As technological advances sweep through society, there is a counter-balance rising up to match it. Its been described by the sophisticated as a ‘cultural backlash’ or in spiritual terms as a ‘shift in consciousness’, but whatever name you give it – the results are obvious. One-by-one people are feeling a calling and a pull back towards a more earthly rhythm. They are heeding a call back to The Natural Arts. The Natural Arts are activities that feed, nurture and repair. As much as Facebook and Twitter might ‘connect’ us technologically, the Natural Arts are practices that ‘reconnect’ us naturally to our inner selves, to the earth and to one another. Gardening, yoga, meditation, expressive arts, and energy healing are all examples from The Natural Arts movement that are seeing a sharp statistical increase in popularity. The people who are rediscovering these art forms are themselves finding islands of peace in an otherwise loud and chaotic world. Each of us probably now knows someone who has left the ‘corporate world’ to devote more time to one of these inward pursuits. There are people in our neighbourhoods who are smuggling egg laying chickens into their backyards, drying their laundry on outside lines and hiking through conservation areas. We are buying less ‘things’ and instead we are travelling, attending workshops, taking classes and creating. From the simple to the life-altering the Natural Arts are offering us something that artificial economies and shiny products cannot. They are putting energy back into us instead of taking it out.This re-fuelling is addictive. It feels so good to be full, and awake and present. And we are realizing that with some re-prioritizing we can feel like this all the time! The Natural Arts Movement can quickly become a lifestyle. As you perform more aspects of your life with a sense of artistry, appreciation and consciousness you will feel this inflow of energy and life continually. But for the movement to be successful as a lifestyle, we MUST come to rely on...
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Join us on Tuesday, July 30th @ 7pm for a tour of local Spiritual Retreat AYUS as well as a meditative walk exercise along their forest path! This is a networking event for The Holistic Event Network, but also a wonderful opportunity for anyone to connect with the local holistic community. If you are a practitioner, you are going to want to take the tour of this space to scout it out for your own retreats. What a beautiful space, and what a great time we are all going to have! I really look forward to connecting with everyone who has been scattered away by the summer! Let’s reconnect! **THIS IS A FREE EVENT (Donations will be accepted in accordance with the mission of the centre)** Tea & Coffee, Networking, a Tour, and a meditative walk through the woods! For anyone curious, here is a link to AYUS www.ayus.ca And just a reminder, that you can keep up to date about our events on Meetup.com! See here for our group! ...
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Initiation can be used to describe the process that one goes through as they graduate upwards throughout their spiritual journey. This is an AMAZING lecture from the Vesica Institute, that discusses the different levels of initiations, and how they are characterized throughout numerous religions, and groups. There are tons of education tidbits in here, including a grounded discussion of angel hierarchies, religious history, philosophy and the development of the self. Just fantastic. For those of you needing the practical, this also includes the 6 major steps recommended by a Rosicrusian scholar for developing the spiritual self. This is a full length lecture – over an hr – but it is one of the few YouTube videos that has caused me to get out a journal and start taking notes! The presenter is wonderful he keeps up a great pace, and is obviously very well studied and knowledgable. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Watch this video on...
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There is a swift influx of consciousness that is sweeping through the planet right now, and a LOT of theories describing that process. Today I probably heard the best. It was on the Truth Denied radio show, and I was listening to a guest interview with James Gilliland. He was explaining the current spiritual change that we are facing and claimed that up until this point, humans have lived on the planet as beings who inhabit the bottom three chakras. Anyone familiar with the chakra system will understand then, that we have been living in an age dominated by survival, sex and power. Wow. If there has ever been a better way to describe the last era in three words, that was it. Survival, Sex and Power. Looking around at our current culture, economy and value systems, you can really see a physical expression of how poorly we have balanced those three conditions. In fact, all three seem to be wildly out of control, on many personal, family and even national levels. Gratefully however, we are in a time of great spiritual evolution. I’ve heard it said that we are moving from third dimensional spiritual beings, into ‘fourth dimensional’ ones, but I’ve found that a concept that is hard to grasp. Gilliland simplifies it saying: we are evolving “up into our fourth chakra – the heart space”. This description is understandable to me, and incredibly reassuring. It blends well with a myriad of popular spiritual theories like evolving consciousness and the coming of a ‘golden age’. It makes sense if you think about it. Consciousness, just like every other living thing in existence is evolving. As vehicles for consciousness, the pressure to change is currently impacting us – forcing us to grow – right up into our heart space. It is not difficult to see how a species that is NOT grounded its heart space would suffer from its inability to hold survival, power and sexual urges in check. These wild and uncontrolled energies...
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John and Anna Van Dyk are parents of a young son with Autism. During this spring’s Seminar: Holistic Approaches: Autism, they shared their personal story – which you can watch below. I highly recommend watching it, as their experiences seeking ‘help’ for their child, beautifully reflected many of the themes that emerged during the seminar. When many health and wellness practitioners work with patients, they do so holistically. Holistic means that they treat the ‘whole person’. So instead of giving medicine to terminate a symptom, practitioners seek out root causes, examining everything from emotions to environment to family habits. This creates lasting health and more positive change. But how can this kind of approach help children with Autism? As many of the practitioners at the seminar pointed out – Autism is not a ‘disease’ that can be ‘cured’ with medicine. So, ‘treating’ children with Autism is more about working with ‘whole people’ and learning to see children with Autism as ‘whole’. Practitioners who work from this philosophy can offer parents more than just treatments. They can help them find peace. According to John and Anna, it was after seeing meditation expert, and founder of The New Earth’s Children Centre, Michelle LeRoy that they were able to experience their own shift, learning to accept their son instead of cure him. They found it amazing that throughout all their attempts to change their child, what they really needed to change was themselves. After this personal reflection, they found that acceptance of their son’s difference put them on the path towards repairing a relationship they hadn’t realized was broken. Practitioner Marcela Grant as well as a number of other presenters at the seminar spoke at length about the emotional sensitivity of Autistic children. Marcela proposed that children pick up on their parents complex emotions with incredible accuracy. Many autistic children feel the frustration and disappointment in their parents and it is this dissonance that can actually become a basis for many communication problems. Anna speaks to this in...
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The Natural Arts Community in Durham Region is made up of Organic Farmers, Yoga Studios, Holistic Practitioners and any other person or business who is dedicated to creating a more conscious world. Our mission is to make the public aware of these amazing businesses and people. We are growing an alternative marketplace for people who are ready to live a more conscious life.
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