Davidji's Blog, page 4

Life Tools: How do we reach self-actualization?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxwCX...

Hello, Spiritual Warrior!

Welcome to this issue of The Source.

What is stress?

It’s a universal aspect of life that every being on this planet experiences.

The definition of stress is how you respond when your needs are not met. In the 1940s, Abraham Maslow created a detailed exploration of the Hierarchy of Needs. And these needs are the path we all take towards self-actualization. 

Maslow’s premise was that we have needs that we are inherently guided to fulfill, regardless of reward.

Naturally, the first level of needs are Physiological – we know that most animals in the world are responding to this.

These are the basic needs to stay alive – eating, drinking, nourishing ourselves, staying warm. If we aren’t fulfilling these, we can’t progress past this in life.

The next level of needs is Safety and Security. We know this as Law and Order in our current society.

In order to feel safe, we need to walk through the world with the assumption that everyone around us is living by the same rules.

We need to feel secure in our relationships and our jobs. Feeling safe is required before we can move on to the next level, which is…

Love and Belongingness. Once our biological / physiological and safety and security needs are met, we are able to expand. We can aspire towards love, towards belongingness.

And from here is where we enter into the Four Needs of the Heart:

Attention, Affection, Appreciation and Acceptance.

We all know that life isn’t always easy, but being able to feel fulfilled in the Hierarchy of Needs and the Four Needs of the Heart is how we reach self-actualization.

This is how we live our fullest expression and give the most of ourselves to the world around us.

Thank you for taking the time to dive into this topic with me!

I appreciate your presence here.

P.S. Don’t forget to LIKE & SUBSCRIBE to my channels to keep your ripple flowing in our community & support this content!!! Check out my Mind Shift membership too  Sending you peace, presence and surrender to the divine within you. Be well.

Namaste. -davidji & Peaches the Buddha Princess

Journey to your Sweetspot: 14-Minute Guided Meditation

Hello, Spiritual Warrior!

The ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said:

If there is to be peace in the world, there must be peace in the nations. 

If there is to be peace in the nations, there must be peace in the cities. 

If there is to be peace in the cities, there must be peace between neighbors. 

If there is to be peace between neighbors, there must be peace at home. 

If there is to be peace at home, there must be peace in the heart.

We are the very source of peace that we see in the world. Just like a mirror – we see the peace that is within us reflected outside of us. And the peace that we see outside of us is reflected back inwards.

Compassion flows out from a whole heart, and we transform the world by transforming ourselves.

So for this meditation today, let’s access the peace within our heart and expand it outwards..

In this visualization meditation, I will invite you to journey with me from the shores of the sea to the depths of a forest.

We’ll listen to the sounds of nature as we dive deep into our hearts, and remember that we aren’t just a part of the universe – we ARE the universe.

Aham Brahmasmi, baby!

Enjoy this beautiful guided meditation that allows you to both step outside of yourself and connect deeply within, all at the same time.

P.S. Don’t forget to LIKE & SUBSCRIBE to my channels to keep your ripple flowing in our community & support this content!!! Check out my Mind Shift membership too  Sending you peace, presence and surrender to the divine within you. Be well.

Namaste. -davidji & Peaches the Buddha Princess

Connecting to your Dhri

Dear Spiritual Warrior, 

There is an ancient concept – thousands of years old – that is called Dhri.

The literal meaning of dhri is “that which upholds.” Thousands of years ago, seekers came back to this universal question, noting that dhri was the force that held the stars apart and the universe together.

What a profound concept! Imagine a power so great, that it can hold stars apart, and the universe together. 

So I’d like to ask you – what holds your stars apart and your universe together? 

What is it, that ignites your heart, and illuminates your soul?

It’s a powerful exercise to journal on this topic.

When we can narrow down the answer to this question within ourselves, it helps us deal with the “riff raff” of life.

Whenever you find yourself getting into your head – intellectualizing, debating, unsure – you can come back to the answer to this question. 

Never forget that in the swirl of the unknown, we are the stillness inside the storm, we are the calm amidst the chaos.

This world is here for you to explore and discover – and the answers to any questions always rest within.

Namaste.

– davidji

P.S. Don’t forget to LIKE & SUBSCRIBE to my channels to keep your ripple flowing in our community & support this content!!! Check out my Mind Shift membership too  Sending you peace, presence and surrender to the divine within you. Be well.

Namaste. -davidji & Peaches the Buddha Princess

Tonglen (Energy Exchange): 11-Minute Guided Meditation

Hello, Spiritual Warrior!

Today, let’s practice tonglen – energy exchange.

Tonglen is a Buddhist meditation meant to cultivate compassion.

Tong means “giving or sending”, and len means “receiving or taking.” 

Feather your nest and settle in for this beautiful, healing meditation practice. Here’s a peek into how we practice:

Breathe in stillness, and exhale turbulence

Breathe in lightness, and let go of heaviness

Breathe in soothing, and release pain

Thank you for meditating with me. I hope you keep joining me in the gap! 

Love, davidji

P.S. Don’t forget to LIKE & SUBSCRIBE to my channels to keep your ripple flowing in our community & support this content!!! Check out my Mind Shift membership too  Sending you peace, presence and surrender to the divine within you. Be well.

Namaste. -davidji & Peaches the Buddha Princess

Life Tools: What is Yoga? Yoga Chitta Vritti Nirodha

Hello, Spiritual Warrior!

Today, let’s talk about what yoga truly is.

In the Yoga Sutras written by Patanjali over 2000 years ago, we find the second Sutra – Sutra 1.2 – to be yoga chitta vritti nirodha. This is a foundational statement about what yoga is.

Yoga means oneness, union, the present moment

Chitta means the mind – thoughts and perceptions

Vritti means fluctuations, unsteadiness

Nirodha means quiet / tampered down / restrained

Yoga chitta vritti nirodha means that yoga is the quieting of the fluctuations of the mind.

So often we perceive yoga as these physical postures that we do with our bodies – but it is so much more than that. Asana – the postures – are just one aspect of a yoga practice.

And asana is designed to take you into a state of meditation. This is where all yoga is really going – towards a state of calm, meditative awareness where we merge into oneness. 

So when we are meditating, we are practicing yoga, and when we practice yoga, we are meditating.

A crucial component to a meditation practice is to remember that thoughts don’t stop because we are meditating – and the goal of meditation is not to try to get the thoughts to stop.

The goal (if there is one), is to cultivate our ability to witness. 

When we can witness our thoughts moving through, the grip they have over us is lessened. We resist less and learn to become curious about what is showing up.

This makes meditation a welcoming activity that we will want to return to over and over again. 

In this video I share some sanskrit terms with you:

Abhyasa = daily practice that we show up to every single day. A practice that we dedicate ourselves to, that we make a part of our daily life.

Vairagya = non-attachment.

So if we have a dedicated daily practice of abhyasa, and we are also dedicated to vairagya, then we are truly learning how to cultivate our ability to witness. To witness the fluctuations of the mind, to witness our thoughts and perceptions on a consistent basis. 

When we cultivate our ability to witness, it allows us to show up with greater patience, understanding and empathy. And we learn to allow things to show up, even if they are uncomfortable.

Let’s use fear as an example.

If we allow feelings of fear to arise, it will show up and then move on. If we are able to view it from a witnessing perspective, then it loses its attachment over us. If we resist fear, then we are attaching to it – and it sticks around. 

The ongoing practice of yoga chitta vritti nirodha allows us to deeply integrate this cultivation of witness consciousness, and merge deeper into a state of oneness – samadhi.

Yoga chitta vritti nirodha – let’s take this mantra into this week and make a shift within!

Sending love,

– davidji

P.S. Don’t forget to LIKE & SUBSCRIBE to my channels to keep your ripple flowing in our community & support this content!!! Check out my Mind Shift membership too  Sending you peace, presence and surrender to the divine within you. Be well.

Namaste. -davidji & Peaches the Buddha Princess

Manifest Your Dreams: 18-Minute Guided Meditation

Hello Spiritual Warrior!

In this meditation, we are going to tap into abundance consciousness and remember that if you can dream it, you can achieve it. The starting point is to level up your mindset, to make a shift. 

For this meditation, feather your nest and settle in as we begin with some visualizations. 

Picture all of these elements, in their most abundant, ideal form:

Your physical body

Your home, and where you live

The people you are surrounded by

Your material world – what things are around you all the time?

What activities do you spend each day doing?

How do you spend your time?

What does the unconditional love of the universe feel like, as you bask in its glow?

These are just a few questions to ask yourself, as you step into your next best version. 

For this meditation, we’ll use the mantra om moksha ritam. 

Om is the universal vibration that heralds our oneness,

Moksha is emotional freedom, 

Ritam is the rhythm of the universe.

Let’s create a fertile garden for our most divine dreams to plant seeds and manifest.

I’ll see you in the gap, fellow soul traveler and manifestor!

With love – davidji

P.S. Don’t forget to LIKE & SUBSCRIBE to my channels to keep your ripple flowing in our community & support this content!!! Check out my Mind Shift membership too  Sending you peace, presence and surrender to the divine within you. Be well.

Namaste. -davidji & Peaches the Buddha Princess

Awakening the Virtue of Courage

Hello Spiritual Warrior!

Today I’m sharing an excerpt from my book Sacred Powers with you – on Awakening the Virtue of Courage. 

I invite you to close your eyes and listen as I read a few pages to you in this video.

Along with this reading, I am offering some journal prompts, which are offered in the book as well. 

Before journaling, allow the following passage to sink in – and then grab a pen and paper and start finding the answers that are you unique to you through this process:

Courage is awakened in that sliver of a moment where we decide to act.  Where the flame in you meets the eternal fire of the Universe and you become grounded in your belief that you will take the fearless step in spite of everything around you telling you to fear.  The Sacred Power of Passion is there to light your way as you step boldly into your power. 

So let’s take a moment to sit quietly and begin to take what is in your body and mind into the tangible world outside your physical form. 

Grab a pen and paper, and answer the following questions as you ask yourself ‘What Awakens My Passion?’

What is my deepest driving desire? Right now, what does my heart long for?Why is this important to me? Why do I care?How much do I truly want it? (Answer on a scale of 1-10, where 1 is not at all and 10 is more than anything in life.)

 

These are such important questions to ask ourselves, so I invite you to take some extra time sitting with it, reflecting on it, and allowing the answers to evolve and transform. 

Interested in reading Sacred Powers? You can get your copy here.

Thank you for being a member of this Sweetspot Community – I am so glad that you are here!

With love – davidji

P.S. Don’t forget to LIKE & SUBSCRIBE to my channels to keep your ripple flowing in our community & support this content!!! Check out my Mind Shift membership too  Sending you peace, presence and surrender to the divine within you. Be well.

Namaste. -davidji & Peaches the Buddha Princess

Awaken Your Energy Centers: 18-Minute Chakra Clearing Guided Meditation

Hello Spiritual Warrior!

Almost every day I like to do a chakra clearing meditation, to clear out any energy that is stuck in my system. 

Today I’d like to share a chakra clearing guided meditation with you that will help invigorate and align your chakras.

What is a chakra, you may ask? 

They are energy centers located along the spine – from the tailbone to the crown of the head. 

While there are hundreds of energy pathways in the body, there are seven main chakras which help move energy as it flows in and out, and in this meditation, we will bring our attention to and breathe into each of the following:

The Root Chakra – muladhara – color is red. 

The root chakra is located at the tip of the tailbone, and represents our foundation, safety and shelter. This is the chakra of trust and integrity, and is the foundation upon which we expand into every chakra located above.

The Sacral Chakra – svadhisthana – color is orange. 

The Sacral Chakra is where we birth new concepts, visions and directions. From here, we launch new beginnings. This is our chakra of imagination, passion, sensuality, and pleasure. 

The Solar Plexus Chakra – manipura – color is yellow. 

Just like the sun, this is our chakra of sharing and spreading our light out into the world. This is our intention, commitment and follow-through chakra. This is the chakra of transformation and taking responsibility for our lives, and owning our impact.

Heart Chakra – anahata – color is green. 

This is the chakra of acceptance, forgiveness, compassion, love and peace. Unconditional love. 

Throat Chakra – vishuddha – color is blue. 

This is our chakra of voice, truth and communication. From here, we interact with the world, communing and conversing. This is also known as the honesty chakra.

Third Eye Chakra – ajna – color is purple. 

This is our chakra of intuition, choice-making, judgment, vision and clarity of vision. This is where our inner voice communicates with us, helping bridge the gap between our head and our heart.

Crown Chakra – sahasrara – white / clear / ultraviolet. 

Depicted by a thousand-petaled lotus, the crown chakra represents moksha – freedom. It is the chakra of service and surrender, and of connection to the divine. 

As you settle in for this meditation, feather your nest and remember that comfort is queen. 

Allow yourself to surrender and feel energy moving from the root – to the sacrum – to the solar plexus – heart – throat – third eye – crown of the head. 

Stay in the space and allow.

Thank you for meditating with me today, and joining me in the gap! 

Namaste,

davidji

P.S. Don’t forget to LIKE & SUBSCRIBE to my channels to keep your ripple flowing in our community & support this content!!! Check out my Mind Shift membership too  Sending you peace, presence and surrender to the divine within you. Be well.

Namaste. -davidji & Peaches the Buddha Princess

Life Tools: 8 Steps To Awaken Healing

Hello, Spiritual Warrior!

We were born whole – from our conception to birth, we live in a state of perfect wholeness. And then once we separated from our mother during birth, we began to become layered with conditioning. 

As don Miguel Ruiz states in his book The Four Agreements, we go through a process of domestication.

This is simply a part of the human experience – in fact, we need to separate from our sense of wholeness, in order to come back to it once again. 

All of us have a lot of healing to do. In order to heal, we need to reconnect to our wholeness – to the memory of our wholeness. 

To understand that it never left us, we just forgot about it, leaving it buried under years of conditioning and training to believe that we are not whole.

So how do we return there? 

Here are 8 Steps to Awaken Healing – to return to a state of our own wholeness, and reclaim our connection to the inner knowing that we are always whole, no matter what circumstances are surrounding us.

Connect to the present moment, and return to the power of presence.Appreciate the uncertainty of existence. Not just understand it, but to sincerely appreciate it. Cultivate Self-Compassion. Self-compassion can be one of the hardest lessons to learn, as we often find it easier to find compassion for another than for ourselves.Practice Gratitude. 20 seconds a day of gratitude creates a neurological shift in your brain. Making gratitude an inherent part of your day will create beautiful changes in your life!Awaken our authentic voice. This can be our actual voice, or our persona – our identity in the world. The throat chakra is the chakra of our voice, but also of permission. We need to be heard, and we also need to release our attachment to other people’s thoughts and opinions. Risk being you!Find meaningful work. If you are stuck in a job that you don’t like, that’s ok! You don’t need to leave the work you are doing – you can start by doing something that sparks you inside and fulfills your heart. It can be a side hustle or a volunteer project. Make time to rest and to play. Remember that burnout is not a status symbol! It’s important to enjoy your life, relax and have fun.Cultivate laughter, song and dance. Even if you don’t know how to sing and dance! Integrate this into life, because it will return you to the memory of your wholeness. This might not be a conventional way to heal, but in the process of doing it, you will heal.

 

I hope that these 8 Steps to Awaken Healing help you remember that you are always whole, and that there is nothing outside of you that will complete you – all of the answers are available within.

Thank you for spending this time with me. 

Namaste – davidji

P.S. Don’t forget to LIKE & SUBSCRIBE to my channels to keep your ripple flowing in our community & support this content!!! Check out my Mind Shift membership too  Sending you peace, presence and surrender to the divine within you. Be well.

Namaste. -davidji & Peaches the Buddha Princess

Let Your Soul Light Shine Bright: 25-Minute Guided Meditation

Hello, Spiritual Warrior – it’s time to surrender!

Feather your nest and settle in for this Soul LIght Guided Meditation.

In Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, he talked about the five obstacles that are a part of the human experience.

In Sanskrit, five = pancha, and obstacle = klesha. So the five obstacles are the pancha kleshas.

The pancha kleshas speak to the five poisons, afflictions, or obstacles – mental states that cloud the mind, which then manifest in unwholesome actions.

These mental states include anxiety, fear, anger, jealousy, desire, depression and stress.

In this ancient text, Patanjali outlines the means to liberation, and discusses the kleshas – the obstacles to that liberation.

These five obstacles are:

Ignorance, Egoism, Attachment, Aversion, and Clinging to Life.

Patanjali further states that the goal of yoga is not to obtain something that is lacking, it is the realization of an already – present reality.

Our yoga practice removes the obstacles that obstruct the experience of samadhi – complete harmony with the universe.

In this meditation, we will settle in with the mantra jyoti karuna namah:

Jyoti = light

Karuna = compassion

Namah = the Self, ever turning back inwards onto itself

As you move through this next week, notice as you move through Raga and Dvesha – attachment and aversion.

Notice what you are attracted and drawn to, which creates suffering, as well as noticing what you resist or reject, which also creates suffering.

In any one of those moments, realize that you are beyond your obstacles – your kleshas.

What you are attached to, release.

And what you reject – choose to lean in towards.

Over time, this cultivation will lead to greater peace in your life.

Love,

davidji

P.S. Don’t forget to LIKE & SUBSCRIBE to my channels to keep your ripple flowing in our community & support this content!!! Check out my Mind Shift membership too  Sending you peace, presence and surrender to the divine within you. Be well.

Namaste. -davidji & Peaches the Buddha Princess