by Matthew Koren | Jun 16, 2023 | Community Conversations
In our collective journey towards spiritual awakening, we encounter challenges that test our resolve and push us to evolve. Presently, there are three remarkable issues that stand out, demanding our attention and introspection. Let us explore these unprecedented challenges that are shaping our spiritual paths in profound and unexpected ways.
Information Overload
The digital age has ushered in an era of unprecedented access to information. While this offers tremendous opportunities for growth, it also presents a challenge to our spiritual awakening. The sheer volume of information, conflicting beliefs, and diverse perspectives can overwhelm and confuse us. Discerning what resonates with our authentic selves becomes crucial. Finding a balance between seeking knowledge and integrating it with our inner wisdom is essential in navigating this information overload.
Disconnection from Nature
In our fast-paced modern lives, we often find ourselves disconnected from the natural world. The constant distractions and urban environments can create a sense of separation from the Earth’s rhythms and the profound wisdom nature offers. This disconnection can hinder our spiritual growth. Reconnecting with nature, even in small ways, can be transformative. Embracing nature’s beauty, spending time in green spaces, and fostering a deep appreciation for the interconnectedness of all life can help rekindle our spiritual connection.
The Ego Trap
We embark on the path of spiritual awakening, our ego can pose a formidable challenge. The ego seeks validation, control, and superiority. It can lure us into a trap of judgment, comparison, and attachment to outcomes. Overcoming the ego’s grip requires deep self-awareness and a commitment to humility and compassion. Recognizing the ego’s influence and embracing a mindset of surrender and non-attachment can liberate us from its limitations, allowing our true essence to shine forth.
Seeking A Path Forward…
As we navigate the complexities of our spiritual awakening, it is essential that we find our true path. The most powerful step you can take in your journey involves seeking, finding, and choosing a spiritual path that resonates with your deepest expression and highest purpose.
While it’s important to acknowledge and address the challenges that arise along the way, we cannot let ourselves get distracted from the most important elements of our spiritual awakening: what we feed our soul.
Embracing discernment amidst the influx of information, reconnecting with nature, and transcending the ego’s influence are pivotal steps towards personal and collective growth. Couple that with a path of ‘Know Thyself’ that has the ability to take you into the fullest expression of your God-self and you will find a never-ending source of growth and inspiration.
By cultivating self-awareness through a mystery or wisdom tradition, finding solace in nature’s embrace, and nurturing a mindset of humility, we can navigate these crazy issues and emerge stronger on our spiritual journeys.
Let us embrace these challenges as opportunities for profound transformation, trusting that the path to awakening is as unique as the individuals traversing it.
Matthew is a certified Guide for Conscious Leaders, and is inspired by the potential of connecting the measurable and immeasurable, Science and Spirit, to bridge the worlds of scientific theory with the magick of real-world experience. He is driven by a need to understand why we exist and our place in the multi-universe. Matthew’s approach assimilates the latest research in consciousness studies, psychology, business, organizational development, mindfulness and meditation, resonance and quantum field theory to support his clients. Matthew now serves as a consultant and guide for his clients at Spirit in Transition. His affiliations include: Certified Guide and Ritual Master by the Modern Mystery School, Member of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, & Conscious Capitalism International. Matthew Koren lives in New York and Florida with his partner, and travels nationally and internationally to coach, consult and teach. Matthew invites you to introduce yourself by contacting him for a virtual meet-and-greet by clicking the following link:
https://templemedicine.as.me/online-consult
by Matthew Koren | Jun 10, 2023 | Community Conversations
The Third Eye chakra, also known as the Ajna chakra, is a center of intuition and higher perception. Opening this powerful energy center can lead to a profound expansion of consciousness and a deeper connection with our inner wisdom. Inspired by the teachings of Mantak Chia, a renowned Taoist master, let us explore practical techniques for awakening and nurturing the Third Eye chakra.
Understanding the Third Eye Chakra
The Third Eye chakra is located in the center of the forehead, between the eyebrows. It is associated with intuition, insight, clarity, and spiritual vision. Opening this chakra allows us to access higher realms of consciousness, receive guidance, and tap into our inner wisdom.
Mantak Chia offers a holistic approach to open and activate the Third Eye chakra. He draws upon ancient Taoist subtle body cultivation practices. He emphasizes the importance of balanced energy flow throughout the body, as well as harmonizing the physical, mental, and emotional aspects of our being.
Breathwork and Meditation
Conscious breathing and meditation play a crucial role in awakening the Third Eye chakra. Practice deep, mindful breathing, and focus your attention on the area between your eyebrows. Visualize a gentle, indigo-colored light radiating from the Third Eye, expanding and illuminating your inner vision
Inner Smile Technique
As part of the Inner Smile technique taught by Mantak Chia, one can direct loving and positive energy towards the Third Eye. Smile inwardly to activate the chakra, and visualize a warm, radiant light permeating the area. This practice helps to dissolve tension and cultivate a harmonious energetic environment for the Third Eye to awaken.
Taoist Energy Practices
Mantak Chia’s Taoist practices, such as the Microcosmic Orbit and Fusion of the Five Elements, can help balance and harmonize the flow of energy in the body. These practices involve circulating and refining energy. This allows the energy to reach the Third Eye chakra, promoting its awakening and expansion. Matthew has received private instruction in these practices with one of Mantak’s Chia’s senior instructors. Reach out to learn more.
Mindful Observation and Intuition
Cultivate a heightened sense of observation and trust in your intuition. Engage in mindfulness practices that encourage present-moment awareness. By paying attention to the subtleties of your experiences and trusting your inner guidance, you strengthen the connection with your Third Eye chakra.
Your Future Awaits…
Awakening the Third Eye chakra is a transformative journey that opens up a world of expanded perception and deep inner knowing. Following the guidance of Mantak Chia’s teachings, we can embark on a path of self-discovery. We can tap into the vast wisdom and intuition that resides within us. With patience, practice, and an open heart, we can awaken the Third Eye. Through this we can gain profound insights and experiencing a profound shift in our consciousness. Embrace the journey and allow the Third Eye to become a gateway to the realms of higher awareness and inner illumination.
by Alexander Musgrave | Aug 29, 2022 | Community Conversations
Regardless of what spiritual tradition(s) you’re privy to, there are some simple ways to enhance your magickal abilities. Magic has been referred to as technology of the spirit, and the happenings that exist at the intersection of will and the phenomenological world. As empowered individuals, we can come into stronger standing within ourselves when we are in the knowing and trusting of our abilities. Magic is our birthright. That’s right, if you have a belly button, you can practice magic. Practically speaking, we are going to keep this very simple. This way, you can fully digest this information and hopefully incorporate it into your life!
Create a Container
As we all know, set and setting are important factors in nearly all experiences. What is it like for you if you’re brushing your teeth while driving a car? How about if you’re trying to study for an exam while cooking dinner? Trying to build a snowman at the beach in the high summer heat? The what, when, where and how we do things, are all very important indicators for success. Therefore, creating containers that establish the set and setting for any given experience, is a crucial step of practical magic.
Just like you wouldn’t practice your yodeling act while at the dentist, you wouldn’t want to practice any practical magic outside of a well defined and safe container. Creating this container can be super simple! You can also learn a lineage method for creating a safe energetic container by activating the sacred geometry around in our Sacred Geometry 1 workshop.
Activate the Elements
Ayurveda is the natural system of medicine that comes from India; the word directly translates to “knowledge of life”. Through the lens of Ayurveda, we are all composed of varying combinations and proportions of the Elements. We are built of the very Earth, Air, Water, and Fire that sustain life on this planet. To revere these elements in a heartfelt and authentic way, is to tap into the most primordial and elemental magic available to us. How can one honor the elements? Well, knowing that they are inside us, let’s move through our sensory experience to understand internally how these elements resonate with us.
Step one; our visual reality.
After establishing your container, let’s move into the first step, where we will alter the optical experience. Change up your lighting, either dim the lights or turn them off all together. Light a candle while connecting to the element of fire. Breathe the warmth of the flame in through your eyes, acknowledging all the creative life force that burns within you.
Step two; our audible reality.
Go ahead and put on some music that feels sacred to you. There is no one-record-fits-all here. This is for you and you alone to decide. Perhaps it’s some ancient Indian raga, or maybe it’s a Gregorian chant. Maybe you’re feeling sanctity in the simple today and would like to play Solfeggio Frequencies. Whatever you decide to hear, press play and put everything else on pause. Enjoy the moment of listening deeply with your body, receiving the sound into each cell.
Step three; our olfactory reality.
Begin to notice the smells around you. Empowering yourself to alter your reality, invoke our Higher Self into the space as you light some incense or burn some resin. White sage, copal and palo santo are great options here. Breathe in the wafting scents of the fragrant smoke, and connect with any memories that emerge. Invite yourself to be cleansed by the smoke, wash yourself by bringing the smoke to your head and then down and around your body. Do this a few times. Scent is the sense most tied to memory, so let the smell uncover any ancient memories ready to be remembered. This is a great time to acknowledge the element of water, as a vessel for planetary memory. Perhaps you have a glass or bowl of water that you can honor at this time, maybe by whispering “thank you” into the water, or anointing your third eye and/or heart space with the water. In this moment, we can invite the memories of the water within us to emerge and awaken.
Step four; our felt sense.
Find your feet on the ground. Acknowledge the part of you that’s connected to the Earth beneath you. This could be your sit bones, your thighs and calves, your feet, or your back if you’re laying down. Whatever position you find yourself in, simply connect with the felt sensation of making contact with this planet, whether that’s directly, or through some layers beneath you. With your eyes closed, perhaps expressing a bit of gratitude for this incredible life-bearing planet we get to call home. Be here, in this gratitude, for a moment.
Repeat this practice as much as you’d like! Create space within each of the steps for deep breaths and relaxation. Most importantly, stay light and enjoy your magnificence!
by user_dd | Aug 22, 2022 | Community Conversations
We all know how important it is to nurture a sense of belonging within our bodies. The language may register at a certain level, perhaps cognitively in the mind. Yet there comes a time in our journey when things we understand in the mind must be anchored down into the body. Having a felt sense of the concepts that our minds have come to understand, is essential.
For instance, this concept of a sense of belonging. We may understand what this means in our heads; the idea of safety, security, and protection. This can be understood cognitively as a relationship. We have relationships to each other, to our human family, to the larger more-than-human world, and to this beloved planet. These relationships create constellations in which we can feel varying degrees of belonging.
Moving the sense of belonging from a cognitive definition into a felt experience is a process with no end. Like life, it is a work in progress, and we can only continue to deepen into the practices that sustain our health and well being with a strong will.
So, let’s have a look at three different signs that you are experiencing a felt sense of belonging, in order for you to amplify awareness around what the felt sense really feels like in the body.
- Relaxed Nervous System
The first sign we’ll look at is the state of our nervous system. Within a constellation where we belong, and feel that sense of belonging, we will likely be experiencing a relaxed nervous system across the board. We will not be experiencing any fight or flight responses (or at least minimal).
- Muted Internal Dialogue
The second sign that we’re experiencing a sense of belonging has to do with our internal landscape. Sometimes our monkey mind can run a muck. We all know this feeling, when thoughts seem to think themselves and they move at a mile a minute. Well, usually when we’re feeling that sense of belonging, the monkey mind is able to take a rest. There is way less mental chatter, and more spaciousness in our minds for present moment awareness. We experience more inner harmony that is in response to the harmony that surrounds us. It’s a feedback loop, and we feel it.
- Open-Hearted Authenticity
The last sign that we’ll explore together is about our ability to express authentically. When we’re in a relationship, group, space or place in which we belong, it will be easier for us to speak our truth. Authentically expressing comes more easily, due to the air of acceptance and inclusion that would be present. When we accept each other as we are and feel inclusivity toward each other, there becomes more space for our hearts to express their authentic voice. We feel this as a sensation of open-heartedness, where our heart space is emanating a coherence that is in harmony with the field around us.
There you have it! May those three signs serve to support you in celebrating how you fit within your constellations, whether in 1:1 relationships, groups, your affinity communities, or team dynamics.
by user_dd | Sep 2, 2021 | Community Conversations, Transitory Thoughts
At what points throughout your day do you feel the most alive? What moments are your energy levels and your mood at a high level? These moments, for the most part, are often moments where all of our ‘bodies’ are engaged and activated; our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies are online and present in our experience.
Can you think of all the moments throughout your day when you tend to your physical body? Chances are, you commit a lot of time caring for and nurturing your physical form. This extends beyond just a work out; through basic processes of nourishment and elimination, movement and hygiene, we care for the needs of our physical bodies on a day to day basis.
There are aspects to these processes that can be up-leveled. If we are, in fact, becoming more mindful of the way we show up on our paths toward embodying our Highest Selves, then it becomes increasingly important to see the importance of every moment, every instance, every beat within the symphony. For it’s within each beat that the grand orchestra reveals itself!
Every moment is significant; there is nothing that is insignificant. In that way, a meal can become a prayer. A bath can become a purification ceremony. Everything is visible to the eyes of our Highest Selves; the more we think, feel, and act in alignment with our Highest expression – the more spiritually fit we become.
Optimizing Agility and Building Resilience
Staying spiritually fit means showing up to the interdimensional gym. We don’t need to be intimidated by the heavy lifters and the bench press; simply starting with some subtle squats and jumping jacks will do just fine. This gym is the non-physical space where our non-physical Selves can come online, to make use of our gifts from Spirit, and strengthen the muscles of agility, adaptability and resilience. Strengthening these muscles increases our ability to stay flexible amidst great change, meet any given moment with access to clarity and clear thinking, and make decisions from a place of poised inner trust and empowered choice.
A class we teach designed for training student to effectively use their energetic muscles on a daily basis is called: Spiritual Intuition Class.
Read further to learn more.
The Spiritual Intuition Class introduces the practice of using your psychic senses to get the answer to anything, anywhere, anytime, even under difficult circumstances.
How do some people just know what to do in any circumstance? Did you know that everyone has psychic senses? Are you using yours? In ‘Spiritual Intuition,’ you’ll learn multiple exercises you can take with you anywhere to develop your psychic gifts. With practice, you can access and develop different types of psychic senses innate to being human, so they never again go to waste in your life. What are you waiting for!? Let’s practice!
Benefits of Spiritual Intuition:
- Improve your self-confidence
- Develop the full range of your psychic abilities
- Clarify ambiguity with nothing more than your own inner wisdom
- Increase your intuition and spiritual gifts
Attendance at Modern Mystery School classes always means you’ll have a real experience of the energies we are working with. In this class, you will receive a student manual with the exercises we are using so you can do them yourself. After a discussion about how psychic senses work and how they can be developed, Matthew will lead you through these exercises so you know how to do them.
By attending this class, you will:
- Be able to identify the 5 psychic senses
- Describe some of the characteristics of how each one works
- Perform an exercise to develop each psychic sense
With questions regarding the class – contact me, otherwise if you are ready to activate and strengthen your intuition – register for Spiritual Intuition Class: https://spiritintransition.as.me/MMS-Classes
