Elevating Your Life - Interview With Paula Vail

Hello everyone and welcome to elevating your life.

Paula Vale here and I am excited to share another fun guest with everyone.

We have with us today Jenny Light.

She is a teacher of meditation and yoga on insight timer,

A spiritual healer and inspirational speaker and artist.

Jenny is a yoga elder of independent yoga network and a student of Paramahansa,

Yogananda.

Yogananda.

Oh,

Thank you.

Her latest book,

Awakening the Lotus of peace,

Yoga meditations for inner peace,

Is a beautifully illustrated yoga book on how to go deeper in meditation to find lasting peace with practical exercises.

Pranayama and meditations for inner calmness in your life.

Yoga has become very popular around the world.

Many people practice yoga simply as an exercise to keep fit.

Jenny's book is a guide to practice yoga to find peace and harmony within and in the world.

Awakening the Lotus of peace helps a reader to understand unity of spiritual and practical yoga.

I just love that.

I love that Jenny.

Thank you.

Yeah,

It's a book that was about a couple of years in the making.

It was the culmination of a year and a half's practice with my students.

We were looking at once a month we had this in depth session where we were looking at bringing deeper peace within.

And I've focused on allowing peace to come through all these different modes of peace.

So it's peace as rays that we're drinking.

It's peace as a fragrance,

Peace as a sound,

Peace as a deeper state of being within.

There's 15 chapters and each one looks at a different aspect of peace because we are all experiencing the world in different ways and some modes may resonate better with you than others.

So it's to make it accessible.

Yes,

Yes.

I think it's a lovely book.

And as I say,

It's a workbook of that process of moving within to find that peace that is inherent within each and every one of us.

It's just that we allow the external world to intrude in our peace.

We take on,

We ingest through social media,

Through all the interactions that we have during the day,

Through the television,

Through umpteen different external stimuli that we're so busy on the inside that it masks that inner peace.

That inner peace is there within us all.

Don't you think Paula?

Oh yes,

It is.

It's there,

You know,

Waiting for us,

In us,

Isn't it?

Oh gosh.

Jenny,

What brought you to do what you do and,

You know,

Get into all these aspects of inner peace and all this beautiful manifestations that you've created for yourself and others.

Tell us about that.

Well,

Actually,

I can't remember a time when I wasn't immersed in some form of yoga.

I mean,

As a child,

I had altered states of awareness,

Kundalini awakening,

Which I didn't realize was that until I was in my 20s.

But I started doing physical yoga at the age of nine.

This was way back in the 60s and I started meditating at age of 14.

I had my own practice,

Which I did every day at the age of 14.

I got into spiritual healing when I was in my 20s.

But yoga has been the mainstay of my life.

To me,

It's not just a series of exercises or a class that you go to once a week.

It's actually a whole way of life.

And with it,

It brings all of the.

In the Bible,

We would have,

You know,

The Ten Commandments in yoga.

We've got these states of what are things that are morally right to do,

But also spiritually right to do or not to do.

So it's a way of progressing yourself on the spiritual path.

And as I said,

I can't remember a time when I didn't have yoga in my life.

In fact,

I'll go so far as to say that I used to have recurring dreams where I was meditating in orange robes,

Sitting.

Which I take to be the lotus position,

Looking down over a valley and it was jungle.

And I only think now that that must have been India and it was like past life memory.

So I can't imagine a time when yoga wasn't part of my life.

It's just been so right in there.

It's right in there with the blood.

It's so visceral.

Yeah.

And I love your statement that it's a way of life.

You know,

We get into that inner peace movement and feeling and going to that space.

And that's a 24-7.

That can be with us every day,

All day,

Can't it?

It is.

And if something pops up like you've got a feeling of pride or there's an arc of anger,

Like somebody makes you feel a little bit angry or you have a feeling of jealousy or something else,

Those are all things I go,

Ah,

OK,

That's the ego coming in.

That's some aspect of myself that needs purified.

So then I work out.

I think I go into meditation,

I meditate on raising my vibration to the highest and then handing over that aspect to ask for it to be purified in my system.

So,

I mean,

Every moment,

Every day,

There's something that's coming out.

I find journaling very useful.

Do you do journaling where you write down at the end of the day what has occurred?

You know,

And that's I don't tend to dwell on the negative.

I merely make a note in the journal that there's something that I know is there.

I know that there's something that I need to clear out of myself.

And sometimes I make it a few days or even a week when something really quite engaged,

Shall we say?

Yes,

Yes,

I do a little bit of journaling.

And what I journal also is I'm very passionate on affirmations and saying yes and envisioning.

And,

You know,

I'm very big on every day.

What am I grateful for today?

That is a huge thing for me.

Yeah,

The gratitude practice is amazing.

If you want to make a transformation is to do a really concentrated gratitude practice for 28 days.

It's going to really transform your life and how you perceive the world.

You know,

Because there's this tendency that,

Well,

The ego,

The false self will drive us to see the world as it's somebody else's fault.

Somebody is to blame without actually saying,

Oh,

Well,

Actually that wouldn't have come up had that,

And you can call it the Samsara,

Your latent tendencies,

Your issues.

And had those not been embedded somewhere in your system,

In your astral body,

That if they weren't there,

Then you wouldn't be feeling it.

Actually,

It comes back.

The universe is only presenting a mirror,

Isn't it?

Yes.

It's a mirror.

So it's mirroring back to us.

Oh,

Well,

I'm feeling that because it's actually something within me.

And if it's something in somebody else that you don't like,

You're going to be in a you know,

You're finding fault with,

It's actually because you've got,

Believe it or not,

You've got that tendency if you're really,

Really honest with yourself.

Yeah.

And sometimes we don't really know even that that latent tendency is within us because we've covered it up,

We've hidden it from view,

And we don't want to look at it ourselves.

It's so well hidden.

It's buried down deep.

But anyway,

That we only feel it because that it mirrors,

It awakens that response within us because we're harboring it ourselves.

That's what I love about yoga,

Because it gives us an opportunity to cleanse,

To let go,

To release.

You know,

I've got a degree in psychology,

But I'm not a great fan of years and years in counseling.

I prefer to just do the yoga practice,

Get the body moving,

Get the energy,

The prana moving in the body,

And then sit in meditation and just hand over without thinking the outcome,

Without,

Right,

Digging deep in the story of the background of why you might have felt like that in this life.

But just to let it all go,

I find that so cathartic.

Yes,

Yes.

And meditation can do so much and take us into such a peaceful place.

Do you have some basic meditation tips that you can share with the audience?

What would you do?

I would say do something physical.

Like that's either do some bending and stretching if you don't know yoga,

Or do a few of your favorite yoga stretches just to get the prana moving,

Just to get the static released from the body,

And then come in to sit in whatever position is your comfort.

You could be sitting in a chair.

It could be sitting cross-legged.

It doesn't really matter whatever is your comfortable mode.

And allow the body to be upright.

That means it's not resting against the back of the chair,

That it has some resilience,

Some strength running through,

Because otherwise there's a tendency to go into sleep,

You know,

You become drowsy.

But allow the spine to be upright and then concentrate on the breathing.

There are quite a few breathing exercises which are really useful,

But I would say that on a rule of thumb,

It's to extend the exhale.

So on a normal ratio,

We're breathing in for the same amount of time as we're breathing out.

But if you extend the exhale,

That'll immediately start to calm the body,

Calm the mind,

And lengthen the brainwave.

So we're coming into a longer,

Slower brainwave,

Which changes the state of mind.

We start to move into the subconscious,

And then if we can stay with that breath technique,

We slide into a deeper state of awareness.

But I think one pitfall that most people get is that they become lovely and sleepy and drowsy,

And they mistake relaxation for meditation.

Meditation involves concentration,

So it's not telling your body to become,

Or your mind to become,

As the body relaxes,

The mind stays alert.

So it's not just relaxing and maybe feeling good and dozy,

It's relaxed but stay alert.

Yes.

Oh,

I love it.

And that takes a bit of training.

Yeah.

But I mean,

There's a place for relaxation.

I'm not knocking relaxation to listen to a guided meditation that's going to get you into a state of relaxation,

Perhaps,

So that you can sleep.

There is a place for that,

But if you're wanting to meditate,

And meditate takes you into a higher state of consciousness,

And in that higher state of consciousness,

You can make changes.

You are what you think,

So you can make a change then in whatever it is that you've observed in yourself that isn't wholesome.

Because remember,

That unwholesome part isn't you.

It isn't the soul self.

It is only goodness and light,

Peace and harmony,

Love and compassion.

But the ego self has the negative aspects and it's not you,

It's a pseudo self trying to give you opportunity to find out who you really are,

Not really to trip you up,

It's so that you can discover who you really are.

So in this meditation relaxed state,

Any tips on how to make those positive removals and get into that inner peace state?

What would you recommend the process for that?

Yes,

So do your breath technique,

Which will bring you into the more relaxed state,

But staying alert.

And then just concentrate on allowing light to come in.

Now some people perceive that to be coming in through the third eye,

Some people perceive it to be coming in through the crown of the head,

But just be concentrating on allowing light to come in through the crown of the head,

Through the chakra on the brow,

Allow that light to come in,

It cleanses down through the external of the body and the internal of the body.

And we are discharging out through the soles of the feet so that we are letting go of the steel,

The stagnant energy,

Let it go and allow yourself to be charged up with this higher energy.

And then when you've got that higher expanded,

More elevated consciousness,

Then you can either decide that you're going to hand over the issue that you've discovered.

And quite often I use my hands,

So I'll imagine I'm scooping it out of the body and just handing it over to the divine and I'll ask for it to be cleansed from me.

I find that very powerful.

It's something I've spontaneously done since,

Well my 20s,

Is just handing something over.

It's always about letting go.

Yes.

And saying a prayer that this is cleansed from me and just allowing the process to happen.

You know,

You're not looking for any result in this,

You're just handing over.

So the thinking kind of third dimensional mind can jump in and start to analyse what might be happening.

Just try and let it happen.

Just try and be your goal at this moment,

In that moment sorry,

Is to remain alert but at the same time passive,

Just allowing it to be lifted out.

It's lifted out of your energy field.

You can ask for the seed tendency.

That is the seed that's hidden somewhere in the auric field.

Sometimes it can be in the body,

Sometimes it can be in the head.

Ask for that seed root of that tendency which is negative,

Your negative tendency to be lifted out so it can be purified.

Yoga is a process of purifying those latent tendencies.

So you're allowing this to be lifted out of the body and then you can do your affirmation.

You know,

You ask the universe,

The divine,

That great oneness in light,

Whichever terminology you use,

It's all the same thing.

But you ask that your affirmation is powered by that great oneness.

So it's not just you in your smaller mind state,

It's this great consciousness that's actually going to help to elevate you.

So I am strong,

I am compassionate,

I am peaceful,

I am calm,

Whichever it is that you're wishing to instill in yourself.

So not focusing on the negative.

Never use the word note.

I once heard it said that the universe can't hear the word note,

Then whatever word that you say the universe just gives you.

So always make sure they don't phrase it positively.

Yes,

Because the universe is listening.

I'm feeling good just listening to you describe this.

I love it,

I love it,

I'm feeling so good.

And it's really cool in your book how you talk about peace and it can be experienced as a breeze,

A sound,

A feeling of expansiveness,

Even a fragrance.

I just loved that.

Yeah,

Peace comes in all different guises and some students really,

Really experience one of them and it's so uplifting to find that they just continue,

They take that practice well beyond the month that we worked on it.

But daily meditation is the way of making that quantifiable change within yourself.

There has to be a consistency of practice.

It's not a one off,

Although that can be quite powerful too,

But to make deep changes within yourself,

To make deep connection to the divine within yourself takes a lot of persistence.

Yes,

And would you say really this whole concept really is quite simple,

Simple yet very powerful.

What can we give ourselves with this?

Yes,

I think we can try and over complicate things.

Yeah,

There's a tendency in the human mind to make things really analyze it,

Over analyze it,

Overthink it,

Make it complicated.

But to me it's really simple.

It's so simple that we overlook it.

We don't see it.

We don't see what is right in front of us because we are right within us because it is so simple.

Yes,

Yes,

It really is.

And that really is beautiful.

It is beautiful and wonderful.

And we do have to kind of say,

Okay,

I'm going to remove the clutter and just take in this simple and let that inner peace come to us,

Huh?

I think that in itself though,

That practice of becoming simple,

Becoming as a child,

As Jesus said,

Is suffer little children to come unto me.

You meant to be as a child because with all that clutter in a Rorik field from past lives,

From earlier in this life,

All our latent tendencies,

All our karma and all the mental static and clutter,

The busy mind that we have,

Then we are not as little children.

We are,

Well,

Contaminated for want of a better word.

So to become really humble and simple as a child,

I think that takes quite a lot of practice and it takes,

Shall I say,

An effort that,

Or a willpower,

Sorry,

Probably an effort and a willpower that we're going to allow ourselves to let go of that ego need to be heard.

And I don't mean to say that you don't have a voice,

But this me,

Me,

Me,

Me,

This vying for attention kind of thing,

That ego need to be seen to be right,

To shout down over others,

Or just all the ways that the ego will bulldoze the situation and shout down the quiet inner voice that's saying,

No,

But there's a simpler way.

And being calmness and being humble and simple,

There is a beauty to that.

But do you know,

Cola,

It's taken me decades to realize that,

You know,

I recognize that ego vying for attention thing from my earlier life,

But it's taken decades.

And I think in actual fact,

There's a,

Aging and coming into that older age process has got so much bad press,

But in actual fact,

With it comes,

You know,

It tends to bring more peace and understanding because we know ourselves better.

And we know that some of our younger ways of doing things were not really very helpful.

You know,

Sometimes I can't recognize my younger self.

It's quite a transformation.

Because we do,

We evolve with age,

Don't we?

We do,

And in other societies,

You know,

A few centuries ago,

Or even last century,

Those that were elderly were revered,

You know,

Because they had something to contribute.

No,

We tend to think of age as,

You know,

Older age or aging process as a bad word,

But actually it brings with it some beauty.

It brings in some understanding.

So much so that you think you're just about to get to grips with this world,

Just,

You know,

As in what it really means and why you're really here before it's your time to be weaved off.

So that's a Scottish word.

It means lifted out of this life.

You know,

You're only just getting to grips with it.

And that is nice.

That is,

There's some peace in that.

Yes.

Well,

We just have a couple minutes left in the show.

And Jenny,

Will you give us your last message that you really would like everyone to think about and share where they can get a copy of Awakening the Lotus of Peace?

Yes,

I would say to everyone to meditate.

That's my biggest wish is that everyone has an attempt to meditate on a daily basis if they can,

Because it really,

Really,

Really will lead evidence on so many fronts.

Even if you've only got two minutes,

Make those two minutes when you really,

Really concentrate within and let nothing else intrude.

And Awakening the Lotus of Peace is available on Amazon.

And it's available right now.

It's been out for about three weeks or something.

And it's a treasure trove of inner peace exercises,

Breaths and meditations.

I think there's something in there for everybody.

And I don't know if you've picked up on this yet,

But I don't like to speak in flowery language.

I like to get straight to the point and make things simple.

So it's not a complicated tome of phrases and terminologies that the ordinary person couldn't understand.

I try and make things simple,

Because really,

As you've picked up,

Paula,

It is simple.

Yes.

I don't mean easy,

But it is simple.

You're right,

You're right.

And there is a difference between that too.

But it really is simple.

And it's something we can all move into and bring into our lives,

Isn't it?

And really make a change in our everyday,

Our mindset,

How we feel.

Absolutely.

I mean,

What are we here for?

I mean,

On earth?

What are we here for?

We're here to really understand who we are,

To find out who we are.

And that can only be found by going within.

Yeah.

The worthwhile journey.

Inside is everything,

Isn't it?

Everything else is just outside.

Yes.

That inner peace,

That love we have inside,

Really,

That's everything,

Isn't it?

Wow.

And we can experience that.

Your book is so fantastic and such a gift to so many,

Jenny.

I want to say thank you very much.

Oh,

You're most welcome.

Thank you,

Paula.

You're so welcome,

Honey.

It's been a neat pleasure.

This has been a pleasure.

This has been wonderful.

Love,

Hugs and blessings to you,

Jenny.

And everyone out there,

Love,

Hugs and blessings.

So happy to have you with us today.

And if you want to learn more about me,

Go to WellnessInspired.

Com.

It is an honor for me to share so many beautiful guests with all of you.

Thank you so much,

Everyone.

Bye.

Bye.