The Delicate Business of Being Human

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In episode 21 we are joined by Ra Lalita Dasi Aryavrat to speak about Reiki, grace, and the body’s innate wisdom. Radasi has been a Reiki practitioner since 2004 and is a disciple in the Shivoham lineage. Founder of Satya Loka Center of Traditional Yoga and Tantra in Greece, she offers teacher trainings, guidance and sadhana, and Reiki empowerments.

What is Reiki, and who or what is ‘healing’ when we work with energy? We explore the difference between conduit and healer, and consider the body’s innate wisdom and capacity. Radasi honors her Reiki teacher Dharma Das, and shares about the inspiration and humility he left her with. We explore the difference between Kundalini and Reiki and learn about attunements, symbols, and purification.

Satya Loka Centre of traditional Yoga and Tantra was founded in 2011 and is dedicated to offer teachings and trainings that focus on the recognition of our true nature, and the inner union that naturally reveals itself through the practice.

@satyalokatantra

https://satyaloka.net/

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Episode 20 Navaratri; Connecting with the Vital Force of Life with Gurumaa Dipti Rajkumar Baswar. Gurumaa joins us again to share about this sacred festival celebrated by Tantrics and householders alike. What if Shakti, or the feminine, is nothing less than life force itself? We speak about the many ways this force manifests; as vitality, as nature itself, as the mother principle which provides us with what we need in the time we need it. What if staying in tune with the seasons could bring us into deeper connection with this force?

While in most traditions one or perhaps two Navaratris are celebrated, Gurumaa speaks about four Navaratris. These are energetic points in the year which, when strung together, offer a precious opportunity to connect with the life pulse of the universe. Rather than four separate events, the Navaratris connect the same way in the physical realm we have moments of preparing the field and planting that lead to a harvest.

We’ll learn about which Navaratris establish new energy and which remove what isn’t needed. We’ll also learn about secret Navaratris for multiplying and distributing the energy built throughout the year. Finally, we’ll hear about different ways of practicing and why one might work with the Mahavidyas during these festivals

Instagram @shivohamtantra

https://shivohamtantra.com/

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Episode 19 Spiritual Intolerance and The Escape Hatch of Death. This week we are joined by meditation and mental health coach Joseph Braccio to speak about coaching, stillness, and the trap of valuing the vertical over the horizontal.

Are spiritual practices that place transcendence over what is here and now taking us away from actual presence? Joseph and I speak about the real possibility that the calm and still ideal we dream will come after death or enlightenment doesn’t exist, and how we can face the chaos that is here in its stead. We discuss the stories we tell ourselves, the way that suicidal ideation keeps us from going all in, and how it would be to enter into committed relationship with our lives.

Joseph shares about attempted suicide, so if you don’t have the capacity for that, there will be another episode next week.

https://www.josephbraccio.com/

https://www.instagram.com/elemental_truths?stkn=MTl6cjMzb3Q5Mmptdg==

Amritakaya अमृतकाय is a non-profit learning platform offering tools and teachings to help us to enter into deeper relationship with ourselves, others, and life itself. Instagram: @amritakaya www.amritakaya.org

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Episode 18; Dissecting Our Defenses; Envy, Gateway to Our Hidden Potential. In the fourth installment of our study, Paramita Oliveira and I continue on a micro-but-mighty odyssey. The terrain is tracing the ego’s development as a series of solutions and defense mechanisms. We’ll examine the structure of the personality, which was built around a being in development who didn’t have the protection or cognitive capacity to navigate life’s difficulties. We start to recognize these solutions and defenses as being a distortion of our essence.

The same way a prism separates white light into the full spectrum, the slings and arrows of this human experience fragment our light. Our fragmentation isn’t moral, its fundamentally human, but it can leave us feeling disconnected from ourselves and separate from our power. We will deepen in coming episodes and create a map that will lead us back to our wholeness using what in us is most unconscious and reactive as a doorway.

In this episode we look at the uncomfortable subject of envy and study the ways that it deflects our attention from inner experience, and pain. We ask if envy could be a clue to something deeper and look at what we envy and why. Envy highlights our helplessness, but could it also point to our power?

Paramita Oliveira is a psychologist focused on the study of human behavior. She feels deeply privileged to have encountered self-inquiry and self-study in 1994, and was so touched by what she learned that in 2000 she began to dedicate her life to bringing this study to others. She has given workshops all over the world, while continuing her own personal study of meditation retreats and deeply immersing herself in trainings in India, her second home. She specializes in working with the patterns that prevent us from true transformation by keeping us disconnected from our deepest truth.

Instagram: @paramitaoliveira

YouTube: Paramita oliveira

Amritakaya अमृतकाय is a non-profit learning platform offering tools and teachings to help us to enter into deeper relationship with ourselves, others, and life itself.

Instagram: @amritakaya

www.amritakaya.org

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

In this bonus episode, Laura Carrotti offers a simple orienting meditation to support

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Episode 17 The Anatomy of Transformation; How We Change and Why We Don’t. This episode is a replay of a live community class offered by Laura Carrotti.

One of the most compelling things about the human being is its capacity to shapeshift, evolve, and transform. Most of us dream of shifting a pattern or overcoming a limitation. Our imagination is constantly fed by the promise of healing and optimizing. How much of that is healthy? How much is possible? How much of our desire to be different is a response to an external model that isn’t human at all?

In this class we’ll take a look at the ingredients necessary for real transformation, and map the obstacles found on the way there. We’ll contemplate two very distinct (and potentially opposing) sources of the desire for change, and marvel at how they can both feel true. Together, we’ll really try to understand what it is that we are trying to change into, and imagine what might happen if we never get there. The meditation imbedded in the episode has been reproduced and added as a bonus so that it can be used whenever you might like or need.

This episode has a video if you are someone who learns visually it might be better for you to watch than listen.

Laura Carrotti has been a practitioner of traditional Tantra for over two decades and has been working with folks from all over the world using ancient frameworks to support transformation, acceptance, and growth.

You can connect with Laura's work at www.pathoftantra.com

Instagram @lauracarrotti

Amritakaya is a 501C non-profit www.amritakaya.org

Instagram @amritakaya

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

In Episode 16 we are joined by Gurumaa Dipti Rajkumar Baswar of the Shivoham Lineage. In “The Esoteric Essence of Ganesh; The Lord of Muladhara Chakra”, Gurumaa shares the coded creation myth of the beloved elephant-headed god. We explore his role as the embodiment of auspiciousness, and as Shakti’s gatekeeper.

Gurumaa will make connections between Ganesh and the purification of the guna-s, Kundalini, and the union of Shiva and Shakti. We’ll learn why Ganesh is always venerated first, how he came to have the head of an elephant, and what his worship can bring us. As with all deities, Ganesh must be understood as both an animate force that exists in the Universe, and an aspect of the little universe of our beings.

We’ll learn way to practice, appropriate attitudes, and how best to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi on September 14th. The Hindu calendar recognizes a week-long celebration honoring this beloved force, starting on the 14th. For more information on how to participate, and to receive a sadhana you can connect with @shivohamtantra

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

In Episode 15 we are joined by craniosacral therapist, self-proclaimed anatomy nerd, and occupational therapist, Sara Steden. After decades in the medical field, Sara learned that there is tremendous power in understanding one’s own anatomy through direct experience. She teaches folks to reconnect to the wisdom of their hands, and the tissues of their bodies.

This week she’ll share about her exploration of the connection between the three horizontal crossings in the body; the jaw, diaphragm, and pelvic floor. These horizontal structures act like floors and roofs, providing support for our otherwise vertical system.

We’ll look at the body’s self-organizing capacity and re-imagine illness as a messenger rather than an enemy. We’ll learn about fascia and gentle ways to approach tension in the three crossings with respect and patience.

You can learn more about Sara’s work, and her upcoming course on the Mysterious Three here:

https://www.sarasteden.de/the-mysterious-three

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Episode 14; Dissecting Our Defenses; Greed, and The Flow of Giving and Receiving. In the fourth installment of our study, Paramita Oliveira and I continue on a micro-but-mighty odyssey. The terrain is tracing the ego’s development as a series of solutions and defense mechanisms. We’ll examine the structure of the personality, which was built around a being in development who didn’t have the protection or cognitive capacity to navigate life’s difficulties. We start to recognize these solutions and defenses as being a distortion of our essence.

The same way a prism separates white light into the full spectrum, the slings and arrows of this human experience fragment our light. Our fragmentation isn’t moral, its fundamentally human, but it can leave us feeling disconnected from ourselves and separate from our power. We will deepen in coming episodes and create a map that will lead us back to our wholeness using what in us is most unconscious and reactive as a doorway.

In this episode we explore the third layer of the mandala; greed. We’ll look at giving and receiving as a single door which is either open or closed. We’ll consider the ways in which we are unwilling to give and the block that creates to our capacity to really open to receive. Greed is deeply related to fear and an understanding of scarcity.

Paramita Oliviera is a psychologist focused on the study of human behavior.

She feels deeply privileged to have encountered self-inquiry and self-study in 1994, and was so touched by what she learned that in 2000 she began to dedicate her life to bringing this study to others. She has given workshops all over the world, while continuing her own personal study of meditation retreats and deeply immersing herself in trainings in India, her second home.

She specializes in working with the patterns that prevent us from true transformation by keeping us disconnected from our deepest truth.

Instagram: @paramitaoliveira

YouTube: Paramita oliveira

Amritakaya अमृतकाय is a non-profit learning platform offering tools and teachings to help us to enter into deeper relationship with ourselves, others, and life itself.

Instagram: @amritakaya

www.amritakaya.org

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

This bonus episode is a ten minute guided Yoga Nidra Meditation. In Episode 13; Yoga Nidra and the Path of Awareness we were joined by Yorgos Aryavrat, long time meditator and teacher in Satya Loka Yoga School Yorgos, to explore the link between Yoga Nidra and consciousness. In this ten minute

When we imagine Yoga Nidra as just an effective relaxation technique, we miss its power as a tool for moving awareness, and going beyond the rational mind. In this episode Yorgos will frame Yoga Nidra as a map which allows us to visit terrain not usually accessible in normal waking states, and highlights surprising benefits that the practice can yield.

Yorgos is deeply influenced by his decades of study in Orthodox mysticism and gnostic Christianity. He is an initiated teacher in the Shivoham Tantra lineage, and runs trainings and courses throughout the year. For those who would like to go deeper in September he will offer a donation-based Yoga Nidra workshop, visit https://satyaloka.net/yoga-nidra-retreat-workshop/ for more information.