Aura

If everyone has an aura why can't I see them? Most people often do see an aura but disbelieve what they see or chalk it up to something it really is not. So what is an aura? Is it some weird light like a halo around certain people's crown? In order to learn to see an aura one must understand what an aura is. There is absolutely nothing mystical or magical about the process of seeing an aura. It simply requires some understanding of what you are looking for. There are many definitions for aura's but it is really an energy field that surrounds anything that has an atomic structure.

The human aura is the energy field that surrounds you. It is usually either an elliptical or egg shape. It is different sizes and colors for every person. The size and color can change at any given time. This is one reason why it is difficult to describe exactly what it is that you are looking to see. The size and coloring vitalized in your auric field means that you have more energy to do things, feel things, and be with things. When an auric field is weak it is usually from outside influences that are causing stress such as health problems, or life situations that drain you.

There are two aspects to the human aura field. One is the energies of your subtle body. These are the energy waves that surround you closest to your body. The function of this aura field is to regulate your physical life and spiritual life. Sort of a protection field surrounding you. The second aspect is the auric emanations. This is the energy field that absorbs from the energies around you. The energies of nature are easily absorbed which is one reason many old religions practiced their faiths outside with nature.

Every auric field has its own energy frequency. Your aura is not like any other persons aura. It is unique to you alone. Similarities do exist between peoples energies fields, but they will never be identical. They are made up of sound, light and electromagnetic fields of varying strength and intensity. Have you thought, "boy I really hit it off with Bob" or feeling completely drained after spending time with a person? These are the exchange of auric energies. Your aura will interact with the auric fields of others. Sometimes in a positive manner and other times in a defined negative manner. Understanding this aspect of aura's is vital to your spiritual well being.

Nature on the other hand always interacts with your aura field in a positive manner. For example, if you sit underneath a pine tree it will almost feel cleansing to your soul. That is the effect of the tree's aura on your own. The same thing is true with stones and crystals, the different auric or energy field of the stone can influence your own. I always carry certain crystals on my person. The crystal stones that I carry keep my auric field balanced and calm and offer a protection from other person's auric fields.

Actually seeing the auric field is not a metaphysical gift as much as it is a physical trait learned. There are two different ways to see an aura - intuitively or objectively. The difference is that intuitively you do not actually see the aura with your physical eyes. It is projected into your minds eye instead. Objectively seeing an aura is seeing it with your physical eye. Both methods are equal relative to consistency of seeing the energy field. Seeing an aura is not the hard part, interpreting what the colors means is where the specialized knowledge comes into play.

You can train your eyes to take in and translate the light spectrum of colors that it is seeing. To train your eyes you must understand the eye itself. There is a pupil that is a small opening in the center of your eye that allows light to enter. The pupil of your eye can be adjusted to let more or less light in. The iris is the part of the eye that opens and closes the pupil. Just like any muscle the more you use it the stronger it becomes.

One good exercise to strengthen your iris muscle is the spiral chart. It strengthens the depth of vision and keeps both iris muscles working equally. When you look at a simple black spiral focus on the center of the spiral. Concentrate on just the center part of the spiral. Find a point deep within the tunnel that the spiral design creates. Now slowly draw your focus out of the spiral taking the center point with you., as though you are mentally pulling the center point out to reverse the direction of the spiral.

Another exercise with this same spiral chart is to follow the thin black line into the center with your iris muscle and to follow it back out. These simple exercises should not be performed longer than five minutes a day. You will find that your inner eye muscles are working throughout both of those exercises. This will allow you to eventually see more of the light color spectrum surrounding people.

To practice seeing other people's auric energy field after training your iris muscles for 2-3 weeks, have a partner stand against a white wall in a dimly lit room. Stand 8 feet away (the key is to be able to see your partner from head to toe with a white wall surrounding them. Focus your line of sight at your partners forehead and circle the eyes around the body of your partner in a clockwise direction. Do this as quickly as possible for several times. Return your focus to the top of the head and concentrate your focus there for 15 seconds and then shift your focus to a soft one that encompasses a wide area around the body. Hold this focus passively observing for a period of time. Most often you will see the auric field at first around your partner's head.

Practice all of these exercises and you will begin to see the auras of others around you. Carry a stone or crystal in your pocket or wear as a necklace and notice if people begin to comment on your appearance. Asking you why you seem so calm, or so chipper, or perhaps even why you are glowing!

Learn to Love Yourself

Self awareness allows us to take in new information as it comes to us. It allows a person to consider an idea before automatically rejecting it. It is being able to know that a person's perception of the world has a powerful effect on how they experience everyday life. As perceptions change, so do experiences. If your perception of life is that the glass is half empty, perhaps it is time for a new outlook.

Changing perceptions can transition a person virtually that person can become a self actualized happy person, even in the middle of seeming calamity. When a perception is that old adage of waiting for the other shoe to drop, a person lives in a self focused perception. In doing so, they miss all the small gifts given to every one of us each day. When the attitude or perception changes and a person is no longer focused on what may or may not happen, or even on what has already happened, they begin to stop regretting every decision they have made in the past and stop worrying about every decision they will make in the future. In doing so, they become open to learning; learning from past mistakes and learning new behaviors and reactions to life.

Attitudes are free to grow and shift at any time. A person can focus upon a fear based life or a freedom based life. Each person has the choice to move from a negative perception of life to a positive one. How do you do that? In order for a perception change to begin a person has to be willing to change certain beliefs that may actually be ingrained within them. A major part of changing our perceptions means that a person has to be willing to look at their current belief system scrutinizing it honestly. Simply put, a person needs to ask themselves simple questions such as "Is this belief system working for me?" or "Is it promoting positive perceptions in my life or negative ones?"

This is not always an easy task to accomplish. Some of these belief systems are a part of what makes up a person's character. It takes courage and a strong desire to change. A person has to change in order to realize what the value of a different perception can be. It is vitally important that a person remember that it is a belief that is being scrutinized and not the person themselves.

Many times as people look at their own beliefs they find that it is not the belief itself that is the problem, but that they themselves have forgotten in the hectic lifestyles of today's world what they hold as truth for themselves. By stopping and looking at their own beliefs, many times they can change their own outlook by returning to what they have always believed in and just stopped practicing.

It is up to each person what choices they make in their belief system and as a result what perception they have on life. It is their own responsibility for how they perceive the world around them. Opening up to new perceptions can be a bit scary and intimidating. Stopping to realize that changing your attitude and outlook upon life is not a result of changing you as a person, but as a result of some hard soul searching can make the task a bit less frightening.

The action of stopping to allow yourself the time to determine what your own beliefs are many times is the key to having a positive outlook on life.

What are Your Eyes Saying?

What Are Your Eyes Saying?

Body language can speak volumes without your voice ever saying a word. Most people can tell when someone is angry or in a defensive position just by the way they are standing. But what do your eyes reveal? What secrets are they telling that you may not revealed? Think back, have you ever tried to have a conversation with someone who won't look you in the eyes as they spoke? What did this tell you? How many times have you heard parents say to a child "look at me when I am talking to you?" Without eye to eye contact communications can be misconstrued.

When you are trying to convey a message to someone whether it is in a relationship or in your career, it is vitally important to connect with them by having eye to eye contact. It is the first step in building any type of connection. Your eye contact or lack there of will express far more than any words that you can speak. The following are some important factors to remember about eye contact.

Avoiding eye contact reflects a negative language and energy. A person who avoids making eye contact can be perceived in different ways. It can reflect fear, shame or even dishonesty regardless of what you are saying. It can also show a lack of self confidence and low self esteem. Even if you are a genuinely shy person by nature, the lack of eye contact will perceived by others as devious or untrustworthy words.
Eye contact, however, does not mean a stare down competition pupil to pupil either. This can give the impression of aggression. Eye to eye contact can include looking at a person's eyelids or even the bridge of some ones nose.
The general rule of thumb is to maintain eye contact long enough to notice what the color of their eyes are.
Sunglasses are for just that, the sunshine. Wearing sunglasses or any deeply tinted glasses indoors makes people uneasy in general. No one can tell where the person is looking with them on. It is perceived as though the person wearing the sunglasses has something to hide.
Starring too long may be perceived as a sign of hostility or over aggressiveness. When meeting someone you don't know and you see them start to shift or look away purposefully, don't force your gaze on them. It will make a definite wrong impression.
The most important rule of eye contact is simple. When you meet some one's eyes, match it with a warm smile. The smile will ensure a sincerity in your eyes as well.
So many things are determined not by the words we speak, but by the body langue we communicate with. When having a conversation, be sure to the look the person in the eyes, notice the eye color, then look away. Returning your eyes frequently to the other persons without a starring gawk.

Be sensitive to cultural differences as well. Many cultures consider direct eye contact very differently than other cultures. This is even more important when the eye contact is with someone of the opposite sex. Not all cultures approve of a female looking directly into a male's eyes.

Awareness of eye communication is a key to communication with a sincere desire to develop a relationship either personally or with a business contact. It only takes a few seconds to give a warm and sincere impression or a devious and untrustworthy impression.

Before you turn to pills to treat your insomnia, try these 9 simple suggestions for a better nights sleep naturally.

1. Soften Your Bedding
Sounds too simple but the fact is using a softer pillow and a softer feeling comforter actually relaxes the body naturally to help induce drowsiness.

2. Sleep in the Dark
Even the light generated from a led alarm clock can distract the brain into remaining awake. Try pulling the shades and making your room completely dark. The natural clock within the human body recognizes darkness as a time for rest. If it is not possible to darken your room, try wearing a sleeping mask that is soft and silky to shut out the light.

3. A bed is for sleep and sex
A human brain makes habitual patterns which are difficult to break. These patterns are made without thinking about them. Have a chair to sit in and read if you are going to read. Watch TV in the family room not in bed. Any activities other than sleep or sex should be done off the bed.

4. Give it 20 minutes
When you lay down to sleep and you toss and turn, give it 20 minutes before you get up in frustration. During that 20 minutes practice deep breathing clearing your mind of everything but your breathing. If after 20 minutes you are still awake, get up and go into another room and do something quietly such as reading, then return to bed and give it another 20.

5. Keep a schedule
Regardless of what your work schedule is, keep a sleep schedule. Goto bed at relatively the same time each night (or morning) and rise at the same time. Brain patterns are made through habits. You can develop a habit of sleep once it becomes a regularly scheduled part of your day.

6. Ban the booze
Drinking alcohol in the evening may make you drowsy but the fact is it promotes a habit of needing the drink to sleep just as a pill develops a habit. Most times even a glass of wine can cause wakefulness in the middle of the night when the effect of alcohol induced drowsiness evaporates.

7. Food
Just as you have heard a large meal right before bed time can keep you awake. However, the opposite is also true. Your body can become hungry during the night and wake you up. Try eating a few crackers right before you retire at night to keep the belly rumbles from waking you up.

8. Caffeine is out
Remember that a lot more than just coffee contains caffeine. All caffeine should be avoided for at least 4 hours before you plan to go to sleep. Caffeine is also in tea, soda and chocolate.

9. Scrap the nap
If you are taking longer than a 10 minute power nap during the course of the day, scrap it. It might just be the reason you can not fall asleep at night.

If after trying these methods for a few weeks you still find that you can not sleep, contact your medical doctor as there may be an underlying problem.

Healing Treasures

Hidden in a set of offices on Stadium Drive is a unique treasure right in our own backyard. Whether you are looking for aroma therapy essential oils or perhaps a unique piece of jewelry, you will find it here. But there is so much more than just herbs, teas, books, crystals, rocks, and gems to discover.

From the moment you open the door, the soft aria of meditation music fills your ears. At the counter, you will find Jeff working on a handcrafted item like a decorative wand ready to offer you a bright, warm hello. As you step in further, the tendrils of aromatic essences flood your senses, relaxing you. Every stress you may have walked in with simply disappears. A surprise awaits every visit, as the experience and aura of the store shifts, a previously undiscovered item with suddenly appear. A hot cup of fresh tea always is available for those who wish to sit and peer through the book shelves of loaner books or for those who don't wish to return the books another room awaits you full of new books on various healing and spiritual subjects.

Another room awaits you full of minerals and hard to find gems. Jewelry for every spiritual path can be found; as well as jewelry making supplies. T-shirts, scarves, and wraps are available. Herbs of every variety are available. Candles, aroma therapy essentials and warmers, incense, tinctures and sea salts are readily available. Continuing on your journey and you will discover Native American items and a selection of Egyptian items. If angels are your interest, you will find a huge selection of angel figurines, angel cards, and angel stones. There is something for everybody.

Stephanie offers spiritual readings as well as chakra therapy and energy work and is available to answer questions you may have. Every full moon, Spiritual Effects offers a healing circle which is open to the public. So mark it on your calendar.

This is definitely a place to commemorate on your trip to Zephyrhills as a place not to be missed. More information about what is available at the store can be found by visiting their website at http://www.spiritualeffectslifecenter.com/.

January Forecast

As we come into the New Year, most reflect upon this past year; noting the accomplishments and the seeds planted during the Yule time. Praying the unseen seeds will germinate and manifest themselves into a bountiful harvest. We look forward to February which will bring Imbolc soon enough and with it the time to weed out anything chocking out our spiritual garden. So January take the time to relax and think about the year that has begun. Allow your imagination to spark a fire of magic that bursts into your desires and dreams for the New Year. Don’t quell any of the vibrational energies pouring out from you soul. Let them flourish; mediate upon the yearnings for your spiritual growth. During this time, do not let the mundane world creep and dose the flames.

Focus your thoughts on your desires as you envision yourself to be the spiritual being you wish to be. Take this vision into your sacred space and raise the vibrational energy flow charging your desire to its fullest. Inhale deeply to hold the vision deep within your soul. For every thought can manifest itself into reality. Thus be careful of what thoughts you allow to enter your sacred space. Close your sacred space, and leave the desire and dream within it. Let it go. It is now apart of you, no longer words upon a paper.

Desires will manifest themselves in your life when the focus stays on spiritual growth rather than the mundane world. This is the year for deepening your spiritual roots and allow the buds to blossom into love, joy, and harmony. This is also the year to be careful of the mundane world. The negative nature of some around you will invade your personal space. Avoid this negative as it will quench any fire of spiritual growth. Thoughts do in fact manifest themselves into reality. Therefore, be sure to only focus your thoughts on that which is positive around you. Remember, just because you are invited to a fight does not mean you need show up.

I pray that your year is full of every desire, yearning and dream. That your harvest in bountiful. That the light within you burns even brighter.

Bright blessings,

Ashira

Best Days in January for Magical Work

January 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 22, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30

Do you have a happy body?

As today's women look in the mirror, many times they tend to find more things to criticize rather than to find flawless. The media trends try to sell things to inject to remove wrinkles, show trendy fashions in size 2, and advertise hundreds of products to loose weight, change hair color, and remove hair with a laser beam. As woman, we forget that our bodies just the way they are something to be celebrated. The female body is a temple. Temples come in various shapes and sizes and every single temple is beautiful in its own right.

Here are some ways to ensure that you have a happy body everyday. One that is honored and not just some vehicle you want to trade in , but a fine tuned instrument that revs up its engine every time your eyes meet their own reflection in the mirror.

Remember your body is your vehicle to drive to your dreams. It moves you each and every day from place to place. It nurtures those around you that you love.

Count the blessings in your life. You may find that they are far more than any blemish you see in the mirror.

Exercise your body in some way every day. Make it an adventure rather than a chore. A healthy strong body enhances your sensation of being alive. This does not mean necessarily to loose weight. It is about exercise that energizes you.

Every time you stop to look deep into the mirror, tell yourself life is too short to waste on worrying about wrinkles or that new gray hair.

Nourish not only your body, but your soul as well. Every vehicle needs fuel to run properly. Eating healthy can fuel both your body and your soul.

You are a beautiful, vivacious, strong creation that can go out into the world and create a revolution. A revolution full of positive energy. Walk proud, sway those hips, and reveal in the fact that you are a woman. A woman with honor and dignity.

Find your passion. Some people just know what their passion is. If you are one of those who still have no idea what you want to be when you grow up so to speak, then go out into the world and create your own destiny. Try something new every week until you discover what you are passionate about, then stick with it.

In the words of Oprah "Stay true to who you are. Work from your heart." In everything that you do show the inner beauty that makes you so very special and show off that unique gift that you have - you.

Remember, count your blessings, become connected with your soul and dreams, and celebrate the simple fact that you are a woman - a goddess. Don't waste precious energy of searching out your blemishes and flaws, celebrate them. They make you the person that you are.

Freeing Yourself From the Clutch of Guilt

It is impossible to follow a code of ethics when you have no idea how to have a healthy connection with others. The results of not having healthy relationships are guilt and shame over the consequences of your own actions or non action as the case may be. Almost worse than the harm that may have been cause to those around us with actions, a person further harms themselves with heavy handed embarrassment, guilt and shame.

Attitude changes are required to happen before any actions to rid yourself of all this guilt. Everyone deserves to live guilt and shame free. There is a way out from it. The first step is taking responsibility for those things that you have done to create the guilt and shame in the first place. To take responsibility means that you have discovered what your own set of ethics are. This is a huge step in being able to release your self from the clutches of the guilt. The process of taking responsibility can be empowering. Once you have taken personal responsibility of your own actions, you can begin once more to show care and concern. First to yourself and then to others by having the readiness to take a change in your actions. During this process you will begin to see a change or shift in your perceptions.

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When you begin to take responsibility rather than simply dwelling in the shame, the ghosts of your past will start to disappear. As these ghost disappear your self worth will increase. You deserve to live guilt free. It is self destructive to continue to punish yourself by holding onto the guilt of the past. To continue the action required to achieve this new way of living requires some courage and determination. It is not enough to take personal responsibility within yourself, you must take it one step further.

This means going to those about you that are in direct relation to where the guilt source is. This is a difficult task. However, this is paramount to realize the full gift of living completely guilt free in your life. When living in this state of mind of constant guilt and shame, the life is chaotic catching everyone around in a vortex of craziness. Stepping outside the vortex and simply stating your part (your responsibility) can stop the vortex not only for you, but for the others in your life. The choke hold of guilt will loosen with each step you take in making amends for your actions. Facing the reality of your actions breaks the cycle of guilt. Guilt is a powerful and destructive force that persists and grows left unchecked.

To deal with such a powerful force, you absolutely need a powerful and drastic action. That powerful action comes from your willingness to take deliberate actions in your life today to free it from any guilt or shame you have held onto. Life will take on a new meaning and new experience. Going to the people whom you hurt by your actions and taking responsibility does so much more than making peace with them. It frees you in away that you can not even fathom until you experience it.

When you are able to take such responsibility for your own actions, you will begin to truly connect with yourself and others in a healthy way. The re connection will tap into an inner resource with in you that you never knew was there. This inner resource allows you to find and maintain a sense of wholeness. A wholeness that is secure. You will have blessings come to you in the most unlikely circumstances when you are able to release yourself from the clutches of guilt and be truly free.