• by Sharon Ray • You will often find that people who care about their health have a strong spiritual life. Loving God and loving life go hand in hand with loving and caring for the body temple that one lives in. Building and maintaining good health is a way to honor the gift of life we have been given. When we are full of energy and vitality, it is easy to be joyful, and it is a sign that we have a strong nervous system.
Our bodies are like light bulbs and the nerves are the pathways upon which energy travels. To feel vital and alive we have to have pathways in good repair and lots of energy traveling along them.
One thing we can do to increase our energy and sense of wellbeing is to be sure we are oxygenating our blood through diaphragmatic breathing. This way of breathing is different from chest breathing in which the rib cage rises in response to our inhales. With diaphragmatic breathing, which is deeper, the abdomen rises and falls with each breath. The oxygen goes deep into our lower lungs, not just into the upper part.
Oxygen fuels all the processes in the body and makes them strong and vibrant. Oxygen helps keep the nervous system strong. Studies have shown that our breathing is directly connected to our emotions and sense of wellbeing.
Shallow breathing is associated with the sympathetic nervous system and can lead to feelings of stress and anxiety. Holding your breath may happen unconsciously when you are very focused, thinking deeply, or repeating negative thought cycles.
Deep breathing stimulates the vagus nerve, activating the parasympathetic nervous system; this promotes relaxation, reducing stress and anxiety. We can practice diaphragmatic breathing by lying on our backs, hands on our lower abdomens, consciously breathing in through the nostrils, sending the air into the lower abdomen.
Feel the abdomen rise. Exhale and feel the abdomen deflate. After a week, begin this practice sitting up. After another week, do it standing, then walking. It will soon become your natural way of breathing. When you catch yourself chest breathing start moving the breath into the abdomen.
Let’s visualize our body as comprised of sparkling, happy cells. In the name of Joy, and of Loving Life, let’s embrace deep breathing!
Paramahansa Yogananda offers this affirmation: “Every cell of my body is filled with light and life. I am radiating vibrant health, peace, and joy through every cell of my body”
February 3 saw a celebration of the birthday of Sunburst Founder, Norman Paulsen. Following is an excerpt from his book, Life Love God, which begins with a description of his birth.
We are descending. Beneath us lie the waters and the land. This sphere, a celestial garden floating in space, is unmatched in beauty. Where the winds and waters meet the rising of the land, a jagged point appears. Tall cliffs and rocks challenge the heaving, bright blue waters. Above us the radiant body of Father Sun watches in silence as Mother Earth performs her daily revolutions. My life and love flows outward and downward to mingle with visions of crashing waves and torrents of spray. Rainbow images dance in clouds of mist, slowly settling upon glistening monoliths of stone. I encompass all that I feel and observe, moving on toward the east.
Rolling hills and bright green meadows now confront me. Scrub oak, sycamore, and willow, with boughs long bent to the ever-present wind, struggle with their loads. Point Conception, long known to native peoples as the western gateway to the spirit world, contains an ancient necropolis. The western gateway, graveyard for earthbound ships, thrusts forth their stricken bows, caught in its awesome beauty. It’s the point where winds and currents meet and ancient spirits move, fog-shrouded at times; mysterious—and deadly to mariners.
Beyond the coast and over the hills, a fertile valley nestles. Open fields present rich, dark sod to Father Sun’s embrace. A river moves snake-like through the flat and furrowed fields to join the sea at Surf. Sycamore and willow along its banks reach up to gather light from the abundant heavens. This land, this fertile valley, was once the home and refuge of an ancient native people. New owners have now built up a town, thrusting up steeples proud against the sky. We have arrived!
There, up from the river, cradled against the faithful hills, lies the village. White houses with green and red roofs spread out a varicolored carpet. I move closer to see white picket fences covered with honeysuckle and rose. Horses pull wagons on dusty streets, wetted down each eventide. People with faces, each one different, are walking, riding, working. The heavy ring of hammer striking anvil fills the air; horses start in their traces. I stop to watch the spiral motion of coal smoke, its pungent odor heavy on the fresh sea breeze. Across the way, children run and play on a vacant lot.
Impelled by silent motion, I come upon a street running north and south. The house I am looking for faces the rising sun. A picket fence, an open gate, greet me. Green lawns spread out their velvet surface beneath two tall palm trees. Yes, this is indeed the dwelling place of the blind Buddha, my father-to-be.
The blind man walked with a white cane, feeling the earth beneath as he moved. He was stalwart and precise. Deprived of earthly vision, his hearing was acutely extended. He heard the message of the whispering wind and the babbling brook as he extended his life outward into all beings and images around him.
He found me standing there on the street in the midst of his life. My spirit-image flashed before his inner vision; I had startled him. He stopped walking to stand alert in a silent greeting. Time stood still for him. “You have finally come to help me, to be my eyes in this world. I am so very sad and lonely here. No one understands me, no one. My wife tries, but finds me too withdrawn in the Spirit.”
“Long have we been friends,” I replied, “and again we meet. My spirit is fixed upon rebirth here. Our lives must be joined together for a time.” We moved on down the street, floating in a cloud of joy.
• by April • The world I dream of living in, creating, and being a part of…
Society truly exists as one heart. Being“real.”
Not wondering if someone is being honest.
Not hiding behind shadows.
Expressing oneself freely without fear/concern of being judged, because no one judges.
Having and being a friend where endless patience, support and encouragement is prevalent.
All animals are loved and revered and are protected from all harm.
Children are encouraged to be themselves. Starting in school by hearing the questions: What excites you? What makes you feel impassioned? What do you want to learn about? What are you curious about? What does your heart whisper to you? What is important to you? How best can you help others? What is love to you? These are a very small list of questions to jump start every child’s life journey.
Experiencing nature every day is commonplace.
Sunrises and Sunsets have deep meaning that everyone understands.
All the elements are experienced in a plethora of ways.
Everyone is encouraged to be their best self. No matter how many lessons it takes, or how long it takes, knowing you are loved and supported, and
you will eventually be the best version possible.
All talents are recognized, needed and appreciated.
All jobs/responsibilities are honored. None better or more important than another.
Respect, kindness and gratitude are natural/common expressions.
The gifts of Mother Earth and all the elements are always loved, respected and understood.
Every person on Mother Earth, knows that everything they need for any reason lies within them.
All life’s wisdom is within every person’s heart flame.
It’s up to each individual to awaken the flames of creation.
Every human being knows to love themselves, the greatest love of all.
•by Norman Paulsen • One morning while meditating, I experienced a vision. I found myself standing on the ridge above the lodge at our wilderness sanctuary. In the vision, I was looking out across the hills and up the canyons, It was foggy and the sky was gray. I wondered what the meaning was for this early morning vision. Then I noticed it showed that the livestock gate was open to the mesa.
As I drove to the sanctuary several hours later, Spirit said, “You’d better check the bulls.” So I went up the road and onto the mesa. Out towards the water tanks I saw two of the younger bulls, but none of the older ones. I looked all around, then went back up the ridge toward the gate. Here was the same scene that had been shown to me in my meditation earlier that morning. Upon reaching the gate, I could see that someone had left it open. It was clear that the older bulls were now loose on the sanctuary somewhere! We had a big job to do now!
This experience continued to show me that we can be in tune with God, with life, with our projections and responsibilities. Yes, we can receive direction and inspiration to help us see things BEFORE they happen, and try to prevent them, or make them easier to deal with. After many years of meditating daily, I cannot function correctly in my work and carry out my day if I don’t go to the well of Spirit and drink with God. It has become a habit for me to sit down and meditate each morning.
To meditate in the morning with the rising sun is to bring the sweetness of God’s presence into our life for the whole day, to receive instruction mentally and visually. We arrive at the right time and the right place for the right thing to happen for us, not too early or too late. When we are on God’s time, meditating and praying every morning, wondrous things begin to happen in our lives. We see God fulfilling our selfless desires, and freeing us up for the journey ahead.
By Dawn King • My husband, Al, has been reading “My First Summer in the Sierra,” which a friend so kindly gave Al. We have the book’s author, a young John Muir, to thank for the Yosemite area of the U.S. becoming a national park. It truly is an inspiring natural wonder. And when we read Muir’s beautiful detailed descriptions of Nature in the Sierras, we have to think he was a most inspired and illumined naturalist. Here are some excerpts from John Muir’s journal:
Aug. 25: Cool as usual in the morning, quickly changing…Of all Nature’s flowery carpeted mountain halls none can be finer than this glacier meadow. …The birds are still here, showing no sign of leaving for winter quarters…For my part I should like to stay here all winter or all my life or even all eternity.
Aug. 26: Frost this morning; all the meadow grass and some of the pine needles sparkling with irised crystals—flowers of light. …Probably more free sunshine falls on this majestic range than on any other in the world I’ve ever seen or heard of. And how glorious the morning sunbeams are pouring through the crystals on the grass and pine needles, and how ineffably spiritually fine is the morning glow on the mountain tops and the alpenglow of evening. …May the Sierra be named, not the Snowy Range, but the Range of Light.
Aug. 27: Crystals grow in marvelous beauty and perfection of form these still nights, every one built as carefully as the grandest holiest temple, as if planned to endure forever.
Aug. 30: How lavish is Nature building, pulling down, creating, destroying, chasing every material particle from form to form, ever changing, ever beautiful. Mr. D. arrived this morning. Felt not a trace of loneliness while he was gone. On the contrary I never enjoyed grander company. The whole wilderness seems to be alive and familiar, full of humanity. The very stones seem talkative, sympathetic, brotherly. No wonder when we consider that we all have the same Father and Mother.
Norman Paulsen, Sunburst’s founder, advises:Allow your heart to commune with God in nature. Find a pristine environment that makes your heart swell with joy and love. Embrace the solitude. The pure Self within you will come forward through your senses to commune with you in Nature.
•by Sean Fennell•We give ourselves over to the influence of the breathing Earth. Sleep, the shadow of the Earth, seeps into our skin, spreading throughout our limbs, dissolving our individual will into the thousand and one selves that compose it—cells, tissues and organs taking their prime directives from gravity and the wind, as residual bits of sunlight caught in the long tangle of nerves, wanders through the drifting landscape of our Earth-borne bodies, like deer moving across the forested valleys.
Where Spirit, nature and humans meet in oneness—in activity, as well as non-activity—I find my center. Permaculture is not just about growing gardens; it’s about growing infinite possibilities. It’s the marriage of the spiritual with the natural and social, and therefore, one of the highest expressions of co-creating with Spirit.
Everything belongs to Spirit; it’s designed, created, operated and maintained by Spirit. We humans are merely caretakers of this divine creation. As such, we are obligated to share all Spirit’s gifts fairly with others.
The basic principles of permaculture are Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share. It’s at the intersection where these three practices converge that infinite possibilities exist. In meditation we strive to commune with Spirit inwardly; in permaculture we strive to connect with Spirit outwardly.
Acknowledging this fact, I’m faced with the questions: “What does permaculture look like at Sunburst?” and “What infinite possibilities can I co-create with Spirit moving forward—not only for the immediate future, but for generations to come?
We sleep, allowing gravity to hold us, allowing Earth, our larger body, to recalibrate our neurons, composting the keen encounters of our waking hours (the tensions, joys and terrors of our individual days), stirring them back as dreams into the sleeping substance of our muscles.
As we move forward, the future of Sunburst looks brighter than ever, for what can be greater than honoring our Divine Mother and Father, by loving and caretaking Mother Earth and all her creatures, utilizing her natural resources with utmost respect and care, loving others as we do ourselves, sharing the fruits of our labor and our God-given talents with passion and commitment?
In the vast, endless sea of eternity, My body, mind and spirit with Thee,
In truth I strive to be the best I can be, Better than none, but simply all I can be. In silence amidst the inner worlds I dance, Feeling Thy presence. Oh the Divine Romance! How can I contain this gift from Thee, How can I let it flow unceasingly? Awakening gladly to the Sun-kissed day, Knowing love cannot be held, simply shared, Given to Nature and to all brothers, sisters dear. This gift, my offering, I humbly bear.
