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Calling and praying fervently to Divine Mother WILL succeed for you. Divine Mother reaches down to pull us up - when we raise ourselves a little bit closer to her. (Divine Mother, Heavenly Father - whatever vision of God works for you.)
Ananda has a song we all love called "Keep Calling Him", from a Yogananda poem. The words include "even when there's no reply, keep calling Him." God's time is not our time. Whatever Divine Mother brings us is what we need. Our challenge and opportunity is how will we accept what comes. Pray to Divine Mother to know Her will, to accept what She sends, to ask to be a channel for Her light and love.
Have faith that God knows better than we do what is best for us. What is best may not, in this life, include bodily health, or wealth, or whatever else we want. We are here to work through our karma so we can move closer to God. Faith is trusting in God regardless of circumstances.
May you be a channel for Divine Mother’s light.
Timothy
COMING ONLINE SOON!
Vegetarian Cooking for Health & Vitality
An extraordinary new year-long online cooking program, led by Diksha McCord. This is a remarkably beautiful and informative year-long program that will be available to all through
Online with Ananda. You will be able to subscribe by the season or for a full year - at extremely affordable rates.
Devi Novak, Maria McSweeney, Jake Fuentes (from The Expanding Light kitchen), and other friends will make guest appearances.
There are 47 different short segments on “Learn the Basics” and so much more. Learn how to cook many delicious, nutritionally-balanced, and spirit-enriched meals, festive holiday meals, desserts like Turkish baklava, and specials like smoothies and breads. You will be able to download recipes and lots of related articles.
There has never been a program quite like it! You will not only learn to cook beautiful meals, but you’ll greatly enjoy the radiant teaching of Diksha - while you learn to spiritualize the food you prepare.
Please watch for the email announcement of the launch,
which we will send to in you in a few weeks. The email will tell you more, show you a sneak preview of the programming, and provide the details on how to subscribe. This wonderful program, full of content and joy, will be very affordable!
Inspiration from Yogananda
From the section: How to Pray Effectively
“When you pray to God, pray from your heart. Say what you really feel, not what you think He wants you to say or feel. Be completely sincere with Him. He knows anyway what you are thinking! But heartfelt prayer lends power to your thoughts. It focuses them, and centers them in Him. Without sincerity, that focus will be lacking.
“If you feel no devotion, then pray to Him, ‘Lord, help me to love You.’
“If your heart is restless with desires, pray to Him, ‘Lord, I have these desires, but I want You more than anything else. Help me to dissolve every limitation in Your great ocean of peace.’”
From: The Essence of the Self Realization,
Spend Thanksgiving with Your Spiritual Family
(even if you are just meeting them!)
Living with a Grateful Heart:
A Thanksgiving Retreat
Nov 23 - 27
Gratitude is the foundation of spiritual life and the secret of a happy life. Come join us and celebrate this special holiday, the beginning of a sacred season, with other grateful hearts. Cultivate the spirit of gratitude and feel the blessings permeating your days here. You’ll keep coming back.
Inspiration from Swami Kriyananda - Awareness
I behold the world with eyes of calmness
and of faith. For I know that, as I
view others, so will I myself become.
From: Affirmations for Self-Healing
Expanding Light News
Yoga Therapy
In early September 400 Yoga Teachers and Yoga Therapists from around the world gathered at Asilomar, by Monterey, CA, for a dynamic conference Symposium on Yoga Therapy and Research (SYTAR). The event focused on the development of standards for Yoga Therapists and their training, and shared exciting research and educational offerings.
The Expanding Light was a sponsor of this event. Nicole de Avilla, Mangala and Lalaan, of the Ananda Yoga Therapy Training team, participated. Nicole also presented a fascinating class: The Scientific Validation of the Stages of Self-Realization. Several attendees said that this class had changed their lives.
Yoga Therapy is increasingly being recognized as an integrative healing modality, with a rapidly growing body of research being done that is documenting the effectiveness of yoga (asana, pranayama, meditation, yogic lifestyle, etc.) in relieving symptoms in a wide variety of health conditions. 54 medical conditions have some published research demonstrating yoga’s effectiveness. Our teachers are contributing to the work being done by the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) to develop standards for Yoga Therapy. The Expanding Light began it’s Yoga Therapy Teacher Training program this year.
Here are some great lines from the conference: “Yoga Therapy is not fixing, it is ultimately about guiding people to experience Joy. “Yoga is a protective therapy that requires a daily dose in order to promote stress resilience.” “Yoga is a powerful tool for neuroplasticity, in reinforcing positive thinking and habits.”
Soldier's Heart
Recently The Expanding Light was the site of a truly moving and remarkable healing program for veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - run by a group called Soldier's Heart (www.soldiersheart.net). There were 32 participants - half were veterans, men and women, three just returned from Iraq. It was heart-breakingly apparent that some of these people were almost beyond their level of endurance. The other half of the attendees were staff or support.
The workshop was a resounding success - the three Iraq vets especially had very deep healing experiences. At least one of them had his first night's sleep without nightmares after seven tours of duty. The vibration of The Expanding Light and Ananda affected them all on a very deep level.
The main mode of healing is to allow the stories to be told that have been held in for way too long. It was touching to see how the older Viet Nam vets took the younger ones under their wings. One older vet told me - "There's lots of ideas about healing out there - but the only thing that truly heals is love".
As they left, there were many sincere, some teary-eyed, expressions of gratitude for what we have here. Many were touched that the community was praying for them. On visiting the Crystal Hermitage, a couple of soldiers were stunned at the contrast to what they were dealing with. One said: "This is the opposite of war - it's a place of love".
It has been our joy to serve our veterans and their loved ones.
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