No matter how hard we try, we cannot avoid stress or prevent suffering; it’s part of being human. But with a few tools and a proactive mindset, we can build resilience toward life’s setbacks—and even grow stronger from adversity.

Building resilience isn’t necessarily about “toughing it out” so much as it is about tapping into your spirit. Spiritual energy runs through our veins; it’s the life force that sustains us during hardship and lights us up on the other side of it.

There exists a powerful structure of spiritual energy centers throughout our bodies called chakras. The word chakra comes from Sanskrit, an ancient language of India, and is commonly referred to in the practices of yoga and meditation.

Paramhansa Yogananda, the great yogi who brought yoga to the west in the 1920s, teaches us that there are eight aspects of God: peace, wisdom, power, love, calmness, sound, light, and joy (or bliss).  When we marry these aspects with the seven primary chakras, we have a set of tools, a roadmap, to navigate our lives.

The primary chakras run along the spine, starting at the bottom, at the coccyx, and ending at the crown of head. The sixth chakra has two points: its negative pole is located at the lower back of the skull and its positive counterpoint resides at the point between the eyebrows.

Starting with the first chakra and going all the way up to the seventh, the aspects align like this: Chakra 1: the root chakra: peace,
Chakra 2: the sacral chakra: wisdom,
Chakra 3: the navel chakra: power,
Chakra 4: the heart chakra: love,
Chakra 5: the throat chakra: calmness,
Chakra 6: the third eye chakra: light (as in seeing the light) and sound, and,
Chakra 7: the crown chakra: bliss.

There are thousands of other chakras, but when we learn to work with the seven primary ones, the rest vibrate to the healthier frequencies of the primary seven through the act of entrainment. In my book, The Eight Aspects of God, A Pathway to Bliss, I share more about each chakra’s location in the body along with what limits its functionality and ideas on how to get the energy flowing again. When our energy is free-flowing, our whole body hums along like a well-tuned car.

Whether you know anything about the chakras or not, working to bring these eight aspects into your life, you’ll experience greater health and happiness because, like maintaining your car by adding necessary fluids to resist wear and tear, tending to your energy centers (by inviting the God aspects into your life) automatically makes you more resistant to stress. When you absorb less stress, you feel good. When you feel good, you’re not only more resilient to adversity, you’re clear-headed and better positioned to make decisions that will propel your life forward.  

Guided Visualization: Integrating the God Aspects with Your Energy Body

Proper breathing is the secret to managing stress. Before we get into a meditation practice, let’s check your breathing. Place a hand on your belly. Breathe normally. If your belly is drawing in on the inhale, you’re missing the benefits of proper breathing. To correct this, expand your belly and ribcage out (to the sides, front and back) as you inhale. On the exhale, bring your belly in.   

Got it? If so, let’s practice.

Get comfortable. Take a few breaths. Let the outer edges of your body release tension as you exhale. Allow any worries to float away, just for now, put them aside. Relax your face, your throat, your neck. Relax the tongue on the roof of your mouth (this helps to keep an open airway), have lips gently together, mouth closed (this encourages nasal breathing).

Next, focus on lengthening your exhale. Lengthening your exhale makes the next inhalation deeper and also automatically relaxes the nervous system and calms you down. When you think you’ve exhaled completely, push your breath out a little more by drawing your navel back toward your spine. Repeat ten times.

Now, imagine your breath is moving up your spine on the inhale, down on the exhale. Imagine your breath as energy, flowing up and down your spine. Repeat ten times.

Next, call upon one of the aspects, such as peace. On the inhale, mentally affirm, “I am.” Then, exhale with, “Peace.” Practice for as long as it feels good. Then sit in silence and contemplate the aftereffects. What thoughts or feelings surfaced?

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Life’s storms are inevitable. But having resilience allows you not only to survive the storms but to thrive in their aftermath. Being resilient, you are like the old growth tree: poised and calm, bending as the dark storms blow on through. And although a bit more weathered once the storm has passed, like the tree you are awake and ready to meet the rising sun.

*Note: this piece was originally posted as an excerpt from a column I wrote for Contemplative Journal, November 2016.

“The true Christ-method of living can banish human conflicts and the horror of war and bring about peace and understanding on earth; all prejudices and enmities must fall away. That is the challenge placed before those who would be the peacemakers of God.”

~Paramahansa Yogananda

Today, on this National Day of Prayer, I prayed for Peace. My prayer for peace stems from a book I am reading by Paramahansa Yogananda titled, The Yoga of Jesus.  In this short but powerful book, Yogananda—a legendary spiritual teacher who brought yoga to the west in the 1920s—shares various teachings of Jesus and includes scripture from the Bible. The bit of scripture as quoted in the book, and what inspired this post, is Mathew 5:9.

“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”

Yogananda talks about how peace is a manifestation of God’s presence during meditation and how one’s inner silence is a pathway to Divine relationship with God. He continues with, “Anyone who brings peace to an inharmonious family has established God there.”

Yogananda explains that “family” doesn’t just mean one’s immediate or biological unit, but family as a human race. He says we are all one, stating, “Those who are God’s children cannot feel any difference between an Indian, American, or any other nationality or race.”

I find the following words especially relevant because of our current state of divisiveness, driven by the color of one’s body, or lack thereof, their place of origin, political leanings, individual belief system and a wild number of other things.

“For a little while immortal souls are garbed in white, black, brown, red or olive-colored bodies. Are people looked upon as variously foreign when they wear different colored clothes? No matter what one’s nationality or the color of his body, all of God’s children are souls. When a man confines his identity to his clannish human nature, it gives rise to unending evils and the specter of war.”

May we know each other as one “race” by drawing on our courage to celebrate our (human) differences while, simultaneously, seeing our sameness (as immortal souls).

Peace to you.

Amen.

While attending a writing conference recently, something stood out to me: regardless of genre — mystery, romance, prescriptive/nonfiction, sci-fi or thriller — there’s an aspect of the writer’s personal story in every tale. Even more notable, is how all tales stem from opposition.

For instance, one woman I met was writing a prescriptive book on “healing versus being healed” based on her belief that you can still experience deep healing even if you aren’t cured of a disease. She was writing about a friend who was battling breast cancer, but who, she said, was so fixated on being cured (healed) that her health was actually declining. When I asked about her friend and what inspired the book idea, she leaned in and with a whisper, said, “Well, it’s really my story. But I don’t want to write about me.” Then, under her breath, added, “Although, I did beat stage four breast cancer.” I gasped. Then smiled. We talked more about what memoir is and what it isn’t.

While memoir is about you, it isn’t about you. That is to say, while memoir is about a major event, like surviving breast cancer, it isn’t necessarily about the disease; instead, it’s about how the experience of living with the cancer (and surviving it transforms you).

To read the rest of the article, pop on over to New Spirit Journal.

Writers are often told that “voice” is what makes their writing unique and interesting, what separates them from the crowd. To hear that your writing has a “voice” is one of the best compliments you can get. This is true for all genres, but couldn’t be truer than in memoir writing. But what does “voice” actually mean? And how do you find it?

The writer’s voice is about how you show up on the page. It’s how you express your own way of being in the world. The writer’s voice is about speaking your truth; you being you. Sounds simple; but it’s not necessarily easy. Some writers naturally write with a strong voice, while others struggle to bring their voice to the page.

We often hear, “show don’t tell” but I think writing that has “voice” does both. To “show” means to bring the reader into your world in a way that engages the sense of smell, touch, taste and so on. The reader can feel your pain, joy and emotions; they can relate and sympathize with your experience.

To “tell” is often described as too much narration, describing or explaining, and lacking connection. But, telling can be done with a great degree of creativity and color by writing from an objective point of view, while at the same time staying connected to the character (that would be you in a memoir).

For the rest of the article, please visit New Spirit Journal.

Much love,

Ruthie