October 2022 week 2

This week we are continuing our study of Raaga - attachment to pleasure and pleasurable things. Remember, it is not wrong to have pleasurable experiences, but the suffering comes in when we are attached to a pleasurable experience and we can see no other way. Can you call to mind a time that you have been very focused on a person or situation having to be a certain way in order for you to be happy? Can you see how this makes your life small and closed off to the possibility of what life is offering you? And can you see how this is what creates the suffering in our lives - we create the suffering!!! SO the good news is, if we create it then we can also shift it right?? Simple, but not easy!

I am a little more than mid way through my course to be a certified health and wellness counselor and today we were talking about neuroplasticity. It’s sometimes referred to as “dynamic brain” because it refers to the brain’s ability to adapt. Neuroplasticity is: the capacity of neurons and neural networks in the brain to change their connections and behavior in response to new information, sensory stimulation, development, damage, or dysfunction. This of course is simply put, the scientific data behind what we do together on a regular basis. We use this Calm Crew platform to develop an awareness of ourselves and to create new patterns and grooves when needed. These Klesha’s are helping us identify that yes, life is sometimes painful, but we create the suffering by living in these 5 Kleshas. Together we are able to adjust when life gets painful by first becoming aware of ourselves, then accepting ourselves without judgement and then finally taking the action to change and create new behaviors. Raaga is that attachment to needing people and life to be a certain way or else!!!

Lets walk through an acceptance meditation to take the steps to “mold our mind (neuroplasticity)” in a new way:

First, identify a situation where you are manipulating a situation, trying to control it and are out of faith, fearful, disconnected to love.
Next, breathe into that place in the body where you are holding on to that tension.
3rd, honor all that comes up for you
4th, breathe deeply and feel all of the discomfort of this place
Next, breathe and honor these feelings
Now with every inhale and exhale allow yourself to get deeper into the acceptance of this place. accept yourself exactly as you are and all that is coming up for you.
Simply say:
I accept this process that I am going through
I accept all that i have to learn from this
I honor and allow myself to be exactly where i am right now
I am happy, I am holy, I am free in the acceptance of all that is
I am happy, I am holy, I am free in the acceptance of all that is
I am happy, I am holy, I am free in the acceptance of all that is
Come out of the meditation and simply remember our intention:
All that I seek is within me