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Wake Up or Bust!

As I write this blog post we’re days away from the 2014 Wake Up Festival, and I’m thinking about all of the things I have to do before heading up to Estes Park for four days of camping and “WUFing” as we like to call it. But I’m also thinking about what my intentions are and why I am excited to be fortunate enough to be able to attend. Having experienced the last two Wake Up Festivals, I’m looking forward to immersing myself in the unique energy field that is created by all of the participants. You can feel it the second you get out of your car on the grounds of the YMCA. It’s as if the coming together of several hundred people with the shared intention of becoming more conscious, present, and authentic generates the perfect environment in which such aspirations can become reality. It’s powerful and infectious. And it needs to be if it’s going to fuel changes that continue long after the conclusion of the Wake Up Festival. After all, it’s one thing to spend a week practicing with others but another matter to live what we learn when we return to our everyday lives.

So as I deal with the details of packing and travel and so on, I hope that I’m able to remember why I’m going in the first place, to go with the flow once I get up there without attachment to programs and agendas, and to stay present with the beautiful people and surroundings. And if I’m lucky, the energy of transformation that all of us create will indeed support positive developments for each of us as we move toward the end of another year.

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The gift of pure rest

Please give yourself the gift of rest from trying so hard to ‘change,’ ‘heal,’ ‘transform,’ and ‘awaken.’ It can be so exhausting to chronically abandon the here and now in the name of great project of the improvement of ‘me.’ Take some time on this new day to set aside the frenetic scramble to be other than what you are.

Love yourself enough to set aside your questions and demand for understanding, even for a moment, and sink into your sacred body and senses, connect with the natural world, and with the aliveness within. Open your heart to the shimmering forms around you, blooming in front of your very own eyes and inviting you into union with natural radiant presence. Dare to consider that nothing is missing and nothing has gone wrong.

Allow today to be a day of solace from the weary journey, from finding ‘answers’ to questions, and from changing yourself from one thing into another. Whatever state of consciousness is arising now is the perfect place to start—to meet yourself, others, and the sacred world as if for the first time. You need not go anywhere else or become anyone else to know this. For love is forming as your body and your senses and your experience right here and right now.

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Breathing Meditations – a new free gift from Sou...

The transformational power inherent in the simple act of breathing is truly remarkable. With Breathing Meditations, join seven Sounds True authors for a series of simple guided practices that can open you to the many benefits of breathwork—from a deeper sense of presence and serenity in the moment, to revitalized health and ease of being, to creative insight and higher perspective, and more.

Stream or download Breathing Meditations here at no cost!

Tracks include:

1. “Breathing Meditation” by Jack Kornfield from Meditation for Beginners

Learn the art of following the breath, a foundational skill for all meditators, with Jack Kornfield, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society.

2. “The Relaxing Breath” by Andrew Weil, MD from Breathing: The Master Key to Self-Healing

Dr. Andrew Weil gives us a potent practice for activating the body’s relaxation response and returning to balance after stressful situations.

3. “Breath Meditation” by Sharon Salzberg from Guided Meditations for Love and Wisdom

A mindful breathing practice that helps us open the heart and experience compassion for ourselves and others.

4. “Soft Belly” by James Gordon, MD from Freedom from Depression

Harvard-educated psychiatrist Dr. James Gordon presents a guided exercise for liberating stuck energy in the body.

5. “Observing the Breath” by Shinzen Young from Meditation: A Beginner’s Guide

An introductory meditation inviting us to discover what can happen through full and complete attention to the breath.

6. “The Power Breath” by Mark Thornton from Meditation in a New York Minute

Executive meditation coach Mark Thornton teaches us a stress-reducing practice that both relaxes and reenergizes the body.

7. “Meditation on the Breath” by Sally Kempton from Beginning Meditation

A guided meditation in which our breath becomes the doorway to the depths of the self.

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Ep 10 Bonus: The Shambala Warrior Prophecy

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We wanted to separate the story from Episode 10 so that you can come back to the story again and again, whenever you need the inspiration and wisdom it offers. Here is Joanna telling the Shambhala Warrior Prophecy. 

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