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Vibration – the key to our wellbeing

May 18, 2024 by Andrew Marshall Leave a Comment

Vibration affects every second of our lives

Vibration is the key to all life. Everything in the universe, us included, is energy and takes and maintains its form due to vibration. A significant factor for our wellbeing is the effect of the vibration of things around us, and of the people and organisations we associate with. We similarly have a vibrational impact on others and our environment by the way we think, speak and act. To use a modern idiom, each one of us is an influencer, whether we use social media or not.

Vibration to make a difference

Many people can feel the “vibes” or energy a person or place gives off. These may be uplifting, which we could say are positive. A comparatively negative quality, on the other hand, might make us feel uncomfortable or even pull us down. If we want to make a difference to our world, we can. We can do it by aligning or associating ourselves with higher quality energy, and the highest form is love – unconditional, non-judgmental. The universe has an unlimited supply of it – we just have to be open to it. It really is that simple.

The best vibration is the simplest

Simply by being kind and by loving, we raise our own vibration – of our mind, emotions and our entire energy field. That’s all we have to do. When we love, our body heals faster because all our energy channels open up. Loving those around us helps them heal faster, too. When we love unconditionally, we help the world because all tension eases, both in us and around us. Everything responds to love. Whatever our day to day responsibilities, grand or small, spreading “good vibrations” is our role, too. Cheers to that, I say!


Awakening Heart – The Blissful Path to Self-Realisation

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Filed Under: Happiness, Health Tagged With: awakening heart, body, cause and effect, chi, choice, compassion, consciousness, earth, emotions, energy, environment, family, freedom, happiness, healing, humanity, inner peace, joy, kindness, love, loving kindness, mindfulness, non-violence, qi, wellbeing, world peace, zen

Tune in – the Magic of Spring Energy is here

March 24, 2024 by Andrew Marshall 2 Comments

Spring is well and truly with us now. Just as the energy in Nature is changing, so is that within our own bodies. In Qigong practice, we understand this as the time of year when the Wood element* predominates. This is the energy that gives rise to growth and activity, and is closely associated with the liver. The body is seeking to cleanse itself of the stale energy left over from the colder months, so the liver will be working hard. There is a touch of excitement about this season, too, because Fire is also strengthening as we begin the trek towards the heat of summer.

Tune in outside

What does this mean for us? Cocooned in our modern homes and workplaces, we may forget that the body is intelligent and is informed by its surroundings. Getting outside into the fresh air more helps us to stay in tune with our environment. Having a little more physical activity is important, too. Nature prompts us, quite literally, to spring into action.

But don’t overdo it

That doesn’t mean trotting off to the gym, necessarily. Having just passed the Spring Equinox, we are at the halfway point between the maximum Yin energy of winter and the Yang energy of the summer. The balance is actually a little delicate, like a seesaw balancing on its fulcrum. If we do too much, it is easy to put the body out of balance. Moderation in all things is the key if we want to keep our immune system strong.

Be happy!

The emotion of happiness is very supportive for the liver, so it is very good to keep smiling, even if life is throwing a few curved balls at us. Smile to yourself when you wake up in the morning and send a smile out from your heart into the world. “I am happy and grateful for being right here. Thank you.” Words like that – there is no formula, so use whatever phrase you feel comfortable with – immediately begin to change our energy for the rest of the day. It works like magic, so perhaps it is!


*The Five Elements are Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water


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Filed Under: Awakening Heart, Health Tagged With: balance, body, chi, chi kung, consciousness, earth, emotions, energy, environment, equinox, freedom, happiness, home, inner peace, positive thought, qi, qigong, rejuvenation, wisdom

Smile, and tap into your joy

May 6, 2023 by Andrew Marshall 2 Comments

When we smile at someone, a genuine smile from the heart, we do more than just smile. There is a communication, of course – a communication of friendliness and perhaps understanding. Most say that love must be unconditional to really mean anything and the same must go with a smile, surely? And when we receive a smile from someone, does it not light us up in some way?

Smile and touch your essence

This world of ours is very technical and very materialistic. In a way there is good in this. Humanity has made major strides over the centuries to make life better – eradication of disease, improvement of hygiene, living conditions and so on. There is, some would also say, a curse with that. We have lost sight of our spirituality, our inner essence. If we are pleased to see someone, we smile without any thought. Our response is spontaneous. We don’t have to look it up on some database or search engine – we just smile and convey, dare I say it, love.

Let joy and universal law support you

For life to be worth living, it has to have joy in it. Joy springs from the heart, as does love. We may not have what we think we should have and others may have what we think is an unfair proportion of wealth. But if we think in that way, it is like pouring water on the fire in our heart. If we can simply be, smile and be grateful for whatever we have, however small, and without judgment of others, the quality of life – the internal quality that springs from deep within us – can manifest. Then the laws of the universe, the unseen support that comes from way beyond the realms of man’s little thinking, can be tapped and flourish in our own lives. And it all starts with a smile.

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Filed Under: Happiness Tagged With: abundance, awakening heart, compassion, consciousness, emotions, ethics, freedom, fulfilment, happiness, hardship, heart, inner peace, joy, kindness, love, radiance, resentment, spirituality, transformation, unconditional love, zen

Why freedom and happiness are here now, if we want them to be

August 8, 2021 by Andrew Marshall 2 Comments

Freedom and happiness are fundamental universal human rights. In spite of that, these basic qualities have been rather elusive for much of the world for quite some time now. The UK Government purported to hand its citizens “freedom day” on the 19th July this year. An odd turn of phrase, some might think, if not a little ironic.

Real freedom is here, not somewhere out there

Liberation is much more than escaping legal or physical restrictions, though, and if we really want to be free and happy, we have to transcend normal thinking. Real freedom can only occur in the mind. It is as much an inner state as an external one. There are stories of people who have been wrongly incarcerated yet, due to their spiritual training, they have felt completely free. Such are extraordinary people, of course, but there is no reason why we cannot train ourselves to be freer and happier.

The big problem? The conditioned mind

The way we think and react to things depends on how the mind is conditioned. That conditioning comes mainly from our past experiences and what we have been taught or led to believe. At the root of all that is the very basic sense of “I”, which gives rise to a belief in “me” and “mine”. The mind is very clever and will do anything to defend itself and the personality, the “I”, it has created.

Selflessness brings freedom

To lessen the mind’s grip, we need to cultivate selflessness. Instead of maintaining our imagined position as the centre of our own little universe, which takes a great deal of energy and effort, we might try letting go a little. It’s a very relaxing thing to do; quite liberating, in fact.

The real crisis

It is selfishness, not Nature, that has driven humanity into the throes of a climate crisis and only a reversal of that will free us from it. It is far more of a threat than coronavirus. As individuals, we cannot change the world overnight but we can change ourselves. By beginning to train the mind to be calm, clear and open, we can be free wherever we are.


Awakening Heart—The Blissful Path to Self Realisation

Meditations

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  2. Melting the ice: eliminating indifference
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  4. Something to smile about

Filed Under: Awakening Heart Tagged With: altruism, attachment, awakening heart, bodhicitta, cause and effect, choice, climate change, compassion, consciousness, coronavirus, disaster, earth, ego, freedom, happiness, humanity, identity, mindfulness, pollution, self-liberation, selfishness, selflessness, wellbeing, zen

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