Spiritual Awakening

Spiritual development is the purification of the mind, since there is no development, in the spiritual Self. Spirit is already perfect but it is veiled by the illusions of the mind. When the illusions have been extinguished, then the real ‘I’ within, can shine in all its glory - beautiful, radiant, pure Spirit, shining through your vessel, in a tangible way. This is the purpose of spiritual practice…purification of the mind, leading to spiritual awakening and then finally to embodied liberation - Katarina Tilley -

Spiritual awakening is the glimpsing of a direct awareness of your true Self, as formless Spirit, as opposed to identifying with the ego’s idea of a separate self. After an initial awakening, there are many transformations taking place in people. That is usually followed by many more glimpses, which eventually result in realising who you truly are, what the world is and what God is and being at one with all. This is called enlightenment, which means living life from a place of oneness. This process can take quite some time to complete.

Why would you want to seek this? Because you cannot be truly and authentically happy unless you do find it. Everything in the world is temporary and not fully satisfactory. Happiness is already within you, it is your true nature. Only oneness is the reality and fulfilment of life. Wholeness is experiencing life beyond personal suffering. It is a transpersonal experiencing of life.

What if if you are able to meet the present moment with wonder, able to live consciously, have genuine connectivity with others (they are none other than your true Self/God), experience true purity of heart, live simply from an elevated state? Suppose you can be present and alert to the unfolding moment? What if you could have a heart full of goodness, live in a state of love, have a peaceful mind and experience present moment joy? What if you could truly surrender and accept life as it unfolds? How about being a loving, peaceful and joyous presence, in service of others, for the greater good?

The truth is that you can. It depends on awakening to Universal Truth, through self-observation, by seeing through your illusions, purifying your mind through spiritual practices and by removing the overlay over your true Self - your Highest Self (God within), until you arrive at Wholeness, in due course. Experience shows that in the majority of cases, this cannot be done by ourselves, we need somebody who themselves have awakened and embody oneness, to guide us.

During my 19 year spiritual ‘journey’ with my Guru (at the time of writing), I learned the truth about my Self, the world and God. It was a gradual dawning that they are one and the same being - our true Self. Through the unconditional love from my Guru, the practice of meditation, purification of the mind, guidance, selfless service, devotion, study, listening to teachings, japa (personal mantra chanting), attentive awareness and living in the present moment - mindfulness, my heart opened. My Guru was the object of my meditation in all waking hours and gradually the Self’s qualities began to awaken in me and my personal suffering gradually dissolved. It was a beautiful yet intense ‘journey’ into Divine Love and Peace.

If you would like to begin to explore and awaken to the truth of your being, then consider booking some one-to-one sessions. Be sure that I will meet you wherever you are at and help awaken and guide you back, to your true Self. The one-to-one sessions have a proven record of being transformative in nature.

Mindfulness Research Prove That Mindfulness Improves Well-Being

Research has shown that mindfulness meditation can increase your well-being, by altering the structure and function of your brain, positively, in just 8 weeks of practice.  Studies show that it can reduce your negative mind wandering and help increase concentration, enhance your ability to manage difficult situations, lower your stress, anxiety and depression, lessen your emotional reactivity, change how you think and feel about your stressful experiences, strengthen your immune system, increase your clarity and peace, increase your concentration, productivity and creativity, improve your sleep, raise your self-confidence and increase your self-awareness.

MRI scans have enabled scientists to see the changes to the brains of mindfulness meditation practitioners and confirm that long-term practice of mindfulness meditation, can reduce the size of the amygdala in your brain, which may help to reduce anger, anxiety, fear and aggression. The amygdala are cells located at the base of your brain, which trigger the fight and flight reaction in your body, during stress. The amygdala is associated with fear and stress responses and when it reduces in size, so do the reactions to stressful situations. This enables you to respond wisely to stressful circumstances, instead of reacting, which can have a very negative impact on yourself and those around you.

Mindfulness meditation practice also increases the thickness of the hippocampus, which helps learning and memory. People with depression tend to have greater activation in the right prefrontal cortex than those that are not suffering from depression. The left prefrontal cortex is activated in mindfulness meditation practice and this reduces depression and improves mood. The above are just some of the benefits of mindfulness meditation practice, there are many more.

Your happiness depends upon the state of your mind.  Take this opportunity to train your mind and gain mindfulness and meditation skills that relate directly to your life.  Embark upon a more fulfilled life in the present moment, with a mindfulness course at Living in the Light, Little Clacton, near Colchester, in Essex. An 8 week mindfulness course may be the start of a peaceful way of being.