The Way to Self-Realisation – the Knowledge of the Spirit
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Nowadays we have come to associate yoga with images of knotted limbs and uncomfortable positions with the aim to make our body fit and healthy. But do these practices really achieve yoga? Where are all these stretches and exercises supposed to lead? What does “yoga” really mean? Can we really achieve “yoga”? Can we become a true “yogi”?
The word ‘yoga’ comes from Sanskrit and means ‘union’. It is similar to the word ‘religion’ in its Latin root (religio) which means ‘re-connection’. In all countries and cultures there was this mystic knowledge about a power beyond our comprehension, an acting power, the power of creation. And although our individual spiritual journeys start out in different places – we all have different life experiences and have grown up in different traditions – we essentially move towards the same place and the same condition: to re-connect with this One Power.
But that was never an easy task to achieve, especially for a normal social person because 1) only the awakening of the Inner Energy could make this connection possible and 2) to allow this energy to rise first the inner subtle system had to be cleared. So this state could be achieved only by a few who ventured to the Himalayas, or to a monastery leading a very austere and strict life and clearing themselves relentlessly. One way was the yoga exercises to try to open up the energy centers. Rumi described the purification process poetically:
“Purify your eyes, and see the pure world.
Your life will fill with radiant forms.”
Only when all the energy centers of the subtle body were completely purified would the Inner Energy rise from the Sacrum Bone along the spine and pierce the top of the head to unite the person with the All-Pervading Power. In this union a person would receive the full enlightenment.
We all know the story of Buddha, and we might have read the words of Jesus who said that we have to be born twice, once in the flesh and then in the
spirit.
It was the big vision of Shri Mataji, the founder of Sahaja Meditation, to find a way to awaken this Inner Energy in the ‘normal human being’ because she thought that if this inner light could be given to each person then they themselves would see their own problems and would be able to solve them, without depending on others. Thus they would become their own masters, or their own guru, knowing for themselves about their own qualities and strengths and also what they need and where to improve. She knew if that could be done and many people could receive this Inner Awakening the world could be transformed into a beautiful place where social behavior would be based on benevolence and compassion rather than greed and aggressiveness, and life could be enjoyed to the fullest.

On the fifth of May in 1970 she found a way, at last, of turning the enlightenment process around. This process now allows the Inner Energy to be awakened as we are, before there has been any work of purification. Thus, only a few strands of this energy are able to rise through our mostly blocked energy centers. But even these few strands are already capable of connecting us with the All-Pervading Power and we start feeling a new awareness that expresses itself in a cool breeze in our hands and over the head. Then these energy strands go back into our subtle body and start purifying our energy centers. So what before could only be achieved through a tremendous effort of asceticism and austerity has now become effortless – as this energy would do all this work for us – we only need to let it happen. The more we meditate, the more strands of this energy can rise and we increasingly start feeling its pleasant and soothing effect on our energy centers. With time we will feel lighter and lighter, and we will realize that even deep-seated problems just dissolve and disappear.
Meditation means nothing else than allowing this Inner Energy to work in us and letting the All-pervading Power provide us with everything that we need. Focusing on the top of the head (where our connection is happening) we become thoughtless, supporting our Inner Energy with our inner silence. In this state we are truly in yoga. That is when we can call ourselves as being ‘a yogi’.
I wish you a wonderful week, enjoying your own Inner Energy!
Yours, Angi
Who was not once in a while in a situation where anger was rising up inside, and we had to keep on smiling, teeth-grinding? Maybe with a boss who threw back files (which cost a lot of over time for weeks) remarking he needs something different, and needs it ASAP. One option would be to throw the job (and the files as well) , into the next trash-bin, or to hit the next innocent substitute (i.e. a wall) or simply to gulp down any angry feelings and get a stomach ache. No matter what course of action we take, the end result is the same – we are the ones who are up-set and angry whereas the other one might feel very comfortable and happy.
So what to do? Ok, ok, I know, I am repeating myself, but really, it helps: meditate! 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes in the evening and you might become a real anger manager! To understand how it works let’s go deeper into the mysteries of the second energy center, the Svadisthan which is actually a very important energy center for us modern, planning and thinking people. If this center is in balance, anger will not visit us.
The SvadisthanIn our subtle body we use this center to be creative, to think and to plan. On the physical side, situated in the abdomen (the aortic plexus), this center provides certain organs with energy such as the liver, kidneys, uterus, spleen and pancreas.
The most important physical function of this center is that it breaks down fat particles in the abdomen to replace the grey and white cells in the brain, and so generates the energy which fuels our thinking. Excessive thinking and planning overworks this process, exhausts this center and creates heat. This heat shoots up along the right side into the left temple and into the ego, causing it to inflate into a balloon that blocks the central channel. The entire system is thrown off balance.
A tingling on the right thumb, or a sensation of warmth or heaviness indicates that this energy center is overworked with too much thinking and planning, producing excessive heat, thus creating stress feelings that might easily erupt in an angry outburst. So when our boss is asking us to work overtime, or work extra hard to finish something, we are very likely putting extra strain on this center. When this center is under strain, eruptions of anger can result!
Regular Sahaja Meditation helps a lot to balance this center and keep inner peace, no matter the outside circumstances. Your boss might be yelling, but it won’t affect you!
In addition to the meditation you can cool down this center by putting an ice-pack on the right side of your abdomen.
We also recommend to do a foot-soak every day, best in the evening before you go to sleep as described in the Meditation Tips on page 6 (that you can combine with your 10-minutes-evening meditation).
(sit wherever you like, the most important thing is to feel comfortable)
Then put your left hand on the right side of your abdomen, the right hand on the lap, palm upwards. That will help particularly to cool down the center. Meditate like that for several minutes.
If you meditate like this for some time you will find that you can keep a cool head in most situations, and react in a balanced way which at the end is beneficiary for everyone, most of all for yourself. You might even find yourself smiling with amusement where others might explode – it really happens!
I wish you a wonderful calm and anger free week!
Yours, Angi

Dear All,
yesterday, on February 23, exactly one year ago Shri Mataji, the founder of Sahaja Meditation, passed away. In memory of her life and work I would like to share a short video about Shri Matajis life and what Claus Nobel, the nephew of the great Alfred Nobel, founder of the Nobel Prize, said about her.
I hope you enjoy it!
Yours, Angi
Dear All,
here is a beautiful article about our Sahaja Meditation Class in Manchester. I hope you enjoy it.
Yours, Angi
remindernews.com
http://www.remindernews.com/article/2012/02/17/sahaja-yoga-is-catching-on-in-manchester

By Kyle Kernan – Staff Writer
Manchester – posted Fri., Feb. 17, 2012
Up the stairs at the Whiton Memorial Branch Library, 100 North Main St., in Manchester, on Tuesdays at 7 p.m., a transcendental experience awaits you through Sahaja Yoga. Tony O’Rourke, of New Haven, teaches the Sahaja meditation technique. The calm-mannered O’Rourke learned Sahaja Yoga while studying abroad in Russia in 1990, and has been practicing and teaching it ever since.
“It has had a profound effect on my psyche, I feel more calm and it has brought joy to my everyday life. I want other people to know about this and get exposed,” said Mike Kastellorizios, who is a graduate student at UConn in pharmaceuticals and has been practicing the yoga discipline for seven years.
The goal of the Sahaja is to shape one to be a moral, united, integrated and balanced person, according to Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, who created the Sahaja Yoga technique in India in 1970. Devi died about a year ago, but her technique and philosophy is catching on.
O’Rourke instructs his guests every Tuesday on how to awaken and raise their chakras, or energy levels. Chakra means “wheel” in Sanskrit. Chakras are located throughout the body and denote different aspects of our being. For example, the Mooladhara (moo-la-dhara) Chakra is located on the lower center of one’s abdomen, the outside ring of one’s palm and at one’s knees.
According to the philosophy, when this chakra is awakened, it becomes a magnetic force within the human body and is the foundation of our channels. The awakening process of all channels balances one’s entire system and enlightens the pure qualities of the chakras within us. This awakening process is the Kundalini, or self realization, according to the Sahaja Yoga website at http://www.sahajayoga.org/.
Sahaja meditation is meant to be a collective process, as everyone’s energies feed off each other, says O’Rourke.
“No matter what you’re looking for, you will find something here,” said Alin Tomoroga, owner of Propaganda Tattoo Studio on Main Street in Manchester. Tomoroga regularly attends the Tuesday sessions and has been practicing Sahaja Yoga for four years.
O’Rourke leads the awakening process through a series of affirmations which are directed to each energy center. These affirmations are meant for the person to push away their sense of self and be in a state of thoughtless awareness. In this state, a person can recognize the energy within them. These affirmations include, “I forgive myself,” “I am not this mind,” “I am not this body,” and “I am not these emotions.” The main energy circuit of a person runs from their heads down to their lower abdomen, said O’Rourke. If an energy center is warm or in pain, then one can focus the attention on clearing the negative energy out.
The difficult part of the Sahaja meditation process is learning to be in the state of thoughtless awareness that is needed to be in tune with one’s chakras.
“It is not simple and it takes a while to master, but you really need to desire it [the state of thoughtless awareness] from your heart,” said Tomoroga.

O’Rourke makes it easier for new guests to feel their own energies by conducting an energy clearing workshop. As a person sits idly in a chair without thought, O’Rourke has someone else raise their energy.
“Through this technique, it makes you aware of the vibrations and energies of others. You begin to
understand how these different energy centers are linked to our personalities, and it gives you a better idea on how to relate to others,” said Angi O’Rourke, Tony’s wife.
Angi said she has experienced people with hot or tense energies, and this tells her that these people are
angry or in trouble.
“There is so much we do not understand about ourselves. Sahaja Yoga helps me see how unique we are
and the beauty that is in every human being. When I identify that someone’s energy might be negative, I can
focus on that person’s energy, and in minutes they seem to calm down,” said Angi O’Rourke.
Sahaja Yoga is practiced and sponsored by the Vishwa Nirmala Dharma, a non-profit foundation in more
than 90 countries worldwide, and it is catching on across Connecticut.
Devi believed that spirituality is something one should not pay for, thus O’Rourke makes the Sahaja Yoga sessions free to the public. “This technique helps us to better know ourselves. On a subtle level we are all just energy,” said Tomoroga.
To learn more, visit http://www.sahajayoga.org/default.asp, or visit the next Sahaja meditation session at the Whiton Memorial Branch Library on Tuesday nights at 7 p.m.
Sometimes we are so trapped in our day-to-day life and worries that we often forget to remember from where we came. Or maybe we have never really thought about it? Then sit back comfortably and look back along your family line – where does it begin? It’s not with our grand-grand-grand-parents, not with the first human beings, nor the apes or reptiles, nor the amoebas… our family line starts at the very beginning, the Big Bang. Out of nothing everything came into being. And first it was billions and trillions of molecules that later on gathered together, forming planets, galaxies, imploding, exploding, always on the move. The molecules of our bodies are as old as the universe itself, and they once flew through space together with all the other stars until they started to form earth.
If you think of it – how high was the probability that life could start to exist? Thousands and thousands of different factors were necessary to create life, and they all happened perfectly at the right time in the right way. Just to mention some of them – the right distance between earth and sun that was needed to create the atmosphere (if earth would have been closer or more far away there would be no life), all the processes of cooling down the planet to the right temperature, all the different elements that had to be brought together in a specific way under specific circumstances so that life could be created, and the fact that out of single cells at the very beginning this abundance of life forms was created… this all – according to universal timings – in the blink of an eye.

‘Ok, that’s all really interesting, but what has it to do with us and our lives?’ one may ask. Maybe just this one thing: if we can see with how much care everything has been created, how everything in nature has its own purpose and gives a balance to something else, then it might make us aware that our life is not meaningless. In fact, each and every one of us is a masterpiece of art, of a long line of evolutionary processes. A lot of work has been put into what we are today. And this evolution is still going on, inside of us.
Maybe if we can see how special we are then we can also see how special the other is. Maybe, if we understand how billions and billions of years were put into creating just this very body we have, it may allow us to see ourselves as well as the others in a new light, maybe with more respect, maybe with more awe. And maybe all this gives us a hint that life is far more than we are aware of, and that there is nothing without a meaning, nothing without a purpose.
And there is something more to read between the lines of history – at the beginning everything was pure energy and this energy formed matter. So what is this energy? Nobody could ever touch the life force but we know for certain that it is there – isn’t it? – because if it is gone there is also no life anymore. So who is this life force that is coming and going? We are by far much more than just a simple piece of meat that was somehow put together and is now walking through the world as a result of some totally coincidental chemical and physical phenomenons.
Maybe all the stress we feel sometimes, maybe all the depressions, all the anger and other negative feelings are just there because we have forgotten who we really are? Because we have forgotten that life itself is such a miracle? And each and everyone is a walking miracle?
“You cannot know the meaning of life until you are connected to the power that created you,” Shri Mataji has said.
It was one of Shri Matajis visions that we all come to know who we really are. She worked very hard to find a way how to connect people with the very life force and on May 5th, 1970 she succeeded. Since then she was giving this knowledge for free to as many as possible, awakening their own inner energy so that it can connect to the allpervading-power around us. And when we sit connected like this, 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes in the evening, we will touch the mysteries of life inside ourselves… and that is the beginning of a very personal and unique journey to inside, to meet ourselves, that what we really are…

(sit wherever you like, the most important thing is to feel comfortable)
I wish you a wonderful week and would love to hear your stories about your journey to inside!
Yours, Angi
Back to normal life again after the holidays? Missing the peace and relaxation? Feeling as if you cannot keep up with everything on your head? And then someone comes your way saying: hey, spend some more time (exactly that what we do not have) to meditate?
It is true, it might take 20 minutes more of your day’s schedule but it’s effects are priceless! Here is an interesting description what ‘stress’ really is:
Stress is the individual perception of losing control of his or her own life, a miss-match between expectation and reality. It is not the external events that are stressful but our perception of them. Thus stress may be viewed as an inner phenomena rather than an outer event.
Does it mean if we can change our perception we become more calm? Listen to what Brenin tells us how meditation helped him:
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Now, if stress is something created inside ourselves then how can we un-create it? Here is a short film (about 7 minutes) from India explaining how stress is created through an imbalance in our subtle system and how Sahaja Meditation can help:
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So, as we have learned now how stress is created by an imbalance in our subtle system, more precisely by an imbalance of either the left channel or the right channel we can easily counter it by just balancing these two channels. So here it is, our weekly meditation guide:
(sit wherever you like, the most important thing is to feel comfortable)

Put your right hand down towards the earth, keep the left hand open on your lap. You can ask your Inner Energy:
With your right hand open in your lap, bend your left arm upward, with your left palm facing the back. You can ask your Inner Energy:
Here one small tip how to find out which side is in imbalance (you can only feel this when your Inner Energy is awakened as only with this awakening you become aware of – what we call – vibrations):
Hold out both your hands, palm upwards. Now feel if your hands are cool or warm. You might discover that there is a difference between both hands. If one hand is warm or hot it indicates that this is the side of the imbalance.
If your left hand is warm your left side is out of balance. That means that you may feel very emotional or depressed. If your right hand is warm of hot it tells that the right side is out of balance. That means that you might be overworked and stressed-out. If one or both hands are cool it means that the respective sides are in balance.
I wish you a peaceful and relaxed week and that in any stressful situation you can face it like a rock in a storm, calm and strong.
Yours, Angi

An old Cherokee Indian chief was teaching his grandson about life…
“A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.
“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.
“One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego.
“The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.
“This same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather,
“Which wolf will win?”
The old chief replied,”The one you feed.”
A Happy New Year to all of You!
Holidays were great but now the Christmas tree is drying out, the wrapping paper is almost all thrown out and life is returning to so-called normal but how can we make ‘joyful’ the new normal? Because, honestly, who would call ‘normal’ joyful?
Somehow it seems we lose this quality of feeling joy the older we become. Instead a majority nowadays suffers from depression. Maybe at that point let us ask ourselves seriously: What hinders us to be joyful?
To find the answer it is worth going deeper into the knowledge about our subtle body and what is happening there. Let us compare our own state with the state of a child and we may soon see clearly why children are capable of being so joyful, and we are not.
Mooladhara represents wisdom, innocence and joySurprisingly it is the only energy center that is connected with all the other centers which is quite significant. How – that is best shown on our journey through the subtle centers. Children are the representatives of the Mooladhara. They are innocent about everything. On a deeper level it means that they approach everyone and everything without judging. Let us check if we can see someone or something without judging, that means without thinking. How easy is this for you? For me, honestly, it’s not. I walk around, see a nice decorated Christmas Tree, immediately the commentator somewhere on my shoulder throws out his tags with a “this is beautiful”, or a ”what a lousy tree’, or a ‘this person will catch a cold if he does not dress warmer’ and on and on and on… honestly, try it… look at something without thinking, without putting a tag on it… and let me know what happened!
Svadisthana represents creativityEach child is an artist and they enjoy being artistic. They do not judge themselves if their work is good or not. They do not create anything in order that someone else approves it or not, they just create for the joy of creating and they enjoy their creation. How many times you are creative in one week and can you be creative without judging yourself, just only enjoying and loving whatever you produce?
Nabhi represents satisfactionChildren are so easy to satisfy. Take them out somewhere without any toys and they will just take whatever they find and make it into something. Children have an immense quality to make the best of every situation in life, to somehow arrange themselves in a way that they will feel satisfied. It is a natural mechanism in them, that might later on be disturbed by all the bombardments of advertisements or others pointing out what they should have, but originally they do not need much. Do we feel satisfied? With ourselves, with what we have, with our life?
Anahat represents our love and compassionWhen children love they do not hesitate to show their love. They will throw their little arms around you, kiss you loudly and show their affection in many different ways. They also are not shy to demand love in return and do stamp up with their feet when they feel hurt. How much do we express our love to others? And how openly do we talk with each other when we feel that there is something wrong?
Vishuddhi represents our collective consciousnessChildren are very collective. Children love other children. They always will search each others company and enjoy much more to play with others than to play alone. Have you ever seen when one child starts crying how the others join in? The true collective spirit… sometimes to the despair of the mothers. How much do we seek each others company? How much do we enjoy together or share the things we like?
Agnya represents our forgiving powersChildren can easily start fighting, but as easily they can forgive and in the next moment play together again as if nothing has happened. What about our forgiveness power? How many grudges do we have against someone else and how long does it take to give them up?
Sahasrara is the connecting power, the one that integrates all othersHave you ever wondered how children communicate with each other? Often they do not speak very much, or just some words, but somehow they seem to understand each other without any major difficulties. Children generally are much more open so it is easy for them to connect with another person and understand him/her without needing words. How easy it is for us to understand another’s person mood or state although the other might not say one word about it?
After this little journey through ourselves we might get a quite good overview where we have blocked our innate qualities that actually were the key to our joy in childhood. So what we want is to re-open all these centers and allow these qualities to grow and prosper without the dry commentator at the back telling you that it is not worth it, or an impossible task, or whatever other reasonable reasons.
Start listening to the child within! What would you enjoy? Want to see a movie? Why not take your inner child by its hand, go out and have a lot of fun together! Life is too beautiful to let it become a dry and grey day-to-day frustration! Allow yourself this freedom again to just enjoy, draw something just for the fun of it, run around or simply be somewhere admiring something beautiful. Remember how you managed everything as a child, how you made your day a great one!
Now, maybe sometimes it is not so easy as it sounds. Life was giving us many lessons and they are all stored inside, sometimes giving us a feeling of heaviness. But no worry, it is not difficult to get rid of all these inner burdens. It is only important to give yourself every day 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes in the evening, to meditate. In your meditation you connect to the all-pervading power around you and allow it to take out your problems and heal your physical, emotional and mental body.
So for a new start into the year 2012 we will start with a 10-minutes-meditation specially for our first energy center, the Mooladhara. If you do this meditation regularly you will experience more and more joy without needing any reason to be joyful, and you will feel generally much lighter.
(for this meditation exercise it is good to sit on the ground, but not necessary)
Make joy a normal condition in your life! With this I wish you a very normal joyful week!
Yours, Angi
Christmas Day is coming nearer and the stress level rising higher. Still there are so many things to do, the last gifts to buy, the Christmas Tree to be decorated. In the “Time of Silence” we are not silent at all.
Maybe that is a good time to try out Sahaja Meditation. Why? Because with this meditation you can achieve a state of inner silence within minutes, not only at home, but even on a stress-full working day or in a crowded shopping-mall. You only have to know the trick how to become thoughtless. And you will see that in this state of thoughtless awareness everything starts flowing, from no-where new ideas and inspirations may come up, be it what to buy for whom or a new business plan, it works for everything.
But what is this mysterious “Thoughtless Awareness”? Before answering this question I would like you to do a little test.

Look back on your day and try to remember what you were thinking about. Were your thoughts
Did you notice that even in our language we associate our thinking with our “where are we”? We can be far away with our thoughts, absent minded, then someone else might ask: “Where are you? Are you listening to me?”
Where our thinking is, there are we. So after this little test, can you say if you were more in the past or in the future?
And here is one more small test: when you are in the present what would you think?
Did you notice it? When your attention is in the present you do not think. You can, if you want, that would mean to move into the past or future again, but if you concentrate on this very moment, the present, you are thoughtless.
This is the very small, but important clue. Be in the present. Be here. Right now. No more rattling of the brain about the past or the future, just to be. Not have to be this or that, because we have learned so, not to plan what to do the next moment, just to be. That is the point where we experience the inner silence, the soothing calmness of just being, and of enjoying to be.
Did you ever ask yourself why children are so capable of learning so fast? They have one simple trick – they do not think. They are in the “Here and Now”, therefore capable of absorbing everything because they are not distracted by inner thought processing.
Now ask yourself again: Where are you, right now? Are you lingering in the past, in a memory? Or far ahead in the future, that has not happened, yet?
Or have you managed already to pull yourself back to the present moment? A state that is not that easy to reach for most of us! But it is worth going for it, because as it is said: The present is a present, therefore it is called the present.
As it is, with Sahaja Meditation it becomes much easier to reach the state of thoughtless awareness, of being in the present, of feeling inner peace. We only need to balance the left and right side of our subtle body. The left side corresponds with our past, the right side with our future. If you are someone who generally thinks a lot about past things it might indicate that your left side is out of balance, if you are someone who plans and organizes a lot, always looking out for something in the future it might indicate that your right side is out of balance.
The following meditation exercise focuses specially on balancing our inner system. Doing this balancing every day, 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes in the evening, might increase your ability in a very short time to feel a state of inner silence and peace, something that we want to enjoy specially at Christmas Time together with our family.
(sit wherever you like, the most important thing is to feel comfortable)
Balancing your Right Side:
Then keep both hands on your lap, palms upwards, keep the focus on top of your head.
I hope this meditation helps you for the coming week and beyond, to be in complete balance, enjoying the present moments and feeling totally peaceful with yourself and everyone else. I wish you and your families
A Wonderful and Merry Christmas!
Yours, Angi