"In February 1968 the Beatles went to India for an extended stay with their new guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It may have been the most momentous spiritual retreat since Jesus spent those 40 days in the wilderness."
That's how I opened my book, American Veda: From Emerson and the Beatles to Yoga and Meditation: How Indian Spirituality Changed the West. When it was published in 2010, I braced myself for blowback. Nothing happened. Not a single angry email. No one accused me of demeaning Jesus. No one tried to convince me I was mistaken. Instead, I received dozens of messages from people whose lives had been transformed by the Beatles' India sojourn.
In fact, over time, millions of lives were affected by that event. It was as though the earth tilted on its axis, allowing India's ancient wisdom to flow more easily to the West. The media, always in pursuit of the Fab Four, descended on the quiet, holy town of Rishikesh in the Himalayan foothills. Photographers and reporters, banned from the ashram grounds, tried everything from bribery to perching in trees with the monkeys to get something to publish. As a direct result of the nonstop coverage, formerly esoteric precepts and practices quickly went mainstream.
But let's back up a few years to get a better grasp on why this happened.
The lads from Liverpool started out as a ragtag band playing local clubs and in time became bigger than Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra had been when female fans screamed and wept at the sight of them. Mass media had become truly massive since those previous crazes, and there were four Beatles to go around, each one photogenic and lovable in his own way. As for their music, the beats were danceable, the harmonies infectious, and the lyrics told simple tales of youthful love and heartache.
Then they grew up.
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Let's Not Limit Nature- According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, nature is first defined as "the external world in its entirety," with etymological roots from multiple cultures and originating meanings
The ancient Greeks had no word for art. Many indigenous people have no word for religion. Art and religion were inherent to human life until outsiders needed to critique and study these concepts-so they named them. The legacy of the word nature is similar. We speak about nature as if we are separate from itas if, like a starkly delineated shadow on a sidewalk, you can stand with one foot in nature and one foot outside of it.
Recognizing and Tuning Into Medical Intuition- How one woman learned to trust her instincts and heal her body
How one woman learned to trust her instincts and heal her body. According to Wendie Colter, founder of The Practical Path (a trademarked intuitive development program for health professionals) and author of Essentials of Medical Intuition: A Visionary Path to Wellness, intuition permeates every aspect of our lives. Some call it a gut instinct. Others call it a hunch. Still others receive messages from their higher self. But whatever the name, that sense of knowing, feeling, or sensing can guide us toward healing.
The Neuroscience of Getting What You Want - Manifesting is a process whereby you utilize the power within yourself to have an intention occur that ultimately is not pure self-interest,"
Manifesting is a process whereby you utilize the power within yourself to have an intention occur that ultimately is not pure self-interest," .What it takes to hit all your goals is a fierce dedication to your quest over time and that means sinking your goals so deep into your subconscious that your conscious mind automatically tracks paths to take you to those goals like a bloodhound on the scent of synchronicities.
TIME TO TAKE THE RISK
We shall awaken from our dullness and rise vigorously toward justice. If we fall in love with creation deeper and deeper, we will respond to its endangerment with passion.-Hildegard of Bingen, 12th-century Benedictine mystic, medical practitioner, writer, and composer
The Essence of FRIENDSHIP
A DEEP DIVE INTO WHAT MAKES THE BEST FRIENDSHIPS
QUEEN DIAMBI KABATUSUILA SHEDS A NEW LIGHT ON AFRICA
In 2016, before she became queen of the Bakwa Luntu people of the Dimbelenge territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Queen Diambi Kabatusuila was a 48-year-old therapist going through a difficult divorce, living in Boca Raton, Florida, and having a recurring dream about an old woman in an African village.
Over the MOON About Helping Animals (and Their People)
Since I was a child, I've had a ritual: Every night, I go outside and search the sky for the moon and stars. I marvel at the magnificence of a dark, crisp, clear, midnight blue sky and its symphony of constellations, occasional meteors, and the glorious moon herself-each illuminating the vastness. This simple practice always gives me the deepest peace and centeredness. It aligns my internal compass every night before bed.
ENLIGHTENED PERSPECTIVES: AMANDLA STENBERG CHANNELS 'THE FORCE'
Journalist KAREN BRAILSFORD was over the moon when actress and musician AMANDLA STENBERG agreed to meet her over Zoom for this heart-to-heart about spiritual matters for Spirituality & Health: A Unity Publication. Brailsford, a lifelong seeker who feels blessed to be Stenberg's mother, once captioned an Instagram photo of her daughter with Michael Bernard Beckwith of the Agape International Spiritual Center: \"When your master teachers run into one another at a Hollywood event.\" Brailsford says she has learned a great deal from each one.
Unlikely Lightworkers from Liverpool
The Beatles were more than musical masters-they were spiritual pioneers.
ANTI-RACISM IS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
GROWING UP in very charismatic and evangelical Christian spaces, I was told that the Devil's greatest trick was convincing us that he didn't exist. I feel a similar vibe when it comes to the big three systems of oppression-capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy-in New Thought and other spiritual spaces. These systems managed to convince some of us that they don't exist, we are immune from them, talking about them isn't helpful, or we will overcome them just by doing our spiritual practices.
