Panache Desai: Discovering Your Soul Signature – Finding Your Purpose, Passion and Joy

Posted on by Tammy

by Jennifer McCartney

Do you feel exhausted and weighed down by the circumstances of your life? Do you subject yourself to an endless stream of self-judgment and criticism? Do you feel the energy of fear tightening its grip on you more each day?

Each time life throws emotional obstacles in your way, your soul signature – your spiritual DNA – becomes blocked. Anger, shame, fear, guilt, sadness, or despair overtakes you, creating a heaviness that doesn’t permit your energy to flow freely.

But all is not lost. For listeners at the “Living an Elevated Existence Mind, Body & Soul Summit Season 2,” Panache Desai—spiritual teacher and author of Discovering Your Soul Signature: A 33-Day Path to Purpose, Passion and Joy—explained how discovering your unique soul signature can reignite a life of authenticity, rediscover your passion, and tap into the limitless possibility of all things.

“The function of spiritual practice in its most basic level is for an individual to help them come into the experience of themselves as more than just a body and a mind,” said Desai. Once practitioners are aware of themselves as a soul—once they’ve uncovered their soul signature or the unique expression of who they are at their core—they’re able to live their fullest life and embrace their true humanity, leading to greater health and happiness.

“What we’re doing is offering people access, authentically, to who they are at their core,” Desai explained on the call. “Sometimes people have some grandiose notion of their life’s purpose. You’re purpose is to be yourself…the more you can lovingly accept yourself, and engage the part of you that’s divine, you don’t have any mundane moments…You’re doing everything from a place of connection, from a place of awareness, and you truly become alive.”

Desai addressed many listeners who feel they are “stuck” and can’t move forward in certain areas of their life. We learn to get “stuck” very early in life, he said. “The way we learn to get stuck is through our conditioning—we learn from our family. Then at school. And society.” But we don’t become “unstuck” by seeking superficial solutions. It starts with acceptance of where we are and what we feel at the moment. Rather than running away from or suppressing our emotions, we must feel them and release them.

Desai told listeners that uncovering our soul signature requires three steps:

The first is a willingness to look
The second is a willingness to feel and experience
The third is to allow the feeling to be there (not fighting the feeling)

“Whether it’s depression, grief, fear, rage, or whatever, it’s about being available to the emotion, and accepting of it,” he said. “Dealing with the loss of physical attachment in grief, you can begin to access something deeper…because you’re not going to be in it all the time. There comes a point where the intensity of the emotion will begin to diminish.”

By feeling those emotions and letting them flow through us, we will be left with only love, which is the authentic self. “Befriend your humanity,” said Desai. “The part that everyone’s missing, is that the doorway to our divinity is through our humanity. We have to lovingly go through our humanity in order to access our divinity.”

When we discover this, we will realize we are more than just a body and a mind — we are a soul. “Our soul exists on a level of perfection,” he said. “And the more we can begin to embrace and accept the parts we believe aren’t perfect, the more we move into harmony with our innate potential, and the more we’re able to unleash it in the world.”

Putting it into Practice
Desai also led listeners through a practice of exploring their energy and uncovering their soul signatures.

“Think of the person in your life that you believe has hurt you the most,” he advised listeners. “Just breathe and relax your body. And begin to get present to what’s going on inside your body. Focus on how the body feels—whether it’s a tightness in the body—focus on it, and everything associated with that energy collapses. Everything that’s left in us we have to turn and feel.”

While he noted at times we won’t feel a shift right away, we should allow ourselves to be open to whatever it is we are feeling, and to not resist any pain, physical or otherwise. “When that density has been felt, the physical pain goes away,” he said. Desai’s program offered through the Living an Elevated Existence Summit is about consistency and commitment—for about half an hour morning and night, listeners hear a recording designed to address the density inside them and help access their soul signature.

“If you haven’t discovered your soul signature, you’re lost,” he said. However, by uncovering it, and accepting our true humanity, Desai said enlightenment is within reach.

“When you’re experiencing peace, you’re experiencing your enlightenment,” he said.

Jean Widner: How Technology Can Improve Your Meditation

Posted on by Tammy

by Jennifer McCartney

What if you could take your meditation to the next level by incorporating technology into your daily routine?

Jean Widner, co-owner and national sales manager of Wild Divine Inc., shared with listeners of the “Living an Elevated Existence Mind, Body & Soul Summit Season 2,” how we can tune into our bodies natural rhythms — like breathing and heart rate — and improve our heart’s coherence cycle to meditate easily or deepen our existing practice. She explained how combining the ancient wisdom of meditation with Wild Divine’s modern technology can help train our mind, body and spirit to self-regulate; tap into our own personal power; improve our mental focus, creative thinking and intuition; and more.

Wild Divine Inc. specializes in designing and developing unique, whole-body relaxation training programs that help people reduce stress and live happier, more well-balanced lives—and is a leader in the emerging lifestyle technology market.

“What we have is a very simple sensor,” Widner explained about the hardware involved. This sensor, called an IomPE, works with a standard Mac or PC. “It’s just a simple little gadget about three inches by one inch. You basically just plug that into a USB port, and the other end of it has an ear clip, which you put on your earlobe.”

It’s hands free—allowing users to sit and meditate, while the software tapes the heartrate signal and inputs the data into the program allowing users to monitor not only their heart rate, but also their breath cycle. There are also a number of exercises, some spiritual and tapping into emotion, and others focused on breathing techniques, and the program provides feedback on a person’s meditation.

“You can see it live on screen,” she said. “When you’re graphing yourself, you can see your resting heart rate, along with two different visuals—a numerical representation of your coherence score, your heart rate, and your color spectrum. At the beginning it will be yellow. Then when you move into the heart breath it moves to green, then to deep blue.”

The breath is even represented by a butterfly icon in one program that opens and closes with each inhale and exhale. This ability to see concrete results means even on a mediation day that feels unproductive, or you realize through the meditation that you’re distracted, the program offers concrete evidence that the meditation has had a physical effect on the body. And it isn’t just about relaxing! There are also exercises for stimulating breath to gain rejuvenation and energy, Widner shared with the audience.

To listen to Jean’s interview, along with 26 other top experts in mind, body & spirit topics, sign up for the FREE summit now!

Using the Software
The Wild Divine program offered to listeners of the Elevated Existence Summit uses 15 steps, which includes 30 guided meditations, and 13 inspirations around all different topics, and led by a variety of practitioners such as Zen master Nasim Aman, Dr. Dean Ornisch, Dr. Andrew Wild, Joan Borysenko, and Sharon Salzberg.

Widner broke down each of the 15 steps for listeners and explained each step was designed to work on a different area.

Step 1: Quieting the mind

Step 2: Observing your thoughts

Step 2: Working on inner balance

Step 4: Releasing physical tension

Step 5: Cultivating positive emotions.

Step 6: Revealing your inner wisdom

Step 7: Subduing your inner critic

Step 8: Opening yourself to others

Step 9: Practicing compassion for others and yourself

Step 10: Discovering gratitude

Step 11: Opening up to connect outside yourself (the collective consciousness)

Step 12: Setting your intentions

Step 13: “Taking your daily supplement”

Step 14: Learning to commit to a personal practice

Step 15: Finding a rhythm that works for you

The program can work for both beginners and seasoned meditators, along with everyone in between, and Widner offered a potential meditation schedule of about 10-15 minutes a day, 3-4 times a week.

“I don’t believe that we need to meditate for hours to get benefits,” she told listeners, recounting the story of a man with prostate cancer who had no background in meditation—but who found the tool “invaluable.” The program can also help if you’ve “meditated for years and you’ve never been able to find a practice that you could make stick,” Widner said.

“The great thing about meditation is that when you first start to carve out 10 or 15 minutes of your time in the morning, at first that feels like this sacrifice, that you’re greedy to have this time back laying under the covers trying to squeeze out a few more minutes of sleep,” Widner noted. “But once you really understand meditation and you start to gently embrace it and fit it into your daily routine, you find the reverse is true. You’re greedy for those 10 or 15 minutes of mediation time if you don’t get them in the morning. You find yourself out of sorts in the middle of the day.”

She likened the benefits of meditation to athletes who practice constantly to improve their performance. “You’re training yourself into a muscle memory reaction so that then you have more control,” she said. “If you’ve had a really busy and stressful day but you need to go to sleep, you can train muscle memory so that you can put yourself in a relaxed state. Just by knowing how to breathe.”

Widner also shared how the company will be launching, Wild Divine Online, a virtual world with group or individual meditation activities—and once a person has the hardware, they can sample other Wild Divine products.

“It’s a portal to a mindful world,” she told listeners. “People are demanding technology at their fingertips that will help them stay on track with their healthy habits. This is just the beginning.”

For more from Widner and the other 25 experts in mind, body and spirit topics, sign up FREE to Season 2 of the Living an Elevated Existence Summit.

Danielle MacKinnon: Revealing (and Releasing!) Soul Contracts

Posted on by Tammy

By Jennifer McCartney

How many times have you wondered why, no matter how hard you try, you can’t keep a relationship? Or stay healthy, or make enough money? Or that you just can’t seem to find happiness?

Danielle MacKinnon, author of “Soul Contracts: Find Harmony and Unlock Your Brilliance,” intuitive, coach and animal communicator (who was named one of the country’s top 100 Astrologers and Psychics of 2014) shared with listeners of the “Living an Elevated Existence Mind, Body & Soul Summit Season 2,” how we can learn to recognize and release these hidden energetic barriers, or soul contracts, which block the way to true happiness and success.

“We form these [soul contracts] really young when we start believing negative things about ourselves,” MacKinnon explained to listeners. This complicated belief system still operates in us adults, and often leads to a lot of our problems, she says. As a coping mechanism, we create methods to “fix” the negative things we believe about ourselves, and begin to act certain ways in order to feel better about ourselves. These soul contracts will continue to negatively impact our lives until we discover them and release them.

Most people have no idea they’re being guided by these contracts but they are usually aware that they are stuck in some way. MacKinnon shared the example of a 45-year old woman being guided by her soul system, which consists of all these contracts we have made in the past.

“She needed to sacrifice for others to prove that she was worthy,” she said, explaining this was one of her soul contracts. “It had never occurred to her that sacrificing for love wasn’t the way to receive love.”

However, the things we do in order to alleviate the “blockages” caused by soul contracts are just a band-aid solution. A person who feels unworthy in life may constantly feel the need to prove their worth. But if someone feels they have to prove their worth in order to receive, “that giving is not coming from a place of ‘I have so much overflowing love,’” said MacKinnon. It’s coming from a place of ‘I need to prove something.’”

To listen to Danielle’s interview, along with 26 other top experts in mind, body & spirit topics, sign up for the FREE summit now!

Identify & Release
So how can we begin uncovering and releasing our own soul contracts? “It’s not complicated work…but people need to know the steps,” said MacKinnon.

First, we need to identify where exactly we are stuck. What are the soul contracts that are holding you back? “A soul contract will show up as a block. Why do I work overtime and not get paid? Why do my relationships end in disaster? Why don’t a feel happy? It’s often not just in one area,” she said, explaining a soul contract can affect all areas of our lives, from health and relationships to money and career.

For example, if you don’t feel safe in the world, your may have a soul contract that prevents you from speaking up so that you can protect yourself. This can affect you at work and in relationships. You may have the awareness that this is an issue, but simply trying to change a behavior once we are aware doesn’t work in the long term.

“Instead of a behavior change, we work on a belief change,” she noted. “It’s about clearing the negative energy. Clear and release these contracts. Once you feel safe in the world, speaking up isn’t an issue.”

She advised working on awareness first because by simply becoming aware of our contracts, we can begin to shake up our energy — often enacting smaller changes before the final clearing. Some people may come to realize they have a large number of soul contracts, but having a lot of them isn’t a bad thing.

“When you identify one, you now know that it’s operating in many areas of your life—your health, your wealth, relationships,” she noted, explaining once you clear it all these areas will improve.

After identifying the contracts, it’s about releasing yourself from them, ad MacKinnon provided listeners with a way to do this at home, walking them through it on the call. Speaking in a powerful voice, after calling in our guides, angels and helpers on the other side, we can say the following:

“I now consciously release all energies that are no longer serving me as a result of my ‘aha’ moments today. This includes all that my soul knows I’m ready to let go of as well as [here you can talk to your guides about what’s on your mind]. Please release all resulting physical, emotional, mental and spiritual attachments, and call my akashic records, consciousness and unconsciousness, and assist me in aligning with my greatest and highest potential. As these energies release please gracefully open my crown chakra and infuse me with the energy of unconditional love. [Take a moment and feel the love]. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

The block then feels less after a successful release, explained MacKinnon. “The success comes in increments—each small shift results in a new experience. The belief is shifted a little bit each time,” she noted.

Here are some tips to keep in mind as you work on releasing your soul contracts:

Be sure to set your foundations before getting started—remain grounded and organized and don’t just dive in and try and do everything.

Avoid trying to unblock too many contracts at once. You want things to shift in increments, otherwise it’s not sustainable. Shifting in bits is more natural.

“The proof really has to be in the pudding,” says MacKinnon. If you feel contentment and excitement you’re doing something right.

For more from MacKinnon and the other 25 experts in mind, body and spirit topics, sign up FREE to Season 2 of the Living an Elevated Existence Summit.

How I Tested the Universe & You Can Too

Posted on by Tammy

I’ve always been a girl who looks for proof. Maybe it’s the Virgo in me, but the more detail and proof I can get on something, the better. I’m always up for a challenge or test to find out for myself if something is actually true, and that is what author Pam Grout offers in her New York Times bestselling book “E-Squared: Nine Do-It Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Thoughts Create Your Reality.” So I took her up on the challenge.

I decided to try the first experiment, which tells you to demand from the universe, or what she calls the Field of Potentiality, a clear sign that it exists.

The experiment Grout lays out in the book is to ask the Field of Potentiality to send an unexpected gift or blessing with the deadline of exactly 48 hours. It was 11 p.m. at night when I started the experiment, and was excited at the possibilities.

In the first 24 hours nothing happened. But knowing the universe sends us signs all the time, I didn’t worry, and kept my eyes open for my unexpected gift. However, at 11 p.m. the next night, I got worried.

Why had I not received anything unexpected? Did I do something wrong? How can I tell people the universe has their back and is always sending signs, if I just failed this experiment? I went to bed thinking maybe I would start over again tomorrow.

When I woke up the next morning, I was still thinking about how I could have possibly messed up this assignment. I live my life looking for and receiving signs from the universe, from loved ones who have passed, and from my angels and guides. What did I do wrong?

I hear from people all the time about how they don’t receive signs from loved ones who have passed, or from their angels or guides, and I always tell them the signs are there, they are just not recognizing them when they arrive.

Surely I could not have missed an unexpected gift, right?

WRONG!

I walked into my home office the next morning and realized what happened. The day before, I was going through the mail we receive at Elevated Existence, which is often filled with new books, CDs and DVDs to review. In one of the packages, a musician, Paul Avgerinos, included his CD Bhakti and a beautiful dark green T-shirt with the same word on it. As I walked into my office that morning, I saw the T-shirt and it hit me. That was such a nice surprise, and yes, a very unexpected gift!

Not only that, but I have been looking for some new T-shirts with inspirational words and sayings on them, and “bhakti” is a Sanskrit word meaning “love and devotion.”

Thank you universe! And thank you Paul Avgerinos, who I’m sure had no idea he was conspiring with the universe on behalf of my experiment!

I share this story for two reasons. One, to show you how easy it is to miss the signs sent to us everyday from the universe, angels and our loved ones who have passed. It has become such a big part of my life, and yet even I missed this one … temporarily!

And two, there really is a higher force who is listening to you, and who hears your cries for help and direction. It’s not about whether or not the universe or God answers our prayers. It’s about whether or not we are tuned in, conscious or aware enough to recognize the answers when they come.

Try the experiment yourself, and keep your eyes, ears, mind and heart open for your gift or blessing. I promise you, it’s already on its way.

Tammy Mastroberte is a three-time, award-winning writer, founder of Elevated Existence, and publisher and editorial director of the multi-award-winning Elevated Existence Magazine. She started the new age, spiritual and self-improvement publication at age 30 – eight years after the sudden death of her mother from a brain aneurysm only three days after Christmas in 1999. This tragedy led her down a synchronistic path to discover her purpose and the meaning behind many of the events in her life – including her mother’s death. She now shares her guidance, and the wisdom of today’s top authors and spiritual celebrities through Elevated Existence Magazine. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter: @ElevatedTammy on Instagram: elevatedtammy. For more information, visit www.tammymastroberte.com.

Editor’s Advice: The Universe Always Guides Us Back to Purpose

Posted on by Tammy

Have you ever followed a GPS, but accidentally took a wrong turn? Mine immediately kicks into gear to re-route me to my destination, with a voice saying, “calculating route.”

A few years ago, as I became more conscious and aware through meditation and spiritual practices, I began to recognize how the Universe, God or Source works the same way as the GPS in our car.

No matter how far you stray from your purpose or the higher path you are meant to walk along, the Universe never stops trying to re-route you and gently nudge you back.

When we look back on the events and subtle signs from our past through a process I call Following the Footsteps, we can all begin to uncover this re-routing. Even though we didn’t notice it at the time, the Universe actually had our back! Bestselling author, Marianne Williamson often says the Universe is “both self-correcting and self-organizing,” and I continue to see it happen in my own life.

For example, at 29 years old, after my first formal meditation training, I knew in my gut I wanted to work for myself (the first gentle nudge from the Universe). But at the time I had no clue what that meant, so I pursued the possibility of working on my own as a freelancer. However, nothing real came out of it (a small detour).

One year later, after working in the magazine industry for 10 years, I realized I truly longed to write on and cover topics I was passionate about, such as spirituality and self-help (another nudge), so I ventured out to find an established magazine or website to work for in this segment (another small detour). After months, I realized there were not many out there and certainly not on the East Coast where I lived. I even interviewed with a couple, but the fit just didn’t feel right for me.

One day I was chatting with a friend about my desire, and she casually suggested I start my own online magazine (hello Universe, my old friend). I laughed and told her she was crazy. But six months later, Elevated Existence Magazine debuted online with Deepak Chopra on the cover.

Even though I didn’t respond to that first nudge of working for myself by immediately starting a magazine and website, the Universe or God never stopped putting ideas and opportunities on my path. Eventually I got the message!

I’ve realized it doesn’t matter how far we may stray from our intended higher path, or how many detours we take on the road to our greatest purpose, because God never tires of gently guiding us back. Through signs, synchronicity and the nudges of our intuitive voice, we are guided, and when necessary, redirected.

The next time you feel lost, uncertain of your direction or in the midst of what seems like chaos, take a moment to still your mind, and ask the Universe or God for directions to the fastest and most direct route for the highest good of your soul.

Try this prayer:

Dear God, I’m unsure of what to do, what I truly want, and/or which path to take next. I want to do whatever is best for my highest good and the highest good of all those involved. Please open my eyes, ears, mind and heart, that I may recognize the signs and synchronicities sent by my guides, angels and spirit to lead me where I am meant to go. Thank you – Amen

No matter how many dark roads we travel down, or how far we stray, God is always traveling behind us with a flashlight ready to lead us back to love and purpose. It’s often as easy as turning around to recognize the light.

Editor’s Advice: Cut the Cords Drawing You Back to People, Food & More

Posted on by Tammy

By Tammy Mastroberte, Founder, Elevated Existence Magazine

Have you ever been in a relationship – romantic or friendship – and you know it’s not good for you anymore, but just can’t seem to let go? Do you keep getting into debt and can’t seem to catch up no matter how much more money you make? Does sugar have a hold on you?

I recently interviewed bestselling author and angel communicator Doreen Virtue for the Elevated Existence Magazine March 2014 cover story, and while I learned a lot from the interview, one of the things that stood out was her advice about cutting the energetic cords that tie us to people, substances and situations in our lives.

I have heard about cords forming between two people in a relationship, but had not really made the connection to other things in our life, so this was a light bulb moment for me.

She told me, “When you keep going back to anyone or anything that is harmful to you, you’ve got to cut the cord. Whether it’s sugar, an ex-boyfriend or you keep going into debt, there is an attachment of fear energy there like a leash, and it just keeps drawing you back again.”

I’ve written and spoken about “elevated reinforcements,” which is my term for calling in divine assistance from our angels, guides or loved ones who have passed. I call on my reinforcements any time I need them, and even call them in every morning after my meditation to ensure protection and guidance throughout my day. Well, it’s the same thing with cutting energetic cords – all we have to do is ask!

Virtue told me Archangel Michael is the angel to call upon when looking to cut the cords to anything in our lives, and if it’s a cord to a substance or food, also calling in Archangel Raphael can be helpful, as he is the specialist when it comes to healing of any kind.

All we have to do is call on Archangel Michael, saying: “Archangel Michael, please cut the cords of fear between me and [fill in the blank].”

Sometimes it’s a one and done process, but other times we need to ask over and over to break the attachment because we may unknowingly choose to take it back, Virtue said. She called upon Archangel Michael and Raphael to cut the cords between her and chocolate because she was getting headaches, acne and more from it, but couldn’t break free from the habit. For her, asking once providing an instant healing and she hasn’t craved it since!

Navigating this world as a soul in human form is not an easy task, but knowing we have assistance waiting in the wings can make the road a lot less bumpy! This week, pick one cord you know is draining your energy and ask Archangel Michael for help – and keep asking until you feel lighter, more free, and less controlled by it.

You will be amazed how much better you feel, and how much your faith in your “elevated reinforcements” will grow!