Aging: Senescence as Creative Inspiration
[Exploring Life] It is strange to contemplate aging. The process of getting older often seems so gradual as to be imperceptible. The idea of getting older can create a sense of discomfort since the very mention of it requires us to come into closer proximity with the reality of our own impermanence. We have an [...]
Aging: An Acquaintance With Absence
[Exploring Life] Absence is an emotional state of awareness in which we feel a deep sense of loss; the death of a loved one or friend invokes the deepest sense of loss. The feeling of absence originates in the poignant contrast between the presence of someone or something and the impossibility of ever being able [...]
Spiritual Endeavour: Dark Night of the Soul – 5
[Exploring Life] A dark night of the soul is an invitation to our own renaissance. The curse of seemingly inescapable psychological and spiritual burdens is a threshold that immerses us in a dark unrelenting entanglement with our own spiritual-renewal. It is deep within the midst of our most intense struggles in life that we are [...]
Spiritual Quality: Equanimity
We find ourselves today in the midst of an economic storm born in the shadowy underworld of corporate greed, want, superficiality, and narcissism that threatens the sustainability of our immediate lifestyle. And we stand together in the midst of an approaching environmental tsunami in which our attempts to own and commoditize the natural world will [...]
Food: Eating Healthy to Alleviate Anxiety Disorder
Ryan Rivera is the publisher and founder of the Calm Clinic, a website designed to help people find valuable information about anxiety disorders. Ryan speaks directly from personal experience. After spending seven years suffering from panic attacks, severe anxiety, agoraphobia, social anxiety, unbearable physical symptoms, headaches, neck pains, constant tension, diarrhea, palpitations, pounding heart, Ryan [...]
Breathing: A Confluence of Body, Mind, and Spirit – 2
[Exploring Life] Breathing Into Discernment: The first article in this series explored the importance of developing breath awareness as a means to explore the intuitive and deeply integrative realm of thoughts, feelings, and emotions that flow throughout the confluence of our everyday lives. Breathing affects everything in our experience, and our first task is to [...]
Contemplation: The Mind in the Yoga Sutras -3
[Exploring Life] Mental Afflictions- The Origin of Discontent: The purpose of yoga is to provide a pathway out of suffering. All suffering originates in the mind. The mind and body are intimately interconnected, meaning that the intentions of our thoughts manifest themselves throughout the physical structure of our body. An acute painful thought creates a [...]