Rock Of Spiritual Strength In Times Of Adversity

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This is Living Lightly with Jenny Light.

Yogic philosophy,

Guided meditations and pranayamas.

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Welcome to today's session.

Enjoy.

Today's session is on spiritual strength in times of adversity.

We're working with finding those parts within us which are the ego self,

Which are no longer helpful ways to channel our life force through and decide that we're going to clean up our spiritual garden,

Pluck out all of those weeds of adversity.

When you're passing through the difficulties and tests of life and decide that we're going to do it very differently,

Dig into the soil of your consciousness and release the fountain of spiritual strength that lies within.

To fly away from problems may seem the easiest solution but you gain strength only when you wrestle with a strong opponent.

I would say though that the challenges are being drawn towards you because of your own state of inner being.

Even though they may be hidden to yourself,

You're drawing them magnetically towards you because there's lessons that you need to learn.

Bring them to the fore.

It's like getting the poison out of a wound.

Just draw it out,

Welcome it because the tests will come anyway.

It's just a natural state of being in a world of duality between pleasure and pain,

Between loss and gain,

Between strength and weakness,

Fear,

Love.

We're in this constant flux between one and the other in moments where you have the balance in the center between the two but that's not where you're growing.

You're growing by facing these things.

You're growing when you take up the inner challenge.

Remember the battle is not on an exterior but an interior.

The Bhagavad Gita talks about the battle of life.

In fact the word Bhagavad Gita means song of the soul,

Though it's the soul's journey.

Facing whatever challenges are going to present.

They'll present to you as an exterior problem because they're actually addressing,

They're bringing to the fore like a poultice will draw,

A puss out of a wound.

They're drawing that aspect that's poisonous within,

A state that's actually at odds with who you really are.

That's being drawn to the fore.

So we're learning to welcome those,

Strange as that may be.

So they are truly whatever you're being confronted with is the next step in your unfoldment.

If you could see it with the eyes of wisdom,

If you could see it the way I see it,

You would really welcome it because you're no longer stuck and excuse me if I feel quite emotional but you're no longer stuck in that same old cycle of of hurt and pain.

Hurt and pain around the same old issue lifetime after lifetime.

If you welcome it then you're allowing that for once and for all,

And I mean that,

For once and for all to no longer be the lynchstone of your life.

Your perfection as a soul has been occluded by these perpetuated ways of being.

They are darkness covering the light of the soul and that is self-inflicted and as an unfoldment you are opening like the petals of a flower.

Your whole soul is opening to that perfection within to reveal that innate perfection.

So that you can bring yourself into a state of peace.

Beware of sitting upright on the sick bones with the spine as a shaft of light with the head lightly poised on the top and like a lighthouse on the rocks having a firm base with the light of the lighthouse on the top.

So that even though you may look overseas of adversity you stand firm on the rock and shine out light.

Shining out light shining out light over all that you purvey.

We're working first of all on having a strong base working with the pranayama square breath which is an equal ratio breath breathing in for a count of four hold the breath for a count of four breathing out for a count of four and hold the breath if possible for a count of four.

But we're using that square of the breath in four hold four out four hold four so it's got four parts we're making a square with it mapped out onto the abdomen.

So imagining you have a square on the belly that's left hip left rib right rib to right hip so we have this square that maps out from hip bones to the lower ribs.

The movement is to start with the left hip bone and breathing in take the breath to the left lower rib hold the breath as you mentally trace the square to the right lower rib breathing out to the right hip and then mentally trace a line from the right hip to the left hip as you hold the breath so breathing in left hip to left rib hold the breath as you trace to right rib breathing out to right hip and then hold the breath as you trace across to left hip if you like you can also add in the count of the breath so it's a breathing in for four left hip so it's a breathing in for four left hip two three four two left lower rib hold the breath two three four to right rib breathing out two three four to right hip hold the breath two three four to left hip and so on breath in left side hold the breath as you cross the midline of the body to the right side breathing out right side and then holding the breath as you travel from right hip to left hip so keeping your mind on the track of the square the square will build stability left hip left lower rib crossing to right lower rib right hip right hip to left hip allowing the mind to not jump ahead to the next point next corner of the square but to stay in the moment that it's in choosing to be there for the journey not the destination your journey is on traversing the square mapped out on your own physical body and feeling the stability then you have two upright pillars one on the inhale from left hip to left rib and one on the exhale from right rib to right hip you have those two upright pillars so that the space in between can become calm as you hold the breath to mentally trace from one side of the body to the other like jumping the gap between these two solid upright pillars the next time that you breathe out allow the square to fade allow the breath to return to normal and coming again to that visualization of the lighthouse and the rocks feeling the firmity the surety of the foundation on the rock and that rock goes way beneath the waterline that bedrock has a surety that is unmovable that is the rock of spiritual strength then in your mind's eye allowing the picture of the lighthouse to fade instead paint in front of your vision your spiritual garden of the soul this is your own interior spiritual garden where you are given the choice of sowing seeds of adversity or whether you are sowing seeds of acceptance so purveying your own inner spiritual garden choosing to walk the paths exploring perhaps there is a water source perhaps it's a stream or a fountain in your garden and notice how well the water is flowing is it flowing or is it stagnant are there areas in your spiritual garden that are untended areas where you have allowed the garden allowed the garden to go to seed and imagining that you are choosing through a catalogue of seeds and choosing the spiritual seeds that you would like to plant seeds of strength and seeds of positivity and seeds of acceptance imagining that you are preparing the ground for the seeds to be planted and holding each seed in your hand before it is planted choose to give it a blessing give each seed a blessing I imbue thee with the power to let life spring forth within me planting each seed carefully with love watering it with your love watering it with your love in your spiritual garden there is no time delay on germination and before your very eyes seeds start to sprout seeds of strength with strong stalks and vibrant shining heads seeds of positivity showing bright faces to the sun beaming their light and exuberance for life and seeds of acceptance bringing forth a fragrance that awakens dormant doors within dormant doors to the light and love of your soul allowing yourself to be bathed,

Uplifted,

Upheld by that perfume so that as you gaze around your garden you can see new life springing up everywhere it is a constant genesis allowing waters to flow clearly and wandering your spiritual garden perhaps there are animals and birds here angelic beings,

Guides on your path all nurturing your spiritual growth and then coming to a seedbed where you had planted a seed of adversity and with all the spiritual allies and strength looking at its poor weathered frame and choosing instead to pluck out the seed of adversity something that is not beneficial in your spiritual garden for this isn't just an ordinary garden but your inner state of being and handing that seed of adversity,

That plant,

Handing it over to your angelic helpers to gently take it away and in its place instead planting the seed of spiritual strength and with the work done in your spiritual garden taking the leisure time now to find a quiet reflective area within your garden perhaps it's an inner bower,

Perhaps it's under a tree or by a stream choosing somewhere to sit for some R&R so that you can bring yourself into a state of peace being aware of nurture around you being aware of the quality of the light around you in your inner garden a great light shining a beam of light down upon your head shining on your hands and face and shining within the light becomes so bright that your inner spiritual garden dissolves around you until it is just you standing in the light with clean hands and clear eyes and an open heart and being aware of deep peace and aware of divine support and imagining you're breathing in the most beautiful perfume a perfume which has nurture and sustenance,

Sustenance for the soul and drinking in that perfume behind the eyes upon the tongue within the throat within the heart within the belly the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet and then coming back to your visualization of the lighthouse standing on the firm rock with inner strength and light shining out from the head and though there may be seas of adversity standings firm and unshaken I have that inner strength and I have the power to overcome and then allowing the visualization of the lighthouse to fade be aware of the physical body as strong,

Stronger than you imagine,

Strong along the whole length of the spine,

Strong in your thoughts,

Strong in your mind,

Strong in the head,

Hands and arms strong and knowing that you will not be given any challenge that you are not capable of and then be aware of the body breathing so there is a smoothness of the flow of life with the breath the surety of the inhale and the flow of the exhale the breath arrives into your spiritual strength and it is strength that exudes with the exhale breathing into your inner core of strength and that exuding of strength with the exhale this is a softness of strength not a harsh hardness strength has an inner softness to be unshaken but remain strong,

Secure and soft having the strength of the rose to unfold to reveal that inner strength within I am the strength of the rose strength of the rose and finishing by bringing the awareness into the throat we're using the power of the hum as a mini om and it's three hums into the throat each one focusing on that aura of strength so we're taking a breath in so strength,

Om shanti peace you