It can be difficult to start using natural care. The hidden side effects of many products we use leads many to search for better cleaners, lotions, and soaps. Eventually, you ask yourself the following questions: What really works? Where can I buy it? How can I make this less expensive?

We’re elated you’re choosing to care for [...]]]>  

It can be difficult to start using natural care. The hidden side effects of many products we use leads many to search for better cleaners, lotions, and soaps. Eventually, you ask yourself the following questions: What really works? Where can I buy it? How can I make this less expensive?

We’re elated you’re choosing to care for yourself safely, and hope this makes it as easy as possible! These products work well and should get well on your way to natural- ness.

Here’s to happier baths & brighter lives!

Toothpaste & Mouthwash

Soap & Skin Care

With soaps, you want to keep ingredients few and free from irritants. With Lotions, stay away from parabens and any ingredients you don’t recognize.

Shampoo 

Laundry

Household Cleaning

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” How harmful are stereotypes, anyway? As time moves forward and conversations question the relevancy of race, many are of the opinion that if people don’t like you, so what? Hurt feelings have no bearing on how you are or who you become.. [...]]]>

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” How harmful are stereotypes, anyway? As time moves forward and conversations question the relevancy of race, many are of the opinion that if people don’t like you, so what? Hurt feelings have no bearing on how you are or who you become.. or do they? This classic experiment reveals the power beliefs have on our psyche.

In 1968, school teacher Jane Elliot showed the connection between degradation (and praise) and achievement and behavior. In her landmark study, students were marginalized based on their eye color, producing shocking results in the course of just one day.

Key Points

• The self-fulfilling prophecy: How what we think of ourselves of ourselves shapes reality.
• The power of words and thoughts, particularly in the case of children.
• How it is possible to influence large groups of people through the manipulation of news and media.
• The influence of societal institutions: Schools, Media, Family, etc.
• Note how discrimination wasn’t just hateful talk or dislike: it was institutionalized- reinforced through manipulation of resources and freedoms.
• This gives witness-able  solidity to the effects of discrimination, which is often trivialized and dismissed as unprovable or insignificant.

The Heart is more far more significant and powerful than we’ve ever been told.  More than a blood pumper, it holds the key to extraordinary intelligence beyond that of the brain. Learn more in this Spirit Science clip.

There is also an interesting experiment in which an African American man is given two similar tests and told one is for intelligence and the other for sports aptitude. He does well in the area he thinks he is good in: athleticism.

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How do you feel going into this year? What do you think it has in store? If you’re like us, you sense something big in the wings. A look at the energetic events surrounding 2014 sheds light on the factors behind this inkling.

Astrological configuration

Have you heard of astrology? Of Course. The moment [...]]]>  

How do you feel going into this year? What do you think it has in store? If you’re like us, you sense something big in the wings. A look at the energetic events surrounding 2014 sheds light on the factors behind this inkling.

Astrological configuration

Have you heard of astrology? Of Course. The moment of your birth held a sort of fingerprint representing you as a person. Showing the placements of every astral object at your first breath, it vividly outlines your journey uniquely. 

12 am, Jan 1st can be seen as a birth ‘fingerprint’ for a given new year. It’s telling of the lessons and emphases of a coming year. A quick glance at this year’s makeup is enough to raise your eyebrows.

Location: Los Angeles, CA.

4 Planet Conjunction in Capricorn
We’re starting with the planets Mercury (communication), Venus (relationships), Sun (power, self), and Moon(emotion/ inner reality) are all working together under the umbrella of constructive action (Capricorn). This speaks to the areas of structure, planning, building, and action. 

Cardinal Grand Cross

Capricorn, Aries, Cancer & Libra

This crucial astral event sends us a strong and clear message about this new year. 

These 4 signs all represent modes of taking action. The cosmos are not-so-gently nudging us to take calculated steps toward forcefully and boldly fulfilling our true  purpose.  Not on a small or mundane scale – but in a BIG, DYNAMIC way; we just have to order our steps practically to get there.

A grand cross involves four planets positioned 90 degrees apart, involved in lots of tension with each other. The sort of tension that makes you burst forth and do something- you can’t sit on the couch with this sort of energy at hand, you’ve got to act. This feeling of action is emphasized in the cardinal signs, it suggests much seeks  to be done on many fronts (emotionally, mentally, physical, actively). This great deal of urging can be difficult without order or focus because there is so much going on at once. Yet immense potential for action, accomplishment, and newfound identity are certain if we collectively bring order and hierarchy to the actions we want to take.

The New Moon

Adding to all this concentrated, lively power, is the New Moon that accompanied this New year. Happening for only the 12th time in the last 300 years, this is a rare, significant occurrence. A New Moon represents the beginning point of a new cycle, and this emphasizes the chance to start anew, and new potential and opportunity abound.

This amplified theme of “newness” offers us ample opportunity for heightened existence on earth. We have energetic free reign to surpass cumbersome patterns of the past & bring forth new things from inside ourselves to create the new reality in which we want to exist! That’s an opportunity worth making the most of!

The time is like fertilizer; now is the time to plant a NEW seed and watch it sprout and develop. In the practical, steady, and determined Earth sign of Capricorn, we are urged toward integrity, discipline, and aligning our actions with our goals, as well as the archetype of “The Elder.”

If you were planting a new seed in a garden, what advice might a wise, disciplined elder give? Likely, they’d encourage you to make orderly, informed steps to ensure sure your plant’s strong, healthy development. Keep to the soil, stay very attentive to the garden, and know that the love and care you put into it will yield fruitful results  if you work with effort and intention.

NOW is the time to let go of the time-wastes and energy-leeches in your life to place conscious and intentional effort in whatever you want to grow. This year, minimize distractions, and make the most of your time on planet earth!

The Year of 7
(2 + 0 + 1 + 4= 7)

In Numerology, 7 is the number of self-examination, and a critical innerstanding of the world/ cosmos around us, and perfection. It is the number of spiritual realization, a person coming into the realization that they have a spirit discovering everything about it!

This year, self-realization will be PARAMOUNT as people left and right take a hard look at themselves and their situations, beginning to understand why and how things work. Many will “Wake Up” to higher information, with  7 representing their readiness and availability to receive that knowledge.  Less people will run on automatic, more will become conscious of the reality surrounding them.

Chinese Astrology: Year of the Wood Horse
The Wood Horse is also about taking dynamic actions toward a specific goal or outcome.

The Wood element represents the process of growing and renewing life, vitality, drive, and passion for life.

The Horse is about drive and the pursuit for freedom, passion, virility, and leadership. A “fire” animal, it knows it’s here to run free and fast through the plains.

These suggest regeneration, re-building and re-doing as themes for this year, as the wood element knows what needs to be built and torn down, and the horse has just enough stamina and torque to move towards that outcome at a fast, momentous pace.

Note: The last year of the horse was in 1990- a year when many Indigo Children came onto the planet to serve as a bridge from the Old Age to the New, from low frequencies to high ones. People with that task are being recalled to their undertaking and all of us are being re-inspired towards that goal.

What Does It Mean?
In all, we have lots of work to do within and around us, lots of energy to do it and a rare opportunity to accomplish it all! Keep this with you and don’t forget as you move through the next 365 days! Further keep success in making the most of this collectively in mind for the benefit of all of humanity! Don’t Give Up!

Here is some information on collective thought work and ascending consciousness:
12.21.12 
Portal Activation August 25th

What’s so New About the New Year??
It so often happens that we yearn for better, different, new existences for ourselves. Rightly, we see the new year as an opportunity to make headway towards them, only we so often find that we have no idea how to get there and we soon [...]]]>  

What’s so New About the New Year??
It so often happens that we yearn for better, different, new existences for ourselves. Rightly, we see the new year as an opportunity to make headway towards them, only we so often find that we have no idea how to get there and we soon head back the way we came in a state of disappointment and uncertainty. Many signs point to this being a year of new patterns and opportunities.

Here are some strategies for realizing real, lasting change in the coming year.

Note: This article turned out much longer than expected, and will likely be reduced and reorganized, but if you can’t get through all of it, take away this much:

We are not bound to misery and monotony. How good things get on this planet or in our lives is not limited by some sort of “positivity/ reality check police force” that many of us seem to have in our minds.

If we can allow ourselves to let go of the habits and beliefs that give birth to such hardships and unpleasantries in life; If we can embrace the idea things can be better, and allow ourselves to envision and become the better way we desire, we will have it. That simple. This year is a year in which  we figure out the way to turn ideals and “dreams” that have circulated for centuries into reality. Its a year in which something amazing happens. Make the most of it.

Better Habits

Focus on bright things
If you began to watch your thoughts, you would soon notice how quickly they drifts toward dispute, unhappiness, worry, doubt, hate, and otherwise unproductive realms. If you pictured yourself in a room where the sun shined bright just outside the window and an ugly old spot stood before you on the wall, which do you think you might notice more? The dark spot or the sunshine?

We are not in a good position to eliminate the dark spots in our life when we magnify and concentrate on them too much. When we become apart of, and believe in bigger and brighter things, we easily see how immaterial problems are and knock them out. We must retrain our minds and hearts so they don’t remain stuck in the negative reality we are looking to leave behind.

Stay aware of what you focus on. Find positive, more important things to shift your focus to. Think more about what you want than what you don’t want.

Become Grateful
If you do nothing else, establish an attitude of gratitude for the many things that assist you throughout your days. It’s easy not to notice how fortunate your are, but don’t take so many things for granted. Thank the water you run for your bath. Your heater for keeping you warm. The air in your lungs. Your lungs themselves for working so reliably. Thank your food before you eat it. Thank the person driving your bus, or making your Chipotle. Thank your bed for the rest it provides you, your laptop for the service it gives you. People and things in life like to feel appreciated, they  give forth more willingly when we show appreciation.  Further, we take better care of things we have respect more, so however you look at it, gratitude means you end with more. It will also make you less inclined to anger and bitterness, and aware of resources you previously didn’t see as available to you.

Reclaim Life.
What’s all the running around for? Who’s running the show here?

“Whose life is it anyway?“
First with school and parents, then with work and children, we spend so many years going along with someone else‘s program, squeezing in what’s important to us on the side, (if were lucky) we forget how we’d like to run ourselves. If you suddenly had a lot of time on your hands, you probably wouldn’t even know what to do with it. You may have forgotten what it is you want. It can take real effort to internally reprogram your train to run on your track.

Your time, your life, your energy are entirely your own. Take time within the next 5 days to form a clear idea of exactly you’d do if it were entirely up to you. What if you no longer had someone else’s demands planning your life for you? What’s best for you? What serves and enriches you most? Incubate a vision of the life that would bring you the most joy, then adapt all external obligations to fit with your program. Let go of what doesn’t fit into your program.

See not lack, but opportunities to create something useful. We are too used to looking at our landscapes, communities, wallets, etc and saying x is not here, we don’t have is. The things that are not there are not there because no one has created them. Now that you have full license to create for yourself and others what you need.

Realize at least one life long goal or dream this year.
The biggest barrier between us and our greatest dreams is usually ourselves. The feeling or belief that our goals are beyond us, or we could never accomplish them translates to failure, or even worse- not trying. We distract ourselves to become

Life’s too precious to spend afraid to pursue the things that will make you happy.

Pick a goal, know in your heart that you can reach it, determine exactly what it will take to full it, lay out a plan with specific steps and timelines for yourself, and resolve to carry out those steps no matter WHAT comes across your path.

Read this book. The 4 hour work week is an excellent guide to letting go of mental limitations and fears to create substantial abundance for yourself and a meaningful life. Its critically acclaimed, about 5 bucks on Amazon, free at your local library, and if you and in the contact us form, we can email you a pdf of the outdated version.

Positively Impact Your Environment
Become a benefit the world you live in.

Chose not to carry blindness, naivete, powerlessness with you into the new year. Chose not to remain oblivious to the consequences of your actions, or the reality around you. Chose to make responsible decisions and be helpful in every way possible.

Bring people together, have meaningful interactions with others. Talk to people to people in the street, on the train, at the coffee shop; be warm. Be human.

Help people. Start caring. Look for opportunities to help others without attachment, judgment, or reward motivating you. There’s plenty of opportunities available in this area and some of them are bound to fit you :-). This is they way problems of humanity will be solved. By people reestablishing a genuine interest in and hope for the welfare of others and themselves.

Resolve to stop putting toxic foods into your body, destructive products on your skin, use destructive materials throughout your life. You control what you buy and use on a continuous basis, that’s no one else’s doing but yours.  Its easy to blame “the big companies” for everything or cry “they didn’t tell us, I didn’t know” about things, but its also very lame and does nothing to stop your quality of life from deteriorating. Put your big girl panties on and do what you must to do better.

Have Substance. Keep your promises to yourself and others.
The era we’re in leaves so many of us so spaced out that even the most solid of us can become unreliable. This has to do with the increased distraction mentioned below and how “busy” we feel. Counter this by making a concerted effort to do every single thing you say you will do, whatever it takes. This includes promises made to yourself. This will cut back on the number of empty and unfulfilled statements you make, cause you to have greater faith in your ability to accomplish things (thereby making you more productive) and allow you focus and organize your priorities. You will also become a more real and substantive person.

Optimize your information Diet
Listen to better music, watch more stimulating media, frequent more useful sites.

What you put in has everything to do with what you get out. Mundane information results in mundane thoughts and concerns, results in a mundane, uninspiring life. You can have better.

Find music that makes you feel positive, empowered, happy, connected. Makes you think or gives you a new perspective. A lot of what is popular right now is pretty myopic, you have to feed all parts of yourself.

Spend some time finding new sites that truly stimulate you. There are millions of sites on the internet, how is it that most people frequent the same 5 every day?

Don’t be so approval needy, tech, attached, social media dependent. We fail to realize how much combined time we spend distracted by electronic devices, and more importantly, how much attention that saps from constructive activity we could be engaging in. It’s now clear that many of us are unwittingly addicted and have an unhealthy dependency on the virtual realm, and its no joking matter.

Technology isn’t the enemy, we’re just using it improperly. We’ve got to learn to use technology consciously and responsibly, as opposed to it using us.  Electronics did not give birth to us. Life existed fine long before them, what does it say about us that we now feel we can’t even function a day without them?

Live more in the actual than the virtual world. Consider a tech fast of just few days in which you life life with out the interferences of electronics. Try reducing the times you check email, text, and social platforms to 4 times a day.

Try: If someone hit the wrong button tomorrow, all our memories might be gone! They are so digital. Make a physical photo album of key memories and your memories to get more in touch with yourself.

Also, Try drafting papers or reports in Word or Notepad with the Wifi off or even better, outlining your ideas on paper first. See what difference it makes.

Social Media
Keep a purpose in mind each time you log on to a platform; don’t browse mindlessly. Try to do post things that enrich others and improve collective understanding- rather than argue, judge, speculate,

Try making your own original content, or uploading your own things to share. Don’t stay in the habit of always reposting and recycling things others have posted.

Clean up
We now live a large portion of our lives son the internet a lot of our junk is digital too. Its not physicality doesn’t make it any less impeding. save your own stuff delete unneeded messages and posts from the past. Unsubscribe from newsletters you never read.

News & Events You Follow.
It is possible to divert an entire population’s attention away from creating solutions, simply by bombarding and distracting it with talk of problems. This is called drama and it something that pervades our communication channels strongly today. How construct is any one person while they are watching a play? Beware this pitfall. Do not allow your attention to be sucked into this trap in the interest of being “well informed.” Let your quest for awareness

Learn New Things.

Stay Creative
You Have to keep learning to keep growing and improving.

So much information is coming into the forefront about so many things. You can learn to do virtually anything, for free, via the internet. That is a gift that wasn’t available to generations before us. Make as much use of it as you can.  Pick a subject area to explore a like astronomy, or coral reefs, or sacred geometry. Learn how to build a cabinet, make an electronic device, grow flowers, make a dress, whatever it is you’re interested in.

Also, seek to know the truth about things. The cat’s finding its way out of the bag on every subject you can think of, and it wont help you to continue living on outdated information. Spend and evening or two watching documentaries and expanding your mind.

Weave opportunities to create and express your imagination into your schedule. Join a painting Meetup or a metalshop class. Help coordinate a project for a volunteer organization. Do new things.

Remember not to worry.

Heal

Take Care of Yourself

Truly appreciate and maintain your body. Take more baths, eat more fresh foods, get more massages, go for more jogs, do more yoga. If moneys an issue see what free resources are available in your area through libraries and communities etc. or get a group of friends together and use tools from the internet to do it yourself.

Learn how to breathe. Start to meditate. Activate your pineal gland. Stop smoking and heavy drinking. It really is time for habits like that to go. Pick one way to improve your diet: cut out preservatives, cut out fake sugars, lessen packaged foods, starches, dairies and meats, or go organic. So many methods for growing food easily in any environment or climate are coming forth now, that blaming your poor health decisions grocery store prices really wont cut it.

To help with your transition, consider completing a cleanse or juicing to give your body and energy levels a nice clean start.

Genuinely Improve Yourself

It doesn’t happen often in this society that we make work to become better people a priority. We’re so encouraged to focus on things around us, others, objects outside ourselves that we frequently forget the most important piece. Us. A better life is not about getting more things. A better world is not about pushing and pulling others. The hidden truth is that the more we change ourselves  to become more compassionate, understanding, loving, honest, virtuous, egoless, and complete, the better off the world will be. It’s not until we work on these things for ourselves that we can successfully show others the way.

Take an honest look in the mirror. Bring pen and paper with you. Really look at yourself and your life. Identify aspects of yourself that simply don’t benefit you or others. Everyone has them, so no one should come up short in this search. General vices like hate, anger, fear, doubt, jealousy, carelessness, are obvious, but go more subtle. Dig deeper and see if you can get more specific than that. See if you can figure yourself out. Once you understand yourself, you can determine where your not so pretty parts come from, and you’ll be in a good position to eradicate them. Don’t be scared to let go. You don’t need them.

Don’t judge, panic or degrade yourself for what you find. Be grateful you’re now able to see it and for the chance you now have to improve it. Use this opportunity to become your best! A better you = a better life and a better world and that’s a benefit to everyone, isn’t it?

Forgive.

Have Tough conversations. Clear up Bad Blood, Engage in open honest communication, Truly Move on from the past.

To get to the new, you can’t keep the old with you.

Decide to stop holding on to things this year. If there are skeletons in your past, grudges within or against you, hurt feelings, feuds, whatever, have the courage to look them in the face and settle them, no matter how hard or tortuous the idea might seen. It takes a lot more courage to fix a disagreement than it does to create one; and the biggest lesson humanity has to learn at the moment is how to solve problems between people. Dislike and blame towards others is so pointless, wastes so much time and emotional energy and so keeps us from moving forward, that its time we abandon rifts all together and evolve.

So whether its a tiff you had with your sibling at 7, blame you hold toward someone who truly hurt you, or you anger at an establishment that oppressed you, lay it all out, be honest about what happened and what it is you want and use wisdom to find a way forward. Then resolve not to let interpersonal issues hang in the air from here on.

Have Substance
Keep your promises to yourself and others The era we’re in so many of us so spaced out that even the most solid of us can become unreliable. This has to do with the increased distraction mentioned above and how “busy” we feel. Counter this by making a concerted effort to do every single thing you say you will do, whatever it takes. This includes promises made to yourself. This will cut back on the number of empty and unfulfilled statements you make, cause you to have greater faith in your ability to accomplish things (thereby making you more productive) and allow you focus and organize your priorities. You will also become a more real and substantive person.

This site will be providing more of the resources needed to help readers transform their lives, from instructional videos to downloadable info, media, and music packs, etc. Were in this together. Stay tuned, and support our Growth.

A simple, informative look at the hindrances that limit people, and some solutions that can liberate them: from learning potential, to vitality, to lifespan. Enjoy.

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In this Tedx video, Graham Hancock discusses the role of Visionary Plants and altered states of consciousness in the evolution of human consciousness. He links man’s prehistoric leap from cave to civilization with consciousness, and highlights visionary medicine’s central roles in major Ancient Civilizations, including those in Egypt, India, and South America.

Ayahuasca [...]]]>  

In this Tedx video, Graham Hancock discusses the role of Visionary Plants and altered states of consciousness in the evolution of human consciousness. He links man’s prehistoric leap from cave to civilization with consciousness, and highlights visionary medicine’s central roles in major Ancient Civilizations, including those in Egypt, India, and South America.

Ayahuasca has also been used to cure Heroin, Cocaine and other hard drug addiction with a high 60% success rate, suggesting its widespread use could mean a huge reduction in addiction worldwide– yet it is more prohibited than any other substance.

He cites strict government prohibition of spiritual substances like Psilocybin (Mushrooms) and Ayahuasca (DMT) despite their proven benefit and spiritual import as acts in a War on Consciousness.

John from Grow Your Own Greens shares [...]]]> “Now, if you don’t have alot of yardspace to even do a 4 foot circler raised bed, you can also grow on the wall. I’m excited to share with you guys how they did that here… Is to show you guys you can grow anywhere”!

John from Grow Your Own Greens shares low space gardening with high yields.

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 Click Image above for download.
Not Working? Let Us Know. Thanks for Learning!

If you have ever wondered about the bible’s skips from birth to crucifixion or just what happened to Jesus between the ages of 2 and 30, you’ve [...]]]>

 Click Image above for download.
Not Working? Let Us Know. Thanks for Learning!

If you have ever wondered about the bible’s skips from birth to crucifixion or just what happened to Jesus between the ages of 2 and 30, you’ve found your answer. Explore the lost years and gain a true appreciation for the life and works of Christ.

It offers a more complete look at the Christ’s life and works of messiah and is packed with truth, inspiration, and guidance.

Key Points:

Click image for download. Thanks for learning!
Author: Ivan Van Sertima
Year Published: 1976, 2003

Key Points:

• Establishes African Presence in America before Columbus.
• Provides a more complete, more accurate picture of history.
• Will help you understand the Moors as the ancestors of the so called ‘blacks’ and ‘African Americans’ of today.

Click image for download. Thanks for learning!

I recently completed my first course in the meditation technique called Vipassana. The course of 10 days was without doubt, the most powerful, empowering, liberating experience I have ever experienced; and I have experienced quite a few things. I found myself continually amazed by the experience as I worked, and [...]]]>

Vipassana

I recently completed my first course in the meditation technique called Vipassana. The course of 10 days was without doubt, the most powerful, empowering, liberating experience I have ever experienced; and I have experienced quite a few things. I found myself continually amazed by the experience as I worked, and knew that I must share it with as many people as I could as soon as I returned to the world. Here is my account.

Background
Without the slightest hint of exaggeration, Vipassana is the actual technique Buddha used to reach enlightenment. The story most told implies Buddha’s captivated India due to his words of wisdom, but in actuality, it was his delivery of this technique to the people that changed so many lives. As centuries progressed and the technique was silenced, altered, and eliminated, a select few teachers in the land of Burma maintained it in its purity, passing it down through generations until the time it would again heal the world. It has helped hundreds of thousands since its return. The gravity of this is not easily grasped at first, but upon taking the course it becomes clear.

Why you Should Go

You Need A Break
Not you ‘could use a break’, ‘might wanna take a break’, ‘a break might be nice’, etc… you NEED one. Functioning in this society equals dys-functioning by all other standards and you NEED to take a step back from the constant hustle, to see what is real if your going to make any real progress.

Parties, vacations, alcohol, etc, simply distract one from the source of their unrest temporarily. These brief and  pseudo-successful escapes offer no lasting solution. Vipassana on the other hand is relaxing and productive. it equips you with the ability to vanquish stress permanently. You will return so focused, clear, and new that your performance in all your pursuits will dramatically improve.

You’ll Get Rid of Whats Holding You Back
I found that the challenges and barriers I struggled with most in my quest for progress fell away. The technique goes so deep that you will find many of your surface issues solved.

You Get to Play Monk for 10 Days.
Its not a monastery and there are no monks involved, but you do get a glimpse into what the existence of a monk is like- and its rather interesting.

You’ll Make Major Headway in your Spiritual Progress
If you’re already on the path, the course will help you get a lot further and show you what it take to move forward in the future. Your intuition will improve and your skills in any esoteric efforts you have will improve.

It Will Change your Life. nuff said.

Why You’ll Tell Yourself Not To Go

I Don’t Have Time
Who owns your life?? You or your activities? If your life is your own, there should be no reason under the sun why you cannot take ten of your own days to do something that will prove so very beneficial for the rest of your life.

In the western rat race, we run from school, to work, to family, chasing money, success, and empty things, never  finding time to work toward the purpose we came to earth for in the first place. We’ve been raised with skewed concepts ‘responsibility’ so that we view things like this as unnecessary or slacking off.

Vipassana is actually one of the most responsible things you’ll ever do.  Understand it is not a retreat. It is the most productive 10 days you could wish for. You will never believe you could transform so much in such a short amount of time, and your success going forward is sure to increase.

We find time for the things we care about. If you needed an operation, you would make arrangements for everything else in your life to get it done. Allow yourself no excuses; the barriers we create for ourselves are never real. You’ll be so happy you did.

I Don’t Want to be Brainwashed
You won’t be. If anything, you’ll be un-brainwashed. The process does not present to you any dogma or belief to accept. It shows you how to go within and see what is real for yourself. You’ll come out liberated of any beliefs you held based on illusion.

It Goes Against My Religion
No it doesn’t. Is your religion against breathing? Didn’t think so. No beliefs are taught of the course- its just you, yourself, and you. You learn only what you observe yourself. Whats more, plenty of members of every major religion, including leaders, have taken the course with excellent results and continue practicing their faith.

I Already Know How to Meditate
Trust me. The meditation you’ve done in the past does not compare to this. Even if you’re quite content with the practice you have, give this a good try to see the difference yourself.

It’s not worth it/ It won’t work/ I’m atheist, etc.
We’ll you have no rational way of knowing that until you try it do you? You’re only selling yourself short. Don’t.

Bla, Bla, Bla, etc…
Numerous excuses and trifles can arise to persuade one against Vipassana; ‘I don’t like this, I can’t deal with that, I don’t need this,’ etc. Its the voice of the lower self, who doesn’t want to be destroyed. In the end, none of it will matter. When you encounter the results, you’ll only smile thinking of the reservations you originally had. Kick the crap to the side and say hello to a better life.

Things to Remember

Knowing. One might consider themselves quite learned in matters of spirituality, philosophy, or wisdom, etc.  The more you can put prior knowledge to the side, even if temporarily, the more full your experience will be. Know enough about the course to decide your going, then stop your research. I went knowing nothing more than ‘I’ll be meditating for 10 days,’ & I’m glad I did. The more unnecessary information we gather, the more room we create for argument, doubt, worries expectations, etc. that will impede our progress. Go knowing nothing and expecting nothing & let your very own beautiful experience unfold.

Eating. Before the course, you might want to gradually lessen your food intake. While there will be plenty of food at the course, eating large amounts presents a real barrier to concentration, and you will be happy if you become accustom to smaller portions ahead of time. Remember that oatmeal & peppermint tea aid digestion.

Talking. Try not to talk so much on the way there. Words have a way of staying with us long after they’re uttered. Conversations, even those of few words, float around our minds over and over, stealing our attention. The less speaking you do on your way to the course, the less chatter you’ll have to clear when you begin working. Similarly,  at the end of the course, your mind will have become conditioned to very little outside stimulation. You’ll become very exhausted if you go from very little input to lots of input in a short time. Cut talking in half on your way to and from the course.

Upon Return give yourself time to ease back into normal life. Don’t evade close human interaction, but make firm decisions about who you interact with and how. Also, you’ll have had plenty of realizations about what you want to change and things you want to do, so don’t return to life and its activities until you have a plan; even if its one quickly drawn up on the ride home. You are a baby in the world of calm and this will ensure that your old ways, habits, and mediocrity don’t reestablish themselves before your bliss sinks in strong. Allow no cow to eat your plant! (Goenkaism)

Don’t Worry. Don’t worry about anything. Don’t let anything, within or without worry you. Don’t worry about not fulfillling any of the things above or not fulfilling anything for that matter. Smile. You are on your way to Ultimate Freedom. All is well.

Peace.
Olympia Auset El.

More Links & Media

Register for the course:
Dhamma Brothers– a documentary capturing the amazing impact of Vipassana in prison
A Humorous Snippet from Goenka on Religion