VIDEO: Ellen DeGeneres Shares How a Meditation Retreat Helped Her Come Out

Posted on by Tammy

Ellen DeGeneres appeared on Oprah’s Master Class, and shared how she almost didn’t come out as a gay women back in 1997. In fact, she had no plans to do it at all. But after attending a meditation retreat at Esalen in Big Sur, Calif., she gained the clarity and courage she needed.

“Someone gave me a gift, a course at a place called Esalen,” she said “It’s kind of a hippie place, and you go in, and [there’s] no TV and no music and no anything, and it’s just meditation and different things and different courses — and there was a course called Changing the Inner Dialogue of Your Subconscious Mind, and I thought, ‘That would be an interesting course to take because I wanted to know what the inner dialogue of my subconscious mind was.’”

Once she started to calm her mind, her biggest fears came to the surface about coming out, including “Would I still be famous? Would they still love me if they knew I was gay?” she said. “My fear was that no, no they wouldn’t, and then it made me feel ashamed that I was hiding something. It made me feel ashamed that I couldn’t feel honest and really be who I am, and I just didn’t want to pretend to be somebody else anymore so that people would like me.”

Watch the clip below:

“The Lemonade Hurricane: A Story of Mindfulness and Meditation,” by Licia Morelli

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An introduction to meditation and mindfulness for young readers, this children’s book tells the story of Emma and Henry. After school, Emma likes to come home, sit still and rest. But her brother Henry is the total opposite. She calls him the Lemonade Hurricane, a metaphor for what lemonade looks like when you stir it up and the pulps swirls around. However, when it becomes still, the liquid becomes clear.

Emma thinks Henry is actually a lot of fun when he isn’t running all over the house. One day she decides to teach him how to sit, bow and breath, in order to calm the hurricane that is her brother — and she succeeds. In addition to the story, the back of the book offers simple mindfulness techniques for use at home or in the classroom with children.

Free Meditation App Let’s You Meditate Without Interruption

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When you sit down to meditate and us an app or timer on your mobile phone, the last thing you want is it to start ringing and buzzing with an incoming call. While some people put their phone on silent, others might be afraid of missing an important call during their meditation.

The new meditation app, Meditate Peacefully, solves this problem!

Right now, it’s only available for Android phones, but the free app puts a mobile phone into the silent mode and if someone calls, it automatically sends them an SMS message letting them know your phone is on silent. It also tells them if the call is important, to reply with the word URGENT, and then you will be alerted to the call.

Once the meditation time is up, a meditation bell automatically chimes to bring you out of meditation, and the app switches off the silent mode so calls can resume.

Elevated Existence October 2015 Book Picks

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Each month, a ton of new spiritual and self-help books hit the market. It’s easy to get overwhelmed or miss out on some new releases.

We created Elevated Existence Monthly Book Picks to help our readers narrow down their search, and make sure they don’t miss some great options!

The books for this month were chosen by our editor’s as their picks for October 2015. They are listed below in alphabetical order. Click on each title to go directly to Amazon and find out more about the book.

“Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear,” by Elizabeth Gilbert — The New York Times bestselling author takes on creativity in her newest book. Aimed at writers, artists and anyone expressing their creativity, the book is full of insights, advice and inspiration. She asks readers to embrace curiosity and let go of needless suffering, and how to tackle what we love most while letting go of needless fear.

“Conscious Loving Ever After: How to Create Thriving Relationships at Midlife and Beyond,” By Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks — As we get older, our love life can get better. We can have more exquisite love and more passionate sex in the second half of life than ever before. This is what Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks believe and explain how to achieve in their newest book.

“Crazy Sexy Juice: 100+ Simple Juice, Smoothie & Nut Milk Recipes to Supercharge Your Health,” by Kris Carr — New York Times bestselling author and wellness expert, Carr not only offers more than 100 recipes, but shares all her tips on created the best juice, smoothie and nut milk recipes, from how to choose the best blender and juicer to tips for selecting, storing and preparing ingredients.

“The Giving Way to Happiness: Stories and Science Behind the Life-Changing Power of Giving,” by Jenny Santi — The author reveals how giving to others, whether its money, expertise, time or love, helps people form all walks of life find purpose and joy. Filled with inspiring stories and cutting-edge scientific research, Santi shares how the key to happiness, which often eludes us, is helping those around us.

“Intentional Living: Choosing a Life That Matters,” by John C. Maxwell — The bestselling author shares how anyone can live a life that is significant with intention and action. This book will help others take the steps they need on their own personal path to a life that matters.

“Memories of Heaven: Children’s Astounding Recollections of the Time Before They Came to Earth,” by Wayne Dyer and Dee Garnes — Filled with true stories of very young children speaking out about their remembrances before they were born, this book was completed by Dr. Dyer and his co-author Dee Garnes before he passed away earlier this year.

Resilience from the Heart: The Power to Thrive in Life’s Extremes,” by Gregg Braden — This revised edition of Braden’s book “Turning Point,” combines science with today’s realities and offers strategies to help us embrace the stressful times in our lives. He explains the power of the brain-heart connection; three shifts to transform our thinking about career, lifestyle and finances; and more.

“The Toltec Art of Life and Death: A Story of Discovery,” by Don Miguel Ruiz — Introducing readers to a deeper level of spiritual teaching and awareness, drawn from ancient Toltec wisdom. In 2002, Ruiz suffered a near fatal heart attack that left him in a coma for nine weeks, and the spiritual journey he took during that time forms the heart of this book.

“Wake Up Happy: The Dream Big, Win Big Guide to Transforming Your Life,” by Michael Strahan — A mix of stories and inspirational advice, the football player turned talk show host to help readers pursue and achiever their personal ambitions. He also shares how he gets and stays motivated to help other achieve their goals.

“Wild Awakening: 9 Questions that Saved My Life,” by Mary Daniels — An uplifting story of how a young mother went from standing on a bridge holding her bby and ready to jump, to the discovery of nine questions that saved her life, and can help transform the lives of others.

Wisdom of the Oracle Cards by Colette Baron-Reid

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Bestselling author of “Remembering the Future,” “Messages from Spirit,” and “The Map,” Colette Baron-Reid, created a brand new oracle card deck called Wisdom of the Oracle Cards.

The new deck combines blended elements of the I-Ching, Norse runes, traditional tarot and other ancient divination tools into a 52-card deck.

The cards come with a companion book to interpret messages, with more than 250 independent meanings to be used to shed light on any circumstance. It includes images of animals, the elements of nature and other symbols.

Other card decks from Baron-Reid include “The Wisdom of Avalon,” “Wisdom of the Hidden Realms,” and “The Enchanted Map.”

For more information, visit www.colettebaronreid.com.

Pacifica Beauty Launches Natural Skincare Line

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Natural beauty company, offering makeup, fragrance and body products, introduced a new line of natural skincare and treatment products, including cleansers, facial wipes, masks and scrubs — all vegan, cruelty-free and made without sulfates, petroleum, parabens and phthalates.

Cleansers include the Kale Detox Deep Cleaning Facial Wash for oily and acne-prone skin. It’s fortified with super green phytonutrients including kale, seaweekd and blue seakale, along with mangosteen and coconut water. It is designed to cleanse and remove makeup, toxins and impurities from the skin. There is also a Sea Foam Complete Face Wash, and an Instant Karma Facial Cleansing Oil.

The line also includes five types of facial wipes, including Purify Coconut Water and Enzymatic Exfoliating Wipes, and a variety of masks and scrubs, including Pore Refine Deep Detox Mask. This mask uses ingredients such as konjac root, strawberry and tomato to fight dilated and clogged pores, excess sebum oils, bacteria and toxins.

There is also a Skin Revival Micro Dermabrasion Scrub to improve the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. It uses ingredients including papaya fruit extract, ginger extract, pineapple and more.

For more information, visit www.pacificabeauty.com.