KAJAMA.COM NEWSLETTER

by Meagan McCrary

No longer associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, when many Americans first turned to yoga in search of a drugless high, yoga has become a nationwide cultural phenomenon and a billion-dollar industry. If you don't practice yoga, chances are you know someone who does. It seems that everyone, from athletes and celebrities to high-powered executives and politicians to stay-at-home moms and college students, is stepping onto the mat.

Modern yoga has evolved to become incredibly inclusive. Whether you're religious, spiritual, or neither, fitness-oriented or less concerned with the physical, mainstream or more eccentric, there's a yoga practice for you. Prior to the turn of the new century, yoga was never so widely available as it is today. Yoga is now offered in schools, prisons, churches, synagogues, city halls, senior centers, rehab facilities, gyms, hotels, and spas. Yoga studios have even become staples in strip malls across the country, and in large cosmopolitan cities like New York and Los Angeles, an overflow of yoga schools and centers offer sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of urban living. Starting as early as 5:30 a.m. and ending as late as midnight, yoga classes are held all day long, and they're packed. And while studios aren't as prevalent on the streets of small-town America, yoga is infiltrating rural areas via dedicated instructors who hold classes in small numbers wherever they can find the space. In short, people everywhere are practicing yoga.

Americans turn to yoga for various reasons, but in some way or another, they are looking to reap the practice's many benefits. They've heard yoga is good for you. They've read that yoga is great for managing stress and dealing with depression and will help them sleep better. Their doctor has told them that practicing yoga can help increase circulation, build bone mass, and lower blood pressure. They were sent by their physical therapist to cultivate postural awareness, increase range of motion, and alleviate back pain. They believed Christy Turlington when she credited yoga for her perfect bum.

Everyone, from neighbors to mothers-in-law, swears by yoga, so more and more people are taking to the mat to discover for themselves what the hype is all about. They keep coming back because the mind-body discipline works: Yoga makes you feel better. So what is it?

What is yoga? is a loaded question and one that could take a lifetime to answer: Ask twenty yogis, and you'll get twenty different answers. There are as many interpretations of yoga as there are Hindu gods (around 330 million). Most Americans, whether they've tried it or not, have an idea of what yoga is, even if their understanding is as rudimentary as Yoga's that thing you do on a yoga mat when you're in yoga class that somehow involves stretching and breathing. And they are right.

Yoga is a system of exercise, and yet it's so much more. Considered a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, yoga is an ancient belief system, a science of exploration, a process of self-discovery, a method of personal development and spiritual evolution, and an art of transformation. It is a complete approach to total well-being, and, for many, yoga is a way of life. Yoga is an all-encompassing approach to physical health, mental clarity, emotional balance, and spiritual attainment — whatever that means or looks like to you.

A fundamental tenet of the broader yogic tradition is that there is one universal consciousness. Call it supreme consciousness, the Divine, Brahman, God, Shiva, Buddha-nature, Allah, whatever, there is a oneness that encompasses everything, including you. However, we become so caught up in our individual experiences of embodied consciousness (that is, our lives) that we tend to see ourselves as separate entities operating independently from one another. Yoga, therefore, is designed to shift individual perceptions of ourselves and the world in which we live, helping us to recognize not only our inherent oneness with everyone and everything but also our union with the Divine. How that union is understood and arrived at varies from one yogic school of thought to the next, but for all intents and purposes, yoga is the method by which we realize our innate nature and highest Self inseparable from supreme consciousness and completely supported by the universe.

At the heart of the tradition lies the understanding that all human beings desire to belong, to be connected to something greater than themselves, to be loved. On a fundamental level all people want to be at peace and free of disease. It's safe to say that in every human heart lies an intense yearning to be happy. Yoga teaches us that these fundamental human desires are expressions of our innermost nature, that at our most basic level we are free, connected to everything and everyone, and nothing but love. We don't experience ourselves as such, because we've grown accustomed to identifying solely with our mind, which is to say our ego. Through a process of cloaking, veiling our true selves, we begin to associate with limiting self-beliefs such as I'm alone, I'm not good enough, I don't deserve love.

We practice yoga to shine the light on that which already resides deep in our inner consciousness, hence — en-lighten-ment. Practicing yoga helps clear the lenses, so to speak, taking you on an inward journey back to your deepest Self and to the realization that you have everything you need within to experience the unbounded joy and freedom that is your true nature.

Meagan McCrary is a Los Angeles based yoga teacher and the author of Pick Your Yoga Practice. She teaches for Equinox Sports Clubs, works one-on-one with some of the entertainment industry's leading professionals, and holds workshops and retreats nationally and internationally. Visit her online at meaganmccrary.com. Based on the book Pick Your Yoga Practice © 2013 by Meagan McCrary. Printed here with permission of New World Library.

I had a very strange experience one night last week. We had been away for a couple of weeks and on our return, I found I couldn't sleep properly because of the time difference. I had my eight-year-old son in bed with me because he was over-tired and I knew he would sleep better in my bed. Around 3:00 a.m., I was still awake and decided if I wasn't asleep in five minutes, I would go and make a cup of tea. The next thing I knew, it felt like the cat had jumped on the bed and was walking up to my back. As she was locked in my kitchen, I knew it wasn't her; in fact, it now felt heavy as it sat very close in the small of my back. I tried to reach over for my little boy, and that's when I realized I couldn't physically move at all. Then a noisy blowing started in my ear but I felt totally covered and secure. This lasted about a minute or two until the noise stopped. I pinched myself so I knew I was awake. I was - I really was! I then drifted off to sleep. This has puzzled and scared me a little. However, early this morning, it occurred to me that a child I aborted long ago would have been 21 years old this week. I am wondering if this visit could be a way this child tried to make contact. I have never had any other experiences like this in my house. Can you help?

Tracey

Susyn:

It is interesting to note that when we are exhausted, we are more open and sensitive to the paranormal forces that surround us. This is also a time when important breakthroughs in awareness can occur.

Because of this, we may recall certain events from the past and tie them to paranormal experiences. Though the child you aborted wasn't on your mind, its memory was evoked in the wake of this experience. Though it may seem like a stretch, you can trust that your experience and the resulting memory were connected.

The fact that you felt secure and protected during this experience suggests that this was not a random event where an unknown entity of some type was sitting on your back and causing paralysis. When negative spirits make their presence known in this way, the emotions you would normally feel include fear, panic and distress.

It is possible that the spirit of the child you aborted years ago has always remained close to you and wanted to make its presence known to you during an important event that you would remember - its 21st birthday.

Though you have never had any experiences similar to this in the past, you may be able to initiate more contact with the child through guided meditation or a psychic reading. In this way, you can open the door to conversation with this precious spirit, which could heal and resolve any regret or concern you may carry either consciously or subconsciously.

To perform a guided meditation, find a quiet spot where you won't be interrupted and then light a few white and purple candles along with some sage incense. (These rituals are known to open a channel to the spirit world.)

Begin by visualizing the experience you had 21-plus years ago, and then ask for a picture of this spirit to take shape in your mind. At this point in the meditation, you can converse with your unborn child by either talking aloud to it or writing down the things you want to say. You can also ask questions of the child, such as if it was the cause of the sensations you felt that night, how it is doing, and if it is happy.

Taking the time to honor the spirit of this child will bring you to a place of wholeness, heal some old wounds, and reassure you that things have worked out in the best way possible. Once you do this, you will begin to feel a new freedom and light surrounding you, and become more in tune with the spirits who are there to comfort and guide you.

In the future, as you become more accepting of what these loving spirits want to share with you, you will experience more paranormal phenomena and further spiritual awakening.

*****

My first thought is to ask you if you ever had a pet that died to whom you were very close, for the way you describe this small being climbing up on your bed certainly makes it sound like an animal.

I am very skeptical of your theory that this may have been your unborn child for a number of reasons. First of all, the soul doesn't enter the body of the baby in the early months of pregnancy. Most reliable sources say it first enters the fetus at quickening and then comes and goes between this world and the spirit world until the time of birth.

So the soul that was perhaps planning to be your child never took the form of a baby, but remained in the subtle energetic form of the spirit world. When perceived physically, souls generally appear as balls of energy. When perceived mentally, they may present a human form, but this is a projection for the sake of the person they are trying to communicate with.

I have never heard of anyone perceiving the spirit of an unborn child as physically interacting with them in the way you describe; they are seen as clouds of misty energy or mentally communicated with as projections of who they were in past lives or will become years down the road in this one.

Another reason I don't feel this was the spirit of your unborn child is because when a spirit learns a certain body will not be available to them, it usually quickly incarnates in a different body. It is therefore likely that this soul is alive and well either as the child of someone else or as your own eight-year-old.

That you didn't come up with the idea that this may have been your unborn child until some days later hints that this is something you logically worked out, not something you sensed intuitively. The fact that you had no such experiences in the 21 years prior to this also suggests that these two events were not related.

What you describe sounds to me like either the departed spirit of a beloved pet or a creature from another dimension such as a spirit guide or totem animal. Whoever this was, the fact that you felt reassured by its presence indicates that its intentions are loving and benevolent.

Though this abortion took place decades ago, it's clear that you still carry some regrets about that difficult decision. Despite how traumatic this may have been for you, I have never heard of the spirit of an unborn baby becoming earthbound. Since this soul would quickly have moved on to a different experience, it's most likely that another loving spiritual presence came to visit and perhaps comfort you that night.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.