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Showing posts with label meditation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meditation. Show all posts

December 25, 2009

Silence is Golden

I had no idea now important it would be for me to speak Portuguese here.  I thought that I would be able to get by with some very poor sign language and English but NO I was very very wrong!  No-one speaks English here so I am giving myself a crash course in Portuguese with my little phrase book and using a lot of sign language!  Apart from being in the hostel a few days ago I really haven’t met many English speaking people and to be honest it is really nice not to have to talk! 

We talk all the time – well I do anyway!  For work, socialising, and day to day getting around we never have time to just be silent unless we are sleeping or on a silent retreat!  These last few days I have had time to listen to what is going on inside my head rather than reacting to my monkey mind that constantly reacts off conversations I have had during the day.  It has been amazing to see what it is that is important and true to me. 


My best friend has been on a lot of Vipassana courses and has been trying to gently nudge me to doing one and honestly I want to do it but have been so scared up to now of having to go ‘inside’ for 10 days…. Vipassana It is a type of meditation technique that is a 10 silent retreat with about 8 hours of mediation a day… daunting I know but after these last few days of being still and much more silent that I normally am I have decided that I am ready to do the course and am going to sign up for one in the new year… I actually can’t wait! 

Being still and silent in this crazy world is so important for us to digest what is going on, not only in our daily lives, but also giving us the time to listen to what is being said inside of us. 

Try and be silent and still for a couple of hours and see what comes up…. Whether you decide to use the time to meditate or just lie down and do nothing or go for along walk by yourself.  See how it makes you feel and what might come up for you….. You never know it might inspire you to do a vipassana course as well!

December 17, 2009

Got to know what your running from before you know where your running to...

"Got to know what your running from before you know where your running to" is a line out of a song "Big BW" by Fat Freddy's Drop" I was ironically running this morning and was listening to this song and it made me stop and smile and think....


I feel that from my own experience it is so important to deal with our past and what makes us run in the first place, the things that make us make the same patterns over and over again before we can really move on in our journey we call life.  


On the first night of a Ganesh retreat we ask our guests to do a walking meditation, we get everyone to take their shoes off and walk outside very very slowly, asking them to be very conscious of each step they take.  It is amazing how difficult it is to balance when you are walking that slowly which shows us that we are always running so fast in our daily lives that when we slow right down we can see that we are not quite as balanced as we should be and also quite ungrounded. 


Try doing a walking meditation (you can do it inside if it is too cold outside – we do it outside as walking barefoot on the earth is a very grounding exercise in itself.)  it will make you aware of how much you need to slow down and once we slow down you can really see what your patterns are and how to break them if you need to…


Love and light x

Healing in Brazil

I am in the mountains in Brasilia at the moment seeing a healer called "John of God".  People from all over the world come to see him.  He has healed terminally ill patients, people that cannot walk to emotional problems.  He says that he has 6 spirits that are doctors that work through him and that he is literally a body for them to work through.  I was told by a friend that I should come and visit him as I would find it really interesting, and as I was already coming to Brazil I thought why not...  I really haven't done any research on him as I wanted to just come and experience what ever it was that was suppose to come to me.

The night before I was to stand before the him "The Entity" I had dinner with a lady who had stage 3 cancer a year ago and was cured by him... she lives here and volunteers at the "casa" now.  She told me that I had to have 3 things to ask for on the day,  I really had no idea what to ask for... so I thought about it over night and came up with 2 things to do with letting go of the past and living in the present and that I was healthy.

At 7.30am the next morning I arrived at the "casa" dressed all in white.  We all sat in this room listening to a few people talk... it is all in Portuguese so I had know idea what they were saying.  I started getting really nervous as was thinking that maybe the reason that I had come here was that I had something wrong with my health that I knew nothing about, and I would have to have a 'physic surgery'... anyway I sat in this room and waited for my turn to get in line.  We stood in a single file and slowly arrived into this other room where there must have been 50 people meditating.  This was the "current" room where they say that most of the healing happens as the "entities" heal you while meditating.  I arrived in-front of John of God and my heart was racing.... I had the interpreter with me and he handed him my questions... it is true what they say, he is literally a body, looking in his eyes was not like looking at someone, you could honestly see that it wasn't him looking at you and diagnosing you it was a greater spirit looking through him.  He then said to me "current"  which met that I had to go and sit with the others and meditate until the end of the session.  At that moment I felt a lot of relief that there wasn't anything wrong with me that I needed herbs or surgery....

The morning session then ended and we broke for lunch - but first we were told to drink a cup of blessed water as we left the room and then go for holy soup, we were told that it was very holy as had been blessed and we were to have a tiny bit of it even if we were not hungry.

I then came back to the "current" room for the afternoon session.  This is when the healing happens so if you are told to have surgery this is when you have it while everyone else is in the same room meditating.  I sat in meditation for 2 hours which is the longest I have ever sat for - I started getting very fidgety after about 1 hour...

When I receive or give a healing I see visions behind my third eye, and they are random images but mean something to either myself or the person I am giving the treatment to but it never happens during meditation...  I started seeing visions of Christ on the cross - now you need to know that I am not religious in any way so actually being here is quite a challenge in that sense, and the visions came about 4 or 5 times.  Also could feel tingling on the back of my head.  It really was an amazing experience.

Everyone then told me to go back the next day and stand in-front of him again or go straight to Current.  I thought a lot last night that I felt that I really don't belong here... not because that I am any different than anyone but because the people here are so ill and really are here for a lot of healing.  They are so full of hope which is beautiful to see but really made me realise that I am healthy and a happy person and am doing what I love doing and have so much that I want to do and achieve and and it is all possible for me  and that it is important to really LIVE and stop worrying about the minor things in life.

The last few days I have been feeling a bit over weight like everyone does sometimes... so I thought to myself that that thought or feeling doesn't mean anything and it is my choice how I process it in my mind so this morning I went for a half an hour run through the mountains which was absolutely stunning then came back to my room and did some sun salutation and breathing exercise and felt great!

How you start your day really has a huge effect on the rest of your day, so if you are feeling over weight, tired, low or unhappy  stand in front of the mirror and what ever negative emotion you are feeling say to yourself out loud the opposite.  "I am happy today and feel and look great" your subconscious will pick up on this positive mantra and then your body will react to these words and create the positive emotion in  your body.... Try it!

This trip has been a huge and wonderful eye opener to me and I feel blessed to be able to come on this adventure and to have had such a great realisation...

love and light x

December 15, 2009

How it all came about...

I set up Ganesh Retreats because I was looking for a weekend break that would teach me how to integrate yoga, meditation, healthy food into my life that I live without it taking over and most importantly wouldn't break the bank so that I could go back a few times over the year... but I couldn't find any so I thought there must be some people out there who are looking for the same thing... This all came about while I was on an amazing life changing trip to India as I thought you must be able to get this feeling of serenity back home and not have to fly all the way to India every time you need a fix!n I know it sounds very cliche to say but, I was meditating in Himalayas and 'Ganesh Retreats' literally came to me in a vision, the name, the concept and how to set it all up. So I came back to London about 4 months later I had my first retreat up and running.

Ganesh is the Hindu God of the remover of obstacles and we give you the skills, knowledge and support to help you integrate a holistic life so you can remove your obstacles yourself... teaching you small techniques to stay calm and grounded in the the whirl wind we call life.

On the retreat you will have daily yoga, meditation and breathing lessons, massage, energy healing, delicious nutritious food made in-front of your eyes by our amazing chefs, cooking lessons and an introduction to crystal healing. Each member of The Team is there to be your support and help guide, you can see which team member is on each retreat on the Dates page of the website.

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Love and light

Natasha