Romance Angels Oracle Cards by Doreen Virtue

Posted on by Tammy

Whether its angels, spirit guides or our loved ones on the other side, guidance is always available as long as we take the time to ask for it!

One of the newest card decks form best-selling author and angel expert is The Romance Angels, which can help you contact the group of cherubic angels who focus on love! If you are looking for love, asking about a current relationship or trying to heal from a past relationship, these cards can help you ask the angels about your romantic life – and do readings for friends or clients.

Green Tea Drinkers Age Better, New Study Shows

Posted on by Tammy

Elderly adults who regularly drink green tea may stay more agile and independent than their peers over time, according to a large study of Japanese adults.

Green tea contains certain antioxidant chemicals, particularly a compound known as EGCG, that may help ward off the body-cell damage that can lead to disease, and researchers have been studying green tea’s effects on everything from cholesterol to the risk of certain cancers.

For the newest study, Japanese researchers looked at a different question: Do green-tea drinkers have any lower risk of frailty and disability as they grow old?

Following nearly 14,000 adults age 65 and older, they found that people who drank the most green tea were the least likely to develop “functional disability” over the next three years – meaning problems with daily activities such as going to the store, housework, or basic needs like dressing and bathing.

Specifically, almost 13 percent of adults who drank less than a cup of green tea per day became functionally disabled, compared with just over 7 percent of people who drank at least five cups per day.

Also, green tea itself was tied to a lower disability risk, according to the researchers, led by Yasutake Tomata of Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine. People who drank at least five cups a day were one-third less likely to develop disabilities than those who had less than a cup a day. And people who averaged three or four cups a day had a 25 percent lower risk.

While all of these findings show green tea is beneficial with aging, Tomata’s team writes, definitive proof can come only from clinical trials testing the effects of green tea, or green tea extracts, on disability risk.

Top 10 Worldwide Yoga Retreats

Posted on by Tammy

Whether you are looking to drop some serious money for luxury accommodations or are working on a budget, there are yoga retreats available, and Fox News pulled together 10 top options, ranging from an ashram in the Bahamas — where guests perform chores — to pure luxury!

Yoga Breaks: Alicante, Spain – The Costa Blanca region of Spain has been named by the World Health Organization as having one of the healthiest climates on Earth, according to the Fox article. Yoga Breaks offers luxury near the ocean with twice daily yoga for beginners and intermediate yogis. It also offers Ayurvedic-inspired meals nourish, meditation and pranayama (breathing) workshops.

Big EZ Lodge: Bozeman, Montana – The lodge was built with native timber and natural river rock throughout, and there are 13 guestrooms and common areas, the article reported. Ashtanga, restorative and Vinyasa Flow yoga is offered, along with nature hikes and other outdoor activities. Mountain-themed cuisine is offered, and there is a game room and workout room on site. The best part? A large hot tub with a waterfall!

Domaine de la Grausse: Clermont La Grausse, France – Study with the highly experienced resident yoga teacher Dagmar (who is influenced by Jyengar, Viniyoga and Sivananda) at this getaway in the French Pyrenées, the article stated. The estate features an eighteenth-century château with extensive grounds, two large yoga studios and accommodation in two newly renovated traditional stone barns that are fully-equipped for self-catering, according to the article. Yoga classes are available for all levels.

Sivananda Ashram: Paradise Island, Nassau, Bahamas – Nassau’s Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat will have you rising at 6 a.m. and meditating till dawn – followed by chanting until tea time and two hours of Hatha yoga – all before your 10:00 a.m. vegetarian meal. The afternoon will offer a class in Karma yoga, where guests help with ashram duties, the article stated.

Jatoba Terra Prana Lar yoga: Sao Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil – This retreat offers a variety of yoga styles, including Kundalini yoga, Yin yoga, Hatha yoga, partner yoga, Karma yoga and Mandala yoga. It also offers meditation, mantras, silent walks, sacred dances, fire rituals and Zen Shiatus, according to Fox. Also offered is a sweat lodge, fresh water pool, meditation deck on the lake and vegetarian meals.

Paradise Found Yoga: Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, Canada – Specializing in Kundalini yoga, Paradise Found Yoga offers scheduled and private retreats with two daily yoga classes, meditation, art therapy and spa sessions. There are also hiking excursions on the shorelines of Cusheon Lake on Salt Spring Island, an outdoor hot tub and vegetarian meals.

Shreyas Yoga Retreat: Bangalore, Karnataka, India – A member of the exclusive Relais & Chateaux group, this retreat is devoted to promoting the authentic spiritual tradition of yoga in a luxurious environment. It offers more than 25 acres of landscaped gardens, and utilizes natural resources such as rain water harvesting; solar heating; ayurvedic and medicinal herb plantations; organic farming and organic waste disposal on site, according to the Fox report. Treat yourself to Ashtanga and Hatha yoga, chanting classes, silent retreats, meditation, massages, ayurvedic treatments such as abhyanga and shirodhara, and vegetarian meals made from organically grown ingredients freshly handpicked from the retreat’s fields.

Clare Island Yoga Retreat Centre: County Mayo, Ireland – On 240 acres of land off the West Coast of Ireland, the Clare Island Yoga Retreat offers yoga and meditation, organic meals and hillside hiking, the report stated. Accommodations include a refurbished traditional island cottage complete with solar panels for heating water and wood-burning stoves for space heating.

Maya Tulum: Quintana Roo, Mexico – Only 90 minutes from Cancún, this seaside wellness retreat and spa offers more than 50 yoga retreats every year. There are five or seven night Mind, Body, Spirit programs (MBS), complete with vegetarian meals (with the option of ordering fish), massages, day trips and spa treatments, the report stated. There is even a traditional sweat lodge run by a shaman.

Anahata Yoga Retreat: Golden Bay, South Island, New Zealand – This integral residential yoga retreat is located on top of a mountain 640 meters above sea level in Golden Bay. Retreats, personal sessions and daily activities are offered year-round, with the focus on Satyananda yoga, which draws on a number of traditional systems of yoga, including Hatha, Raja, Karma, Jnana, Mantra and Bhakti yoga, the report stated. A range of lodging options are available from shared rooms to a private straw bale round house. Tent sites and camping are also available.

VIDEO: Marianne Williamson to Hold “The Enchanted Love” Workshop in L.A. and Live Streaming

Posted on by Tammy

Best-selling author, Marianne Williamson, will present “The Enchanted Love Workshop: Building the Inner Temple of the Sacred and the Romantic,” on February 17 to 19 in Los Angeles. Not in the area? You can still participate via live streaming.

Participants will learn the spiritual tools of fostering powerful, joyous and intimate relationships. Valuable for both women and men seeking to either to attract a partner or deepen an existing relationship, the weekend will provide guests with valuable spiritual, psychological and emotional insight into the nature and practice of true love.

During the “Enchanted Love Workshop,” spiritual inquiry will include:

How do we inwardly prepare ourselves for love?
What deeper forces foster a powerful romantic relationship?
What part does the masculine/feminine dynamic play in navigating romantic relationships?
What is true intimacy, from a spiritual perspective, and how is it achieved?
How can a romantic relationship become a portal to spiritual growth? And how can spiritual growth become a portal to more powerful romance?

“If I think that you’re the source of my happiness, I am tempted, at least subconsciously, to try to manipulate and control you,” Williamson said. “And that won’t attract you; it will repel you. Once I make it my spiritual work to realize my own completion, then I approach you not with a need to steal your energy, but with a desire to play and create with you. Obviously, the latter is far more attractive.”

Williamson teaches that from a spiritual perspective, relationships are assignments: couples are brought together by a Divine Intelligence for as long a period of time as serves the mutual soul growth of both partners. When physical proximity no longer serves that growth and the relationship ends, this doesn’t necessarily denote failure. Relationships are of the spirit and not of the body, and therefore last forever on the level of mind.

“We are brought together for the purpose of healing. All of us have rough edges to be smoothed out, and one of the ways that happens is when our rough edges rub up against someone else’s,” said Williamson. “To the ego, that kind of rough experience is a reason to leave the relationship. To the Spirit, the opportunity here is to choose the mercy and compassion that smoothes out all things.”

Williamson gives the examples of a woman whose father emotionally abandoned her, meeting up with a man whose mother emotionally smothered him. Because of their childhood experiences, she might tend to be needy, while he might tend to be commitment phobic.

“The rough path is where she subconsciously tries to control him, and he subconsciously seeks to keep her at a distance,” Williamson said. “The transcendent path is where she takes responsibility for her wound, refuses to project her father’s behavior in the past onto the man standing in front of her, and prays to Spirit to heal her by helping her forgive her father and enter into the present moment not carrying her past with her. As she develops the emotional skill set to show deep appreciation for the man standing in front of her, the light of that moment casts out the neurotic thought forms carried over from the past. His work takes different form, but is essentially the same.”

According to Williamson, an authentic spiritual bond can’t be based on personality or physicality alone, because on the material level none of us are perfect. It’s when we develop the skill to see beyond the physical to the spiritual truth of who we are — and most importantly, the ability to stay with that truth even when appearances show us something different — that we transcend the ego forces which would otherwise tear us apart.

This workshop addresses the fear of love that we all feel, as well as the spiritual keys to unlocking the authenticity and true skill that allows us to connect with a beloved. “It takes conscious work to create the psychological and emotional freedom to disclose our deepest feelings to each other. The risk, the vulnerability … such things can be emotionally perilous outside a spiritual context.” Williamson focuses on the deep practice of forgiveness, prayer and meditation as steps to the cultivation of sacred space within and between us.

“We might be tempted to think that spirituality and intimacy are very different categories. In fact, spirituality is key to our success at everything because it’s the key to our capacity to love.”

To sign up for the in-person or live streaming, visit http://www.marianne.com.

Listen to Marianne explain the seminar in the below video:

Chopra Center Launches 21-Day Meditation Challenge in Dr. David Simon’s Memory

Posted on by Tammy

On Monday, February 20, 2012, The Chopra Center is launching another 21-Day Meditation Challenge, and dedicating it to the memory of co-founder, Dr. David Simon.

This challenge is brand-new and called the “Mind-Body Odyssey.” In the past two years, more than 150,000 people have embraced the free online meditation program.

“We are dedicating this Meditation Challenge to David Simon, who has been my friend, partner, and teacher for more than twenty years,” said best-selling author and spiritual mentor Deepak Chopra, M.D., who co-founded the Chopra Center with David in 1996. “From our personal experience as meditators, and in working with patients, David and I both knew first-hand the power of meditation to balance the body, heal the mind, and transform the spirit. I know David was happy that the Meditation Challenge was opening the doors to many people who previously believed that meditation was too ‘hard’ or ‘mysterious.’

Each day, participants will receive a guided audio meditation and guidance for creating a regular meditation practice. A Meditation Challenge Facebook community is also open to participants who want to share their experiences, ask questions, and connect with other like-minded meditators.

“The upcoming Mind-Body Odyssey is ideal for anyone who is seeking more peace and balance and a lot less stress and ‘dis-ease’ in their lives,” said Chopra, who will lead the meditations, along with the Chopra Center’s lead meditation teacher, davidji, and other master Chopra Center instructors.

Registration and participation is free.

Shea Vaughn’s New “Breakthrough” Book

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Fitness expert, professional trainer and wellness coach, Shea Vaughn, mother of actor Vince Vaughn, is a 25-year veteran of the fitness industry who believes in the importance of a mind-body connection for discovering true well-being.

In her new book, “Breakthrough: The 5 Living Principles to Defeat Stress, Look Great, and Find Total Well-Being,” Vaughn speaks to women, especially those over 45, offering clear direction for lifestyle and exercise practices that blend both Eastern and Western methods. She speaks candidly about her own life lessons, shares exercises routines (with easy-to-follow illustrations), meditation advice, recipes and more.

“The process of self-discovery and finding well-being is very personal, and the road traveled is different for each of us,” Vaughn says in the book’s introduction. “In this book I share my journey, but what I hope will be of greatest benefit to the reader are the powerful tools I have found that work for me and the others who have embraced them.”

Vaughn is the founder of SheaNetics, which blends both Eastern and Western values and movements to “unite the mind and body as one.” She is also trained in ballet, Tai-Chi, martial arts, ZUMBA, yoga, pilates and more. In order to create a state of personal well-being, Vaughn created five principles, which make up the “grounding philosophy” of SheaNetics.

“The Five Living Principles of Well-Being: Commitment, Perseverance, Self-Control, Integrity, and Love, are an inspirational force in helping me create a positive lifestyle with a healthy body and the supportive mental and emotional paradigm to deal with changing and demanding times,” Vaughn said. “One encourages the other and together they help you find balance, self-confidence and a personal state of well-being.”

For more information, visit www.shenetics.com.