people stop hurting.

Most of the practices in this article were developed during 35 years of working with people. I feel what you are about to read is the answer to that little girl's prayer.

Many clients shared that they were able clear negative emotions within four to ten minutes by using one to three of these practices. Some clients told me about miraculous changes that happened within a few hours or days of working with these practices. Start with practice one, two and three or try five, four, six and two. You can have fun discovering which sequences work best for you.

1. Say "Yes to The Mess. One of the most powerful things we can do is to truly be with our feelings. A good first step is to state out loud what emotion we are feeling, "I am really angry," or "I am really worried." This alone can bring relief as we stop fighting our feelings.

We all have bad moods, it is a part of being human. Try to find the place in you that can be OK with what you are feeling. When we judge ourselves for feeling bad, it adds an extra layer of negativity to have to work through. So shift your attention away from judgmental thoughts and just meet the emotion directly.

For a few minutes invite the emotion to just be there and take up all the space it needs inside of you, without acting it out or repressing it. This helps the emotion begin to lift. Just gently hold it like a loving parent holds a crying child. Take your focus off of the story in your head and just feel the emotion wherever it is in your body. Just sit quietly and hold it with calm and compassionate presence. If you start thinking, just stop and return your attention to the emotion in your body.

Emotions often have a standard sequence. Typically, underneath anger is fear, then sadness or despair, and then tenderness, love and peace. Brandon Bayes in her book, The Journey, states that we can help the emotion release by asking out loud, "What is at the heart of or underneath this emotion?" Then, hold still, ignore the thoughts that come right away and wait for a feeling in your body. Then, hold that emotion until it lifts as much as it can and then state the question again for each emotion that comes up until you reach a state of peace.

Many of us learned caring means constantly worrying and thinking about an issue. While this is a strong habit for most of us, it is possible to greatly reduce obsessive thinking and the worry and anxiety it fuels.

2. Allow The Energy to Move! Let go of the story you are telling yourself. Try to be like a baby who has no idea about what is happening.

Work to keep your energy open like you are breathing in fresh crisp air on a mountain. Breathe openness into tight places. Become as open and soft as you can, especially in your belly and heart. When we hold onto our perception, it keeps us stuck in that reality. When we let go and open our energy up, it makes room for the situation to quickly change.

3. Ask for Help. When I'm in a funk, I ask out loud, "Please help me lift up my energy. Please help me to be more at peace." Pray or ask for whatever qualities of being you want to feel that don't depend on people or circumstances changing. It can be while you are driving, standing in line, or getting dressed.

4. Hold onto What is Important. In your heart of hearts, what is it you most want to be? If you had all the money and everything you needed, what would you feel? Ultimately, we want to feel a quality of being like freedom, joy, love or happiness.

When I remember what I truly want to be, it helps that reality become stronger than the current situation. When I can hold this even just a little bit, it is amazing how quickly it transforms outer reality. Focusing on feeling the love or peace in my heart also helps.

5. Ask to be a Higher Expression. Invite higher energy to run your life. Spending even three minutes inviting the best in your to run your life can create rapid change in your situation. While driving, I'll often say out loud, "Please let me be an expression of love, peace, wisdom, compassion and joy." Hearing these words helps me to embody those qualities.

6. Count Your Blessings. State out loud five things you are grateful for and spend 15 seconds feeling how you appreciate each one. I might say, "I am so grateful for the wonderful people in my life." Then, I'll feel the love we share and the fun we have.

7. Forgive others. When I feel hurt by someone, I try to find an excuse for them. So when a driver cuts in front of me, I'll think something like, "maybe they just lost their job," or I'll think, "I have accidentally done that myself, there goes me on a bad day."

If you are holding a judgment about someone, it hurts you because it keeps you stuck in bad energy. While you may be guided to address a wrong doing with that person, curtail obsessive thoughts about them and use practices two and six. Letting others be themselves, while you focus on being your highest self is the quickest way to improve negative situations.

Here, you can use prayer or intention, "Please help me to let go of judging Mary. Please help me have a higher understanding of this situation."

What works really well for me is to picture the person in my mind and send good energy from my heart to their heart and state my positive intention, "I really care about you and I want to work this out so we both win." When I see the person the next day, their attitude has often dramatically improved.

8. Don't Cling to Good Things. When something good comes along, enjoy and treasure it, but energetically maintain a little detachment. Don't limit your security or happiness to one person or situation. This keeps you open so your life can morph into even better scenarios.

9. Follow those Nudges. Intuition often communicates through a knowing in our belly or in a way other than how we usually receive ideas. It is often a very quiet but clear knowing. If you are hesitant to do what intuition suggests, you can ask, "If this would be good for me to do, please give me a clear and undeniable feeling."

If thinking about doing something makes you feel lighter, clearer or truer, it's a good sign that it will benefit you to act on the guidance.

10. Focus on What You Want. Think and talk about what you want, not what you don't want. Recently, instead of griping about how I wasn't feeling creative, I told a friend, "I need to be creative again." And that night, I wrote this article!

Try the practices that feel most powerful to you for three days and you may be delighted to discover you can create your own happiness!
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Valerie Stuart offers sessions in Presence, a direct connection to the truth of who you are. She specializes in healing, lifework, relationship, spiritual issues and working with diet to heal disease. More info at the Private Sessions tab at LivingInPresence.com

If you liked this article enough to make a donation to support this work that would be so appreciated. © November 2016

bring you deep into the present moment awareness and energize your body from the inside out. Tune in to tone up! By tuning into the awareness of your body while exercising, you will tone up quicker. Ask yourself these questions with playful curiosity as you journey through the sensations of your body: Where am I holding tension? What muscles am I exercising? Is my breathing shallow or deep? Can I feel my heartbeat? Is my heart racing?

Action Item:
Practice deep and complete conscious breathing through the nostrils or try one of these specified techniques for 2-5 minutes followed by 2-5 minutes observing the sensations in your body:

*Breath of Fire (if you do not have high blood pressure) which is rapid inhales and exhales through the nose while pumping your abdominals.

*Alternate Nostril Breath which is closing off one nostril at a time as you inhale and exhale alternating nostrils.

These conscious breathing techniques as well as practices like yoga, dancing and meditation help us to ignite and embody our in-body awareness.

2) Allow for “Aha” Moments
Do you plan each moment of each hour of your waking day? This can be depleting your energy.

Action Item:
Allow for magic “aha” moments in your day by simply not planning a portion of your day. It can be as little as 5-15 minutes in between your clients or appointments, but this unplanned time will energize you as you open up to the magic of the moment. I recommend journaling the “ahas” you discover…give this a go and you will be amazed at what shows up when you show up!

3) Slow down and Simplify:
One definition of stress is the inability to allow ourselves to relax during times when we actually could be relaxing. At high speed, the body gets addicted to and accustomed to a certain level of adrenaline pumping into our system and then our mind begins to tell us there is more we must do right now, so we never slow down. Does this sound familiar? Stress sucks the energy out of our body, creates disease and causes an imbalance in our nervous system. Slowing down in our daily activities and simplifying our day can make a huge impact on our energy level and peace of mind!

Action Item:
Try on an attitude of being efficiently laid back throughout your day focusing on the task at hand rather than the list of tasks you have set before you. Instead of speeding in your car to your next appointment, take deep breaths while driving at a slower pace and notice the details of your surroundings. Simplify your day by being realistic and orderly in your planning including how and when you will take time to nourish yourself. Do not multi-task . This creates commotion in the mind and stress in the body. Slow motion cuts through commotion. Flow through your day one step, one task at a time. Take a minimum of 15 minutes to pause and eat your meal rather than eating on the go. Where and how can you move at a slower pace in your actions while still being productive? Slowing down and simplifying your day will alchemize energy in your body.

4) Enjoy Exercising Efficiently and Effectively
When exercising be sure that you are enjoying your routine, that it is a well-balanced effective plan and that you are being efficient with your time and within each of your movements. If you are going to carve out time to exercise, it might as well be enjoyable! Joy inspires energy in the body. We all lead busy lives, so your routine really needs to focus on quality and diversity rather than quantity of time.

Action Item:
When you are strength training or working out your core, be efficient in your movements to recruit each muscle fiber rather than quickly flying through a bunch of reps using momentum to cheat. Move at half your pace in each rep. If you are taking a hike for cardiovascular training, I recommend creating an efficient and effective plan so you get the most out of your time. Be clear with your intention, deciding beforehand if you are working out anaerobically (oxygen depleted as in strength training) or aerobically (in your “fat burning zone”). A simple talk test during your cardio routine will let you know if your exercising muscles are receiving appropriate oxygen to burn fat. If you can talk in between breaths, you are burning fat. Finally, try out new activities, a variety of trails and running/cycling routes to mix it up a bit. This will bring joy to your workouts and provide an additional challenge to your body and mind as you try to adapt to the freshness in your routine. Dancing to inspiring music that you love brings great joy to the body and is a great way to get your exercise! A happy heart says goodbye to boredom and hello to joy and energy!

Shanti Medina is a fitness and wellness coach specializing in core integration and stabilization, life’s transitions, empowered healing, and spiritual transformations. Her passion lies in creating and celebrating community while inspiring her clients and students to move from a strong, balanced core in all aspects of their lives. Shanti humbly holds the certifications of Reiki Master/Teacher, Advanced Pranic Healer, American Council on Exercise Certified Personal Trainer and Wellness Coach, Yoga and Pilates instructor, and Advanced Sports Nutritionist. She infuses the wisdom of these teachings to guide her students and clients into a unique somatic journey of discovery, observation and play to live by her tag line: Don’t Just Exercise, Energize™. You can find out more about Shanti by visiting her website at EnergizeShanti.com or becoming part of her Energize facebook community at: EnergizeShanti.

belief systems for support and understanding. Yet it never resulted in a better world on a global level. An improved personal life perhaps, but not a better planet.
So one can wonder why, after centuries of religious or spiritual teachings on love, forgiveness, presence or service, the world situation has not improved spiritually; why acts of sharing and forgiveness are the exception, not the norm. We can guess that the big majority of people wasn’t ready for these teachings, that the failure to bring peace, love or the end of suffering on earth is the failure of humanity. After all, the spiritual realm did its job, didn’t it? So why are people not listening?

The answer lies in each one of us. Our perception of the world is a very personal thing, it involves our mind and the infinite interpretations it can make about our experiences. This is how most of us lead our lives: We base our actions on what our minds are telling us. Yet many spiritual teachings tell us to go the other way: love, meditate, watch your mind, forgive, practice compassion, open your heart. The discrepancy between the teachings and what we do with them is as wide as the gap between faith and belief. Faith is the mysterious spiritual touch which brings a sacred dimension to our life. Faith doesn’t abide by rules. Unlike belief, it has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with following one’s heart. Faith is our personal affair with our spiritual Self. Are we in a relationship with our soul or are we cut off from it? We can tell by the quality of our life: A person who has faith acts from a place of trust and inner knowledge. A person who doesn’t have faith acts from the mind, this person doesn’t trust life and often second-guesses himself.

Faith is this indescribable feeling of knowing what’s right for oneself and acting on it. That’s what soul work is about: the inner knowledge of what one has to learn and do in this lifetime. Every soul has its purpose, every heart its calling. The work required to discover it is a spiritual journey some feel drawn to take. As you embark on this path, the real adventure begins, a new perspective slowly arises, old attachments vanish to leave room for new experiences. Your outlook on life shifts to incorporate spiritual realities and your inner transformation is mirrored in the outer world.

Every spiritual journey leads to a better understanding of your place in the world. Spiritual practice helps you connect with your Self, which is a drop in the sea of consciousness. As you connect with consciousness, you slowly learn that there is an intelligent design underlying your life, and that the spiritual realm contains all you need to know. So why not pick up a spiritual practice?

How do we define spiritual practice? A spiritual practice is the very simple act of getting in touch with your Self. Not with your mind, your feelings or your body, but with this sense of presence or being behind them. How to go about it is a matter of personal preference.
A few things should guide your choice: Religion or tradition do not matter, except to your heart, so it is very important to follow your intuition, not your mind (or another’s).Practice will make all the difference: Spirituality is an experience, not an intellectual pastime. Discouragement is common, the best way to deal with it is not to expect anything from your practice. Flowers only bloom in the right season, provided they were well taken care of. Your spiritual practice also will bloom in the right season.

Sophie Rose is the author of “The Way of The heart, Teachings of Jeshua and Mary Magdalene. ISBN: 978-146631-4030 List price: US $13.95
She is a contributing author of The Sacred Shift, Co-Creating your Future, due late 2011.She can be contacted through TheWayOfTheHeartCourse.com
Copyright 2011 Sophie Rose

zodiac, spending approximately one year in each sign. The annual retrograde cycle of Jupiter is four months of the year; a period of time in which the archetype of Jupiter synthesized with the sign it is moving through, needs to be reviewed. Jupiter stationed at 10°21' Taurus on the 27th August 2011 before turning retrograde on the 30th August 2011. It will station again at 00°22' Taurus on December 23, 2011 before turning direct on December 25, 2011.

In Evolutionary Astrology, Jupiter is considered to be the archetype of the right brain, the intuitive function. It is the abstract part of the brain which seeks to understand life philosophically and metaphysically. The meanings behind all the facts and phenomena are what Jupiter searches for in order to understand the larger picture. It is always reaching for a deeper, more holistic, understanding of life and wants to be as inclusive as possible. For this reason, Jupiter is considered to be the principle of growth and expansion. It creates faith, hope, and optimism towards the potential it intuitively grasps and wants the freedom to explore. Through Jupiter, we start to believe in something, it becomes a personal truth that provides meaning and direction about how to make sense of the world. Personal truth is very different to universal truth as symbolized by Neptune. A typical distortion of Jupiter is to become too attached to one’s own personal belief’s as the one and only truth. This can create insecurity and defensiveness when confronted by the facts (Gemini, the natural opposition), that contradict that personal truth. Defensiveness stems from the need to feel secure about one’s personal meaning and interpretation of the world. Jupiter is well known for it’s tendency towards excess and exaggeration, which can be a form of compensation for the truth and feelings of inferiority; for example, when someone refuses to face the facts and instead is wildly dishonest or loose with the information and data. In extreme cases, total self-righteousness and refusal to listen to other points of view can occur as one starts to believe in one‘s own lies. The intuitive function of Jupiter knows something without knowing how it got there; the details and facts may be unobtainable or simply irrelevant. Visions can occur that are perceived to come from larger or more intelligent forces of the universe. Sometimes these visions represent the truth, other times they can be a reflection of a subconscious personal desire. The lesson for us all to remember is that the truth is relative.

Jupiter is the archetype of what is termed in Evolutionary Astrology as natural law. Natural law relates to the natural principles of creation and how creation operates, as opposed to conditioned indoctrination. A natural manifestation of Jupiter is truth and honesty, and a distortion of Jupiter is outright lies, dishonesty, and false doctrines. When Jupiter functions at its most natural level it is an inspirational teacher, philosopher, explorer, and seeker; the bearer of wisdom, knowledge, and humor!

Archetypically, Jupiter is the ruling planet of the sign Sagittarius, which is a mutable fire sign. Mutable fire is energy moving outward, it seeks to move, grow, and expand; it is not accustomed to restriction of any kind. Therefore, it is an interesting dynamic we now have with Jupiter in the sign of Taurus. Taurus is a fixed earth sign, energy moving inward. Taurus wants to sustain and maintain whatever was initiated in the previous sign of Aries. The natural expansive nature of Jupiter is getting slowed down in the cautious sign of Taurus. The inspiration and intuitiveness of Jupiter now needs to be grounded, to be made real, to manifest something productive and sustainable here on this Earth! The energy of Taurus will be pacing the expansive energy of Jupiter, creating an ebb and flow of growth followed by sustainability.

Taurus represents our basic essential needs of survival and security both on an inner and outer level. On an outer level, Taurus relates to physical resources such as food, clothing, shelter, money, our physical bodies, etc. On an inner level, Taurus relates to our value system, self-sufficiency, self-acceptance, self-love, self-understanding, perseverance, and endurance. With Jupiter transiting through Taurus, our belief systems (Jupiter), about what we value (Taurus), are going to be of prime importance. Each individual has unique life circumstances and unique value systems. For one person, it may be realizing that having 2 cars is doable and 3 cars are not really necessary; for another it may choosing between dinner that evening and a pair of shoes; yet for another it may be realizing that self-love and inner security are more productive than trying to gain acceptance through material means. With Jupiter in Taurus we are learning to be honest with ourselves and with others; to value authenticity and integrity.

Jupiter in Taurus is showing us what is valuable whether that be luxuries, basic survival, or inner resources. For those searching for inner growth and meaning on a personal or spiritual level, belief systems (Jupiter), need to be practical (Taurus), and simple (Taurus), for conscious growth and expansion (Jupiter) to occur. Jupiter in Taurus wants to find and search for philosophies that make sense in the world here and now?not in some abstract future. Ultimately, the only resource is the transcendent source itself that can only be found within, yet while in a physical body, we still need to create, build, and sustain our physical lives.

One of the fundamental lessons of Jupiter in Taurus is learning how to do more with less. With an unstable economy we are adjusting to how to make what we currently have (Taurus) go further (Jupiter). Is your house or apartment overflowing with stuff? A good opportunity to create more space (Jupiter), could be to sell some belongings (Taurus), that you really don’t need (Taurus). More and more people are bartering instead of paying for goods and services. With Jupiter in Taurus, we are realizing that money is just an energetic exchange; our inner value and creativity is a resource which can be profitable energetically. Self-sufficiency (Taurus) is developed when we are able to create our own resources, inner and outer, that we need to survive. The essence of Jupiter in Taurus is to expand our level of self-love to the point where we gain enough inner-security to stand strong and solid in the midst of the storms around us.

One main distortion associated with the sign of Taurus is that of getting stuck, fixed, and resistant to change. When an astrological archetype starts to manifest in a distorted fashion, it’s natural oppositional sign creates tension and confrontation. The natural opposition of Taurus is Scorpio. Scorpio’s nature is in itself confrontational and when dealing with a stagnating bull, will literally pull the earth from underneath whatever or whoever is clinging to those unproductive security patterns. When embracing Scorpio, Taurus learns that resistance is futile, and one’s own limitations (Scorpio) must be faced head on. For example, if you cling to that old wardrobe of clothes that you might “need one day,” you may find that a sudden gas leak in your house blows them up! And with expansive Jupiter in Taurus, you may lose much more than just the clothes. Jupiter is a mutable archetype, which is helping the fixed energy of Taurus become more adaptable. Jupiter in Taurus is about having a deeper and more authentic inner relationship with ourselves. If we are too co-dependent on anything outside of ourselves, whether it is the relationship, the job, the bank account, the house, etc, the Scorpio polarity will make us pay attention. Anything that is no longer serving us will be forcefully removed in order to bring attention to those unconscious emotional security patterns (Scorpio) that are causing stagnation (Taurus), and preventing deeper soul growth (Scorpio).

Between August 30th and December 25th when Jupiter is retrograde, all belief’s, intuitions, and values associated with our inner and outer resources, will be deeply reviewed in order to de-condition from that which is no longer working. The outward expansive energy or Jupiter will be pulled inward to reflect upon what needs to be released in order to serve more fruitful and sustainable growth moving forward. New intuitions will surface at this time as energy is freed from old patterns, values, and beliefs; it is important to pay attention to your what your intuition is telling you at this time. Values and beliefs that have held strong in this, and previous lifetimes, will be deeply questioned. What may have previously been a strongly held and valuable truth, may now appear to be meaningless. While this may feel disconcerting, it is a necessary step in adjusting to what is important and sustainable moving forward. Beliefs about relating to our own self, how we know ourselves, expanding our inner resources of strength, perseverance, and endurance, will all come under the microscope. Beliefs about sensual pleasure and sexuality (Taurus), and how connected we feel to our bodies will be under review.

With Jupiter retrograding in Taurus, we will deeply question how to expand and manifest our resources in a way that is sustainable. One example that happened recently where I live in Boulder, was a rally outside the County Courthouse to keep Boulder GMO free. Many members of the community shared their beliefs (Jupiter) about the dangers of GMO’s in response to land (Taurus) being purchased to grow all GMO crops. County Commissioners were being asked to review their beliefs (Jupiter retrograde) about what is a more sustainable (Taurus) and productive (Taurus) use of the land. It was pointed out that GMO crops are destroying (Scorpio) the organisms within the soil (Taurus), creating harmful mutations (Scorpio), and threatening our whole food supply (Taurus) due to contamination from cross-pollination. The side-effects of GMO’s are responsible for killing (Scorpio) living organisms, including people. The solution the people of Boulder are asking for is a sustainable one; let local farmers use the land to grow organic food. Simple!

Author: Heidi Larner
Based on the teachings of Jeffrey Wolf Green, founder of Evolutionary Astrology