Info Admin, Author at Somadome

Earth-Centered Meditation Guide

by Info Admin | Feb 1, 2022 | Body, Mind, Spirit

Earth-Centered Meditation Guide

Active visualization is one of the most potent forms of meditation because it engages our minds while calming our bodies. Visualization can be as simple as seeing the light entering the body or as complicated as seeing the moon and stars on a space journey.

A very centering principle for self-guided visualizing is to imagine nature because our bodies and minds sympathize with the healing aspects of nature. Whether sitting on a mountain we have seen, by a stream, or lake or forest, by engrossing all five of our senses deeply in nature, we stimulate the parts of our brain that really respond to these stimuli.

How To:
Sit in a calm, dimly lit place. Consider some calming music, a candle, or incense.
Breathe deeply, and smile to relax the facial musculature.
Imagine your favorite natural spot. Recall the little details and try to see what’s in your mind’s world around you: the more you ‘look’, the more the vision will grow.
Imagine a breeze, the smell, the sun, or the moon shine…
See the air around you as the most brilliant light, entering your body as you heal and releasing negativity, doubt, and fear, as you exhale.
Imagine from the base of your spine a thread connecting you to the magnum of the earth. As you sit up straighter, let the thread run through you to the sky.

Active Listening: A Guide

by Info Admin | Feb 1, 2022 | Mind

Active Listening: A Guide

Active listening is an art. It goes beyond just hearing, it’s a deeper listening that seeks to understand and connect. When we are actively listening, we mute our attention on our other 4 senses – sight, smell, taste and touch.

One way to practice active listening is during a conversation. While listening to what is being said, begin to focus on the sound quality and words being spoken. As you continue to focus in, you will tune out outside noises. Your attention on the words will shift how you relate to the person speaking, it creates a space for presence, strengthening your connection with who you are speaking with.

It is also possible to practice actively listening as a way to slow down. By reassigning your attention to a singular sound at a time, your mind and body begin to feel more grounded. Once you feel that shift, focus on another sound, from the busy streets to the sound of the wind, and so on. Stripping down sensations to individual elements brings a sense of awareness that opens up a sense of place and embodiment.

Another way to practice active listening is with music, which for many can become a form of active meditation.

Listening to music or making music, alters your senses and mood. Whether you are dancing or sitting down, close your eyes and “feel” the music, listen to all of its elements and notice the sensations that flow through you.

It is a particularly potent practice when dancing because the body becomes an active rhythmic meditation, allowing the senses to hear music, keeping the mind engaged on the elements of the sound while a flow state emerges.

No matter which one you choose to try out, practicing actively listening is a powerful way to connect with yourself and others.

Simple Ways To Honor Ancestors

by Info Admin | Feb 1, 2022 | Spirit

Simple Ways To Honor Ancestors

Many of us do not know the details about our lineage yet without our ancestors, we would not be here today. Even though we may feel disconnected from our ancestors, they are part of us physically, down to our DNA, and spiritually, looking over us.

Connecting with them can help us understand and discover things about who we are and where we are going. So how can we connect and honor them?

Here are a few simple ways for us to connect and honor them.

We can find pictures of them and really look at them. By looking into their eyes, the windows to their souls, their facial expression, their body language, what they wore, and where the picture was taken, we can feel closer to them.

We can reflect on the time periods they lived and think about the life they had, the things they did, what they celebrated, what they ate, what they enjoyed and what they struggled with.

To honor them, we can hang their pictures or place their pictures among our precious things. We can also create a space, an altar, a place to express gratitude to call on them for guidance and through meditation, we may be able to hear or see signs of this guidance. Especially in certain times of day like 11:11, where the portals into the spiritual world opens allowing our ancestors to point to signs or make us think of something that points us in the right direction. If you pray, prayer directed to them with words of gratitude and forgiveness, can also help us remember what came before us and what lies ahead.

Without them, there would be no us and tapping into the unbreakable bonds we have with our ancestors can lead us down the path we are meant to be on.

Breathing Techniques to Slow Down

by Info Admin | Feb 1, 2022 | Body

Breathing Techniques to Slow Down

Our breath is our lifeforce, contained in a single action is the essential building block to our consciousness. It is easy to lose track of our breathing, one minute aware, the next moving thoughtlessly through life again.

Our body responds powerfully to the differentiation in our breath patterns, relaxing when feeling full of air, and tightening when out of breath.

In moments of stress and panic, breathing shortens and speeds up exponentially, restricting our body and carrying less oxygen to the brain. Our body responds with continuous panic, until we slow down our breathing and gain control of our mind.

Square breath is one way to slow down breathing. To do this, inhale to a count of four, hold to a count of four, exhale to a count of four, and hold again to a count of four. To maintain the cycle, it is necessary to place attention solely on the breath, and to maintain awareness of the body’s interaction with the mind.

Another yogic breathing technique is alternate nostril breathing where you plug the right nostril while breathing in through the left, hold, then release through the right, then reverse the process by breathing in through the right nostril while holding the left, then letting go and plugging the right. This also helps to balance the right and left hemispheres of the brain, enabling more creativity and analytical thinking as well as activities.

If these techniques are too complicated, you can place awareness on your breath and think ‘inhale’ with each inhale, and ‘exhale’ with each exhale. This helps the mind place attention on the breath, steadying a chaotic mind and body.

You can also try a visualization technique. For this, you picture yourself inhaling golden air, and exhaling dark energies from your body. As you keep inhaling golden air and exhaling dark air, you begin to feel the chaotic feelings clear, welcoming in healing energies and relaxation.

For each of these techniques, practice them for several minutes until the mind is calm. Remember, our breath is our lifeforce, the anchor to our consciousness and the peace to our panic.

Prayer and Belief: the effect on the mind’s manifesting power

by Info Admin | Feb 1, 2022 | Spirit

Prayer and Belief: the effect on the mind’s manifesting power

The brain functions on different operating levels depending on what it’s doing. When the brain is excited by focused awareness of the present moment, it transitions into theta function, called a flow state. Merging action and awareness, we enter a flow state commonly experienced in artistic endeavors, sports, work, or even meditation and prayer.

The theta brain state is in harmonious frequency with the soul, charging the connection between the spirit and the oneness of the universe. When we align with the universal frequencies, we can begin manifesting desires and dreams.

Manifesting our dreams and desires is rooted in the power of words, as each utterance is a statement of belief, or prayer. In history, prayer has been dictated by religious edicts and books but it is important to realize the power of prayer and each word we think, especially what we say.

When we are not aligned with our true Self and operate at base levels, our words are less powerful. To make our words more powerful, it is important to speak in an active voice that is present, clear and invokes feelings of love.

For prayer, or statements of belief, it is unnecessary to address a G-d but we must invoke the power of feelings and have gratitude for Self and the world around you. This gives us access to the higher realms of imagination, where belief lives.

Belief and prayer and similar higher states of consciousness are made stronger when in conjunction with others. Throughout history, we see examples of this going very badly through stereotypes and fervor; examples like the Salem witch trials call to mind an escalation of belief to consensus reality. Yet on the flip side, we see miracles happen when minds collaborate and manifest shifting realities.

To pray effectively, we don’t need to be on our knees to pray, or beside our bed looking at a bright star. The power of prayer is accessed when we are focused and emoting intensely. Holding dear memories, singing or dancing to invoke flow state, creates a passionate bond between heart and head, allowing our thoughts and words to vibrate at an intense cellular level to manifest realities.