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We are very pleased to welcome Chrissie Blaze to
SoulfulLiving.com as our newest monthly columnist!
Each month, Chrissie will share one of her Eight Steps
to Inner Fitness from her book, "Workout for the Soul."
Step 4 - Awakening Your Creative Powers
To awaken our creative powers we must focus and
control our mind and awaken our imagination. People
often decry imagination as some vague condition that is
the opposite of reality. However, as my own Spiritual
Master, Dr. George King stated: "Imagination is
your only creative faculty."
You may not think imagination is your
strong point. However, people with logical, scientific
types of mind can be far more creative once they learn
how to develop and control their imaginations, than some
people who would consider themselves
"imaginative." This is because one of the best
ways to develop this creative force is through
concentration and focusing of the mind.
Concentration is not an end in itself, but is a
method by which you can enhance your entire life. When
you concentrate you are using your will to control your
conscious mind so that it can focus one-pointedly on an
idea or an object.
First of all, you should understand the relationship
between the brain and the mind, as they are not the
same. Dr. King was extremely knowledgeable about this
relationship and he explained it very simply. He likened
the brain to a radio-receiving set. Waves of thought (or
mind stuff) are transmitted through space and detected
by the tuner, which is your brain. The type of mind you
attract to yourself depends upon the quality of your own
thoughts and feelings at the time.
Most of us recognize this scenario of like attracting
like. When we feel down and depressed we seem to attract
ever more gloomy thoughts to us. This is in fact exactly
what we are doing; our negative mental state attracts
negative thoughts to us from the sea of mind. The way to
change a mental state is to think differently. We can do
this in many ways. One simple way is to study a piece of
inspirational writing and as we do this we begin to
attract similar inspirational thought-waves to
ourselves. This stimulates the higher part of our mind,
known as the super-conscious, and this in turn enables
us to be more creative, inspired and intuitive.
Using imagination and creativity can bring success in
many areas of life. Studies have shown that children who
have a balanced "diet" of left-brain,
analytical activities, with right-brain creative
activities, such as art and movement, have better
examination results. Also that the most successful
people tend to be well balanced between the two sides of
the brain. Forcing the left-hand side of the brain to
learn more, to analyze more facts and figures is not the
way to success, and is typical of the unbalanced society
in which we live.
Your conscious mind likes to regard itself as your
boss and master. Because of this there is no point in
dictating to it but instead we must learn to "reel
it in" and control it. Treat your conscious mind as
you would a fish. Imagine you are catching a fish on a
line and the first thing you do is let the reel go and
let the fish take the line with him until he gets tired,
then you pull him in. Imagine your mind is like this,
because you are not going to control it by force.
By consciously placing a mental visualization on your
breathing, you can take your breathing practices
"up a notch." Perform the complete
breath, using the three parts of your respiratory system
as taught in Part Four, and mentally pull the prana into
your body as you do so; feel this charging you up with
life and vitality. You are no longer just breathing in a
controlled fashion, now you are enhancing your breathing
process through the use of your concentration and
visualization. This is the next, more advanced stage, in
your breathing practices.
Now you are ready to practice guided
visualization. There are several beautiful
visualizations in my book "Workout for the Soul";
otherwise write yourself one and make it beautiful,
visual, and uplifting. Now read aloud your
visualization. Through doing this, you are actually
creating the beautiful scene you visualize. This will
benefit you physically, mentally and spiritually from
the vibrant colors and scenes from Nature.
Another way to encourage your mind to reveal its
riches is through the practice of contemplation. There
is a difference between concentration and contemplation.
We all understand the importance of concentration and
know that without it we cannot achieve very much. When
we concentrate we use our will to direct our mind or
brain. The difference with contemplation is that you
lead your mind and then allow it to make its own
deductions. Contemplation is, therefore, a more advanced
state of mind and because of that it takes a good deal
of hard work and effort to achieve.
We may think contemplation is when
the mind wanders, but this is a negative state of
daydreaming or reflection. In this state, information
may come to us indeed, but it will be random
information.
Contemplation is when you concentrate
on something with the idea of learning about that thing.
In other words, during that state, your conscious mind
is open to impulses being sent to it from your
super-conscious or higher mind.
Meditation is an even higher state
than contemplation and during this highly elevated state
the "meditator" becomes at one with the object
of meditation. This state of consciousness will take
lives and lives of hard work and practice. Meditation is
a popular word, but when most people refer to
"meditation" they are referring to a
reflective state. When the yogis and spiritual masters
refer to "meditation" they refer to the
highest state of enlightenment available to us, also
known as "samadhi" or "conscious
death". Once this is reached, the meditator becomes
truly enlightened, as was my Spiritual Master, Dr.
George King.
There is another technique, called samyama,
during which you concentrate and contemplate on a person
or attribute that is noble in some way. During the
samyama, or contemplation on greatness, you actually
acquire an aspect of that attribute yourself. For
example, if you feel fearful about having to speak in
public, you may wish to contemplate on a person who is
extremely brave and fearless. You would think of all
these positive qualities of courage until you actually
feel the qualities filling you. Certainly, if the person
was great enough you should be able to do this. In fact
the greater the person is, the better will be the
results of this contemplation practice.
Do the following practice and before you do, select
the person that you will be contemplating upon. Make
this the greatest person you have ever heard of, a
person worth all your efforts, someone who you really
respect and admire and preferably one who is no longer
alive. If you wish to think of a great Saint or Avatar
-- such as Buddha or Jesus -- then do so. Perhaps it
will be Hercules, Ghandi, Samson, Abraham Lincoln,
Albert Einstein, Louis Pasteur, George King, or someone
that you have read about who has really moved you.
Ensure the object of your samyama is a truly noble
person, one who has qualities of courage, compassion and
strength, worthy of your efforts.
This practice can really strengthen you but do not
make it into a personal thing where you talk to the
person or try and relate to them. Do not try and bring
these high, altruistic qualities down in any way, but
just leave them where they are and imbue yourself with
them. We are all part of the whole and we all affect
each other. We can choose to spend every day watching
violence on television and attune ourselves to that
basic vibration, or we can choose to study and
contemplate upon the lives of the great ones in our
history, or to study higher truths and so attune
ourselves to a far higher vibration. Samyama is an
effective way to raise our vibrations quickly and simply
and so enjoy this state of heightened awareness,
compassion and sensitivity.
Read
Chrissie's Introductory Article, "Workout for the Soul."
Read
the Introduction, "The Eternal Quest."
Read
Step 1 - "Preparing Your Temple."
Read
Step 2 - "Refreshing the Soul."
Read
Step 3 - "Harmonizing with the Breath of Life."
© Copyright Chrissie Blaze.
Excerpted from "Workout for the Soul: 8 Steps to
Inner Fitness," published by AsLan
Publishing, Inc., November 2001.
| "Every breath we
take, every mouthful of liquid or solid we consume, is
charged with that vital force known in the East as Prana.
In fact Prana is the sum total of all Cosmic
energy. It is the energy which enables you to bend
your little finger; it is the energy which, manifesting
as gravitation, causes a passing meteor to be drawn into
the orbit of a planetary body. Without Prana, there
could be no motion of any kind and all Cosmic
manifestation would fade into its original state of
dark, motionless potential; for Prana is the energy
which brings forth the realization of the original
possibilities into the numerous phases of activated
manifestation which constitute the whole of Cosmic
Creation."
© 2002 The Aetherius Society. Excerpted
from Contact Your Higher Self Through Yoga by Dr. George King,
published by The Aetherius Press, Los Angeles. All
rights reserved. No publication in whole or part can be
done without written permission from The Aetherius
Society.For further information, contact The Aetherius
Society, www.aetherius.org
or telephone (323) 465 9652. For a brief biography of
Dr. George King visit www.chrissieblaze.com. |
Chrissie Blaze, a teacher, author, astrologer,
media personality and senior Aetherius Church minister
was a close student of Dr. George King (Yoga Master and
founder of The Aetherius Society) for 25 years. Chrissie
Blaze has written books including Workout for the
Soul: Eight Steps to Inner Fitness, AsLan
Publishing, Inc., November, 2001, Mercury Retrograde:
Your Survival Guide to Astrology’s Most Precarious
Times of the Year, Warner Books, Inc., April, 2002,
and The Baby’s Astrologer: Your Guide to Good
Parenting Is In the Stars, Warner Books, Inc., 2003
publication. For further information and details of
classes and workshops in the Los Angeles area, please
visit www.chrissieblaze.com.
Tel: (323) 252 6391 (voicemail) or (323) 465 9652.
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