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YW Tools: Mala Magic

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971372_10200882952229302_596666516_nJapa malas are one of the tools in the yoga witch’s tool kit.  Japa malas are beads that allow us to focus our prayers.  The number of beads is traditionally 11, 27, 54 or 108.  This allows for focused intention, prayer, and concentration for a set number of cycles.  Some Yoga Witches will have a different mala for different intentions.  In the picture you’ll see a mala that I made in celebration of the Goddess Kali.  Malas help us to engage tactile meditation.  They allow us to hold that sacredness in our hands, we can feel the beads moving through out fingers as we say our prayers.  There are times when I simply hold my beads next to my heart, next to my cheek, or gently rub then in my palms.  When we do this type of prayer there is repetition which often induces a light trance state.

There really is not a specific prayer that has to be used when doing mala work.  You can simply pick a word that you want to connect to.  Saying the word “love” 108 times, or saying a phrase “I am Love and I am Light”.   You can even say full prayers on each bead of the mala.  I personally change my focus daily, but the mala also holds consistency, and it is easy for me to show up to.  I often view my mala as a mobile altar, it is always with me, I can hold it, and it holds me.

Malas can come in a variety of materials, so find one that you connect with.  You may connect with stone, or a particular texture.  I have even seen beads that have been made of crushed and smoothed out rose petals, and as you do the prayer the mala holds the light scent of roses.  Sandalwood is a great mala to help cool tempers.  The sandalwood scent is light, and if you are wearing it around your neck as your body heat rises (which often rises in proportion to temper) it gently reminds you too cool down.   Making your own mala/rosary is actually easier than you might thing.  I’ll be posting a video on this in the next few weeks, so be sure to subscribe to my youtube channel.  You can pick the beads that will help  you focus on intention, purpose, and you’ll feel much more connected to the energy of the beads.

So here are some Mala Magic FlowCasting Techniques that I use, feel free to modify these to fit your circumstances:

  1. If you are making your own mala, say a prayer on each bead as you string it.   You are building a relationship with the mala as you do this, what are you saying to it as you make it, what are you hoping it will say to you?  I hold each bead up to my lips as I slid it onto the string, each bead is touched with the breath, the prayer and it “breathes life” into the mala as it is created.
  2. One thing that a lot of people do not realize is that after you have charged your mala with an intention it holds that intention permanently.  If you have a mala that you are charging with love, or healing you can use it in your healing work.  I once had a friend that needed healing and was having a hard time connecting to that sacred place within himself, so I charged a mala with Reiki and loving words.  I let him borrow the mala so that it could help create the sacred space for healing to flow.  Be creative, malas, like other magical tools, are an extension of our magic.
  3. USE IT, don’t just wear it.  Malas are becoming more like jewelry than prayerful companions.  If you are going to wear it, charge it with intention, with purpose.  Remember these are powerful tools for magic, treat them well and they will return the favor.
  4. If you are purchasing a mala for the first time, take your time in making the choice.  Feel the beads, check the cord, rub it together in your hands.  What does the sound bring up?  What does the smell bring up?  When you finally connect to your mala, say a round of prayers on it to charge it with your energy.  This is the best way to clean the mala of any residual energies.

I’ll be posting more Mala Magic FlowCasting and videos in the weeks to come, so stay tuned!

You are Loved.  You are Beautiful.  You are Divine

Namaste, and Blessed Be.

Mike

Touching Oneness

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onenessThe other day at the metaphysical shop I manage I had the joy and opportunity to talk to one of customers about oneness, and what it means to be connected to “the all”.

The conversation started with him asking me about meditating and using meditation to enter into higher states of consciousness and alternate realities.  Usually when someone brings this type of discussion to the table my first question is, “Why do you want to go to those places?”   His response was, “Because I want to feel like I am one with everything.”

Often in “new age” paradigms we look at these “jumps” in consciousness as ways to access a higher state of connection to those around us, to the world, or to God Herself.   Ram Dass states it best, that as we move “up” through these realities we are actually just entering into other states of illusion.

So, as we sat, I aligned my souls, and asked my intuition what the best answer would be in this situation, and this is what she said:

“Beloved, as your feet touch this beautiful earth you are connected to all that is.  As your lungs take in the air that sustains your life force you are connected to all that is.  All that is exists here, and now.  The leave the beauty of this reality is to escape true oneness, here oneness is tangible.  When you leave the body, the oneness you are feeling is temporary, brief, and powerful.  Your purpose is to find that same connection here.”

We both sat with this for a few moments, and took a deep breath… made a point to feel the earth beneath our feet and appreciated the oneness we were able to encounter.

We often forget that we live life in this reality.  We have to find those moments of connection here in this plane of existence.  Everything on earth is connected beneath our feet, our sacred Mother Earth holds all.  Our breath is our shared religion.  We all breathe and share the air around us.  The universe pulses to that primordial exhale, that big bang of creation, the inhale was the gathering of the forces needed, and here we are… an extension of that initial orgasmic breath.

Here is a quick exercise to embrace the oneness all around you:

  • Stop and breathe deeply.
  • Exhale just as deeply.
  • Feel the earth beneath your feet.
  • Take a slow step forward, feeling your foot fully connect to the earth.
  • Now the other foot.
  • Breathe in.  Feel connected fully to the air filling your lungs
  • Breathe out.  Feel the air you exhale fill the space around you.
  • Feel the limitless earth kissing your feet.  Feel the presence of all that walks this earth, all that has come before, all that will come after.
  • Feel the air around you embracing the limitless space around and above you.

You are Loved. You are Beautiful. You are Divine.

Namaste and Blessed Be.

Mike

 

 

Namaste Mudra- Engage the Sacred Elements

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namasteNamaste mudra is a powerful hand position.  We often begin and end our practice with it.  It is also called prayer position.  Namaste is a common salutation that is offered in many yoga classes, it means “I bow to you”.  It is an offering of self to those that share the class and the space with us during our practice.  It is also a term that has grown in popularity thanks to yoga becoming more mainstream.   The hand gesture is a physical extension of this greeting and salutation.

This hand position is much more than meets the eye.  When you are able to create deeper connections to these simple (and often taken for granted actions) you see the power that simple gestures hold.

First the action of bringing the hands to heart center.  Many of us first meet this hand position as children.  When learn to pray into our hands in the hopes that the divine will hear our prayers.  The beautiful thing about this idea is that it is true.  When we pray into clasped hands held at the heart we are praying down into the hear center.  Think of the fingers as the tip of the microphone, and the heart being the seat of the soul (or that place where God Herself sits within us).  Praying into the heart center is taking the prayer into the body so that the divine can hear it, and since we are extensions of divine will we hear our own prayers, and so does God too.

The five fingers in namaste mudra represent the five sacred elements as they move through us.  Sacred air as it moves through our lungs.  The sacred fire that burns deep within our hearts.  The fluidity of our blood, bones, muscles and joints.  Sacred earth as it supports, grounds and protects us.  Spirit as it move in and through us.  Bringing the hands to the heart in this position is bringing awareness and connection to those primal elements that make up our sacred being.

The all that is within me, acknowledge and bows to the all that is within you.

Take a look at these simple actions.  See the power in all of our gestures, and look for meanings beyond the initial layers of experience.

You are Loved.  You are Beautiful.  You are Divine.

Namaste.

Michael A. Brazell

www.michaelbrazell.com

www.blogtalkradio.com/michaelbrazell

www.facebook.com/yogawitch

 

Greetings and Welcome

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A lot of people often ask me what my path is… and I often struggle to respond.  There are so many layers to my being and I tend to be very spiritually ADD.  I can find myself in any given moment looking for the divine in the nooks and crannies of my experience.  There have been several constants or themes that seem to hold steady in my merry-go-round existence: yoga and magick.

I’ve always loved the idea of magick and can still remember my first book of spells that I bought from the flea market when I was 8.  I can remember gazing into mirrors hoping to see into other dimensions.  Little did I know that when I grew up that I’d be gazing into souls for living.

My path into yoga has been life changing and life affirming.  I love the connection that it gives me to my body, to the subtle spaces around me, and to the natural energy that flows from within.  Through yoga I’ve been able to tap into my spiritual and physical dynamics in a way that has brought alignment to my life on many levels.

Yoga and Magick play a big part in my life.  I’ve often tried steering as far away as I could from one path and into another, but each calls me back.  I’ve often felt like I did not belong in this circle or that group because of the sometimes clashing energies present within my diverse interests.  The lesson that I have found myself sitting with for the past few years is the path of integration.  Embracing my many parts and taking claim to who I am within this dynamic gives me freedom to enjoy my many parts.

I am currently working on a book about this integrated journey.  There is beautiful magick within the yogic framework, and alignment and breath takes us deep into the mysteries of who we are.

I am a Yoga Witch.

This is my journey, my path, and my direction.

Check back often.  I’ll be updating this blog daily.

This is an unfolding process and it is moving into a space of growth.  I’ll be posting videos and will be having guest posts from others doing similar work.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by and visit for a spell.

Love, light, and namaste

Michael Brazell (Mahayogi Das)

www.michaelbrazell.com