Thigh Master for the Vagina???

While developing the Happy Uterus product line, I came across this ingenious devise called the "Magic Banana". Developed by a Canadian woman, JP Rayne, she has gifted us with something that can be part of our daily, weekly or monthly internal HU practice. She she says in the brochure that comes with this, "practice with the MB strengthens muscles that are at the very core of our experience as women".

Developing a vaginal strengthening practice can:
• Reduce cramping during menstruation by helping to ease tension knots and move energy throughout your pelvis
• Enhance muscle control which not only enhances sexual enjoyment but helps prevent incontinence. Working out with the MB can help bring tone to the inner vaginal muscles and can help isolate the correct muscles to bring back the vitality you need for good control in this area. The MB can facilitate traditional kegel exercises which primarily work the PC (pubococcygeus muscle).
• Increase your sexual vitality which cures all ailments. Ever notice how when you fall in love and start making love, all your symptoms disappear and your immune system is powerful?
Regular practice with the MB increases blood flow to the lower chakras which benefits your uterine health and improves sexual desire, the source of creativity!
• The MB can also be used as a wand, or tool, for applying remedies to your cervix. If you are having an inflammatory response in your cervical area, you may want to apply aloe vera gel, plain yogurt, or honey right within yourself. The MB can facilitate this for you! (see CERVICAL blog post for more on the cervix, or visit the wise woman www.susunweed.com)

So invest in yourself today ladies and purchase something that will benefit your health for the rest of your life! For more information, and to purchase a MB, visit www.happyuterus.com and visit www.magicbanana.com for information about the inventress of this thigh master for the vagina!

Awakening: How can a goddess help us?

I have to admit, I have a goddess practice. In this time of new-age-ness, the goddess is everywhere. And that's great. Unfortunately for me, it pushes my buttons of "this is really superficial". It seems to be wonderful for everyone else involved so that is great.

One of my personal favorites is Tara. And, for anyone living in CNY, I will be teaching a course on Tara for children enrolled in the Dharma Kids program at the Zen Center of Syracuse (www.zencenterofsyracuse.org). Tara is considered the "mother of all Buddhas" and became a Buddha in female form. All of her friends at that time in Tibet, tried to convince her she would be a better Buddha if she were a man, and she refused! She committed herself to complete enlightenment in female form. She functions as a savioress and supreme protectress. In Celestial Gallery by Romio Shrestha, he says, "The qualities of White Tara are ultimately inseparable from our own. Awakening is not a solipsistic retreat from unwanted realities, but a reaching outward to embrace the world with infinite compassion. If we see through to Tara's essence, she frees us from self-serving thoughts and encourages us to act selflessly, and wisely, for the benefit of all beings: the surest prescription for a long and fulfilling life".

I have to say based on personal experience that the practice of relying on Tara is amazing. Take yesterday, for example. I was having a very difficult time managing the schedule of running a small, growing business but is often jilted due to time constraints and parenting. School is over, wait-listed for camp, and the list goes on and on. I react to emails coming my way, not in a complete gripping manner but enough so that I actually later regret words coming out on the page. In light of this, I arrive at my daily sadhana (practice) and find myself in front of of Tara: great protectress, guide and just happens to be utterly sensuous and ravishing! (wouldn't it be great if someone called YOU that?! it must be our goal ladies: wise and ravishing). Within moments, my edges of frustration are melted, I step into the deep expanse of limitless love and compassion and I'm changed! Wheew! It's a total compassion battery re-charge.

So I encourage myself daily to "open seven eyes, like Tara, and be sure that everything you do, every step you take, every thought you think, is fueled by compassion. You will then be inseparable from White Tara, the embodiment of pure love". Thank you Romio Shreshtha for that quote and compiling this wonderful book!

For more information regarding Tara, and to find Gelek Rimpoches book, "The Tara Book", please visit www.jewelheart.org.

"LIG" it baby!

Has anyone ever told you to "LIG" something??? As in, "Let it GO?". If not, they probably should have. "Let it go" is something we hear all the time and can apply to everything. It can be felt as a quick way to sweep something away, get it off the agenda and most likely, create time for something that avoids any sort of conflict.

The mere act of "holding on" is what the whole conflict is about anyhow! If we were to have one goal in life, it should be to "LIG". LIG EVERYTHING!! is there anything worth holding on to? Of course not. If you want to engage yourself in complete emotional freedom, let go of every thought, every idea, every feeling, every memory and especially, the concept of letting go.

So, what do you do when the issue that you've just "LIGGED" comes up again? Do you feel guilty because it's there? Do you feel like a failure because your mental exorcism didn't actually include the emotional realm and now it's manifesting as a feeling? How about if you start dreaming about this wonderfully LIGGED issue, have you somehow let yourself down?

Here are some questions that may be helpful in your path to LIG freedom:
1. How do you hold on to something?
2. Where do you actually hold it?
3. Where do your thoughts come from??
4. Once you recognize that you are holding on to something, can you describe the real feeling that surrounds that holding?
5. Byron Katies askes, "Who would you be without holding on to that"?
6. Before that, she would as, "Is it true"?, "is it REALLY true"? whatever you've decided to hold on to (i.e, she doesn't love me....is that TRUE?).

Mostly, everything we tell ourselves is NOT true and we perpetuate because we're used to living a somewhat tortured life! I've been encouraging my 5 year old to try and describe more clearly her feelings. We often explain feelings with feelings but thanks to the work of Rosemary Thompson (www.weavingenergy.com), I have begun getting my daughter to dig deeper and describe the actual feeling. She told me her fear was grey. Just grey, grey, grey. Okay, so replace it with gold. Gold, gold, gold. She immediately began chanting, "Gold will win, gold will win!". Not bad for a 5 year old.

Most of us however need something a little more complicated to dispel grey and replace it with gold. Here some techniques that have helped me to LIG:
1. EFT (emotional freedom technique). Once you learn the art of tapping the points, setting your intention and uniting with ultimately what you want, I find that you can tap ANYWHERE in the body and it will help move your energy to gold.
2. In Rinzai Zen, many practitioners have a practice of "MU". It's based on a famous koan. Bascially, whatever arises in your mind, you MUUUU it. MU. It's simple and extremely powerful way to emotional freedom. You just cut thru any story line you may have subscribed to that keeps you stuck.
3. Knowledgeable goal setting. Once you convince yourself of the knowing that whatever you are holding on to is not real, not serving the benefit of all beings, make the goal to eliminate it. This may be a drastic cutting away until it's gone or it may be a softening around whatever it is until it's melted down and lightly because part of the big wide world called your Mind.

Whatever path you chose, may it be thorough in your emotional exorcism so you can spread love with all beings.