye all the energy there is for me to soak up... God's Light... Cosmic Light... Love light... Prana... Chi... whatever you call it you know what I'm taling about. Aligning with the heat. Charging my heart, mind, soul... every hair follicle... every organ... every cell... every subatomic particle. I can feel the light of God bursting out of my heart and filling all the space inside me.... until I have to release and explode out into the world with my own divine light... Now I'm basking in the radiance of my own divinity and feel the warmth of my own light. Then it hits me.... there is no difference between me and God other than that which I choose. I can radiate with the intensity of the sun and bring light to the darkness, warmth to the cold and life to the dormant.

I walk upon the earth. Every step beats a rhythm. The rhythm of life is there in every step. The beat of creation resounds within every new step. The more I walk the more I see the distance between who I was and who I am. I feel the earth under my feet and with the passing distance, I feel that time is only a choice and the distance between who I was and who I am is measured by the choices I make, the creation of myself and the world around me.

I take a deep breath and feel the coolness of the air moving into my nostrils, down my inner pipe and fill my lungs. I can feel the winds of the earth charging my life with wisdom. As I fill my lungs and let go of my ego all the busy thoughts just fade away. I just focus.... focus on my breath and the inexplicable joy that comes from something as simple as breathing deep..... as deep as you can take it. As I drift into nothingness I feel the divinity of my own intent within inhaling and exhaling, breathing life and I remember there is no difference between me and God.

3:32 PM - 4 Comments - 8 Kudos - Add Comment

blessed beauty
Current mood: open

11:59 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

THE INVITATION
Current mood: Blessed
Category: Blessed Life

8:02 PM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

cacao nibs

Cacao As A Superfood
Cacao beans contain over 300 chemically identifiable compounds, including: magnesium, sulphur (beauty mineral), anandamide (bliss chemical), phenylethylamine (mood elevator), arginine (nature's Viagra), tryptophan (anti-depressant amino acid), polyphenols & epicatechins (antioxidants) and dopamine & serotonin (anti-depressant neurotransmitters).

Incredible antioxidant content
Research has demonstrated that the antioxidants in cacao are highly stable and easily available to human metabolism. Cacao beans contain 10,000 milligrams per 100 grams of flavonol antioxidants. This makes cacao one of the richest sources of antioxidants of any food.

Studies indicate that dairy products specifically block the absorption of all the great antioxidants in chocolate! What we are finding is that chocolate itself is a health food, especially in its raw form as cacao beans. It is the substances added to chocolate that cause the problems: dairy products/milk, sugar & hydrogenated fats!

Anti-Depressant Properties of Cacao
Cacao is one of nature's richest sources of magnesium, which is a heart as well as brain mineral. Cacao is also a great source of serotonin, dopamine, and phenylethylamine, three well-studied neurotransmitters, which help alleviate depression and are associated with feelings of well being. Cacao contains monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAO Inhibitors) that keep neurotransmitters in the bloodstream for longer without being broken down. Cacao contains anandamide which delivers blissful feelings. Cacao also contains B vitamins, which are associated with brain health. All this makes cacao a natural prozac!

Phenylethylamine (PEA)
PEA is a chemical in cacao that increases the activity of neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) in parts of the brain that control our ability to pay attention and stay alert. PEA is noticeably abundant in the brains of happy people. Chocolate has been found to contain up to 2.2% phenylethylamine (PEA).

Anandamide
This neurotransmitter is present in cacao in quantities significant enough to affect the brain. Anandamide, known as "the bliss chemical", is a cannabinoid naturally found in the human brain which is released while we are feeling great.

Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors
These rare MAO inhibitors actually produce favourable results when consumed by allowing more serotonin and other neurotransmitters such as anandamide, dopamine, etc. to remain in the bloodstream and circulate in the brain. A primary phenomenon that separates children from adults is the level of neurotransmitters in their blood.

Raw Chocolate
The truth about the health-benefits of chocolate is finally reaching our ears. However, the whole truth should be told. Chocolate is healthy if it is dark with no added dairy products/milk or refined sugar.

Cacao contains a wide array of unique properties and minerals, including high levels of sulfur and magnesium. It may increase your focus and alertness and contains nutrients to keep you happy. Chocolate and cacao are often associated with love. All this is due to phenylethylamine contained in the cacao. Anandamide can be produced in the brain when we are feeling great, cacao makes anandamide stick around longer.

Cacao may seem to diminish your appetite, perhaps due to its MAO inhibitors (monoamine oxidase enzyme inhibitors). Cacao's rare MAO inhibitors may allow serotonin and additional neurotransmitters to circulate in the brain. It also may facilitate youthening and rejuvenation, according to some.

4:21 PM - 2 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

joyous life
Current mood: inspired

The Joyous Life flows, not from enjoying ourselves without caring about others, but from making others happy and spirited. We human beings, endowed with qualities that differ from one another, would do well to live in a way that helps nurture one another's talents and make up for one another's shortcomings. Sharing this world of ours by helping and respecting one another is an important aspect of the Joyous Life, the purpose of human existence. Another important aspect of the Joyous Life is that building the world of the Joyous Life involves both humankind and God--which should not be surprising since we human beings live in the very bosom of God. We are taught that as people become spirited, God will also be spirited. Indeed, when we become spirited through the helping of one another, the sight of our spiritedness will make God spirited, and God's spiritedness will enliven all living things and the entire world.

9:31 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

My Prayer for You
Current mood: jubilant

May you always find joy in the laughter of children.
May you always find joy in the work that you do.
May you always find joy in the people you cherished.
May they always find joy in you.

May you always find joy in the change of the seasons;
The touch of a lover, the smile of a friend
May you always find joy where you least do expect it
And may the joy that you feel never end.

10:14 AM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Moving Quotes
Current mood: Radiant

This is a place for you to add quotes that you find moving or inspiring. Here's the first one on my list.



"If we don't believe in freedom of expression for
people we despise, we don't believe in it at all."
-Noam Chomsky

Next is..

1. Research your own experience
2. Absorb what is useful.
3. Reject what is useless
4. Add what is specifically your own... Bruce Lee

6:30 PM - 18 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment