Welcome to the Aquarian Age

11.11.11 marked the entrance into the Aquarian Age.

I'm sure some of you remember the song from Hair...This is the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhbxI5eVnM4)! I know that dates me a little...but I can just barely remember it ;)!

Anyway, being a yogini, and a Kundalini yogini at that, this date has special significance of the era we have entered into. Many question it and doubt there is really any truth to it all. Yet, I imagine that was the case when people questioned pioneers like Galileo, Einstein, Edison, the Wright Brothers...and so on and so forth...who proclaimed a different time, era and paradigm.

The Aquarian Age has been forecast by many for generations. Dating back to the Mayans and the Mayan calendar ending life as we know it on December 12, 2012, foretelling of a new golden age, not necessarily the end of life, but life as we know it.

The yogis have told that this time is a transition from the Piscean Age, or the age of information, the age of masculine energy and the age of seeking out, manipulating, and dominating. Rather the Aquarian Age is a more feminine energy, or an energy in balance between male and female, in which we receive and allow information and opportunities to come to us. By doing more meditation and yoga, balancing more between work and fun, between body, mind and spirit, by nurturing our soul, we are raising our consciousness, energy and vibration to attract in more of what we want and need while doing less to get it.

Eric Rankin, the author of The Aquarians - 2012 The New Age described it well, "This period represents nothing less than the second great divide in human history, comparable in magnitude with the shift from barbarism to civilization... To put it simply, we are shifting away from old, fear-based habits and imagining a whole new reality for ourselves - a reality based on hope rather than despair, of abundance rather than lack, of peace rather than war, of contentedness rather than yearning, and of connectedness rather than separation. We are awakening to the fact that a new era is upon us, and that we have the ability to co-create the hopeful future we desire for ourselves and our planet."

It is a good reminder that we all have a choice. We can choose to fret and scurry from here to there seeking and searching frantically, frenetically. Or we can choose to take deep breaths, relax a little more, have a little more fun, integrate our spiritual self and practice into our human lifestyle and elevate our vibration. We may choose to slow down which can help speed up our manifestation.

I know for many this sounds like airy fairy voodoo. And so it may be. Yet, this age is about manifestation. So if we choose negativity, fear, resentment and anger, that will come. If we believe in love, peace, positivity and gratitude, that will manifest very quickly.

I am seeing it with people's health, when they heal their mind, their body follows quickly. I am seeing it with people's financial and emotional well-being. I am witnessing it all around me. If you don't believe it, try it on for size...take more breaths, pauses in your steps, stretches and moments of gratitude in your day and see what happens.

After all, 11.11.11 marks the dawning of the Age of Aquarius to come into full fruition leading up and through 12.21.2012. Happy 11.11.11 all! Just like the saying goes, you are what you eat...you are what you believe! Try that on for size!

Got Meditation?

If you meditate, you probably recognize that it is a must. If you don’t or have never meditated, you may wonder why meditate? There are many reasons for meditation.

More studies are showing the benefits of meditation, including:
• A Harvard study on Mindfulness Meditations: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/01/eight-weeks-to-a-better-brain/ . The study found that people who incorporated Mindfulness meditations into their daily routine for 8 weeks, changes to their gray matter and increased plasticity in their brain, in addition to beneficial impacts on stress and anxiety.
• Another report found Transcendental Meditation to be a benefit to corporations, their employees and their annual health insurance costs: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-brokaw/meditation-the-new-corpor_b_793510.html.

I practice a combination of several different types of meditation, including:
• Kundalini Yoga with its powerful meditations that use breath, mantra and poses based on sacred geometry;
• Gong meditations, tied to Kundalini, that use sound currents to move blockages and energy;
• Shaktipat meditation from the tradition of Vethathiri Maharishi and Shivabalayogi Maharaj; and
• Mindfulness meditations from the Buddhist traditions of Shambala and Thich Nhat Hanh.

If you are still wondering why meditate, I had a teacher once gave me the analogy of our minds and computers. When we get a new computer, it functions well, runs quickly and efficiently. However, with time, the computer starts to slow down, get bugs and then begins to crash. If we don’t take out the recycling bin and defragment our computers regularly, they crash more and more often, eventually completely breaking down.

Our mind is no different. When we are born, we have a fresh, open mind. Then with time, we begin to have thoughts and ideas that begin to fill our subconscious. In time, if we do not regularly empty the “recycling bin,” those thoughts become paralyzing programs that weigh us down and slow us down. Our minds become full and then our bodies start to show signs of weakness, illness and disease. If we regularly meditate, we take this trash out and our body, mind and spirit stay in harmony and alignment. We don’t get bogged down with so many heavy and paralyzing thoughts. If we meditate regularly, our brain functions better, our endocrine and regulatory systems work better and the rest of our body, organs and systems function better.

Personally, meditation has been a saving grace in my life. I went through a really dark period in my life – in which I suffered both physically and mentally. My body had pretty much shut down, my mental and emotional state was significantly impaired and my spirit was broken. I had gone to doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists. I was on many different medications and was told I had all sorts of different mental and physical problems. I wasn’t sleeping, I was depressed and I was totally in despair. When the doctors told me I had mood swings, I kept telling them, it was energy not mood. They didn’t listen.

When I finally discovered meditation and Kundalini yoga, my life changed. Literally, within 6 months of doing both for anywhere from 5-30 minutes a day, I was off of every medication I had ever been on and both my physical and mental health challenges dissipated. The Kundalini yoga and meditation enabled me to manage my own energy system. In fact, I had been right all along about my situation. I knew that it wasn’t mood swings, but energy swings and once I had some tools to manage my situation, my health and life turned around.

Many people I know say they would love to meditate but they are too Type A and they can’t shut their mind off. I too was a Type A person. The point of meditation isn’t to still the mind or shut the mind off, but rather train the mind. I think one of the biggest failings of people who teach meditation is if they tell their students to still or quiet their minds. My belief is this is the number one way to have a student quit or give up on meditation. Rather, particularly at the beginning, if you encourage a student to just allow any and all the thoughts to come in, even sometimes have a little notebook nearby to clear the mind immediately after (and sometimes during), then you give them permission to allow their thoughts to clear out.

As I said, when you start meditating, you will have more to clear out, so more thoughts may come flooding in. This doesn’t mean you can’t do it or you aren’t good at it, it is NORMAL! So keep going. Sit comfortably and allow yourself and your mind to relax as though you are sitting peacefully in a bath or hot tub. Just allow the thoughts to flow. If you want to focus on a mantra you can or you can just pay attention to your breath or you can focus on your third eye or brow point or just relax and observe all of the flow of thoughts and emotions that move through you. In time, these will slow. But some days will be better than others and just know that if you are sitting there, that is a good beginning.

One of the best things to do is to start by just getting up 5 minutes early and going to bed 5 minutes early and sitting up and meditating for 5 minutes twice a day. Then work your way up to longer periods. If you want, a good break during the day can totally reset you – whether for a minute or longer.

Whatever you do start small so that you can keep up. Then grow your practice as you see and feel the benefits unfold in your life. It really is magic, if you allow yourself to give in to the gifts that meditation unveils.

Here are some resources on meditation:
www.selfawareness.com, www.tm.org, www.goodhappens.org, www.deerparkmonastery.org, www.shambhala.org, www.dharma.org
Happy Meditating!

You can find me on Twitter @pilarstella and Facebook at www.facebook.com/pilarstella1

Total Surrender

Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.
~ Unknown

I never really knew what surrender was, let alone total surrender. I was a woman with a plan. I always had a plan, and a back up behind that, and another one after that – a safety hatch, a chicken exit. Recently, I was forced totally let go and not have a plan and to truly trust in the divine order and wisdom of things.

I was on a call with a dear friend of mine, talking about my adventures with OneGiving and all that had recently transpired. You see, this thing called starting up a company is hard – really hard! I guess that is why more people don’t do it. I was telling him about the recent ups and downs – the coming and going of different people on my team. How people start out committed, but when it gets hard their energy wanes and other things take priority. It is a painful process to go through as the visionary and initiator of the dream. People come and go, and you have to let go of the attachment to what it looks like or who starts out and who is going to stick it out.

I told him how over the last month I had truly begun to know what it meant to surrender. My meditation practice had kicked up – I had gone from an hour or two a day to getting out of bed at 3 or 4 am to do not one, not two but three to four hours of meditation and yoga a day. It was the only way I could keep focused to stay the course. It was the only way that I could keep my heart, mind and soul in the game and keeping moving forward with each set back, each loss, each doubt, each fear and each delay.

As I told him the story of the last month and my incremental letting go more and more every day and surrender, he said to me, “You are doing great, yet you are still hanging on to something; you haven’t fully and completely surrendered.” I thought about it for a moment and thought, yeah, I think he might be right. But I could feel it coming on that something was coming to put me into a state of total surrender. I just didn’t realize how soon it would be.

Later that night, my team had a call, that totally and completely disintegrated and the team fell apart into exhaustion, dysfunction and mistrust. Earlier that day, I had felt totally confident and excited going into the call, thinking to myself, I have the perfect team, the perfect mix of brilliant people to pull off this dream in a way no one else has ever thought of, and yes, perhaps the perfect “plan.” Only to be foiled a few hours later. As the call deteriorated, I realized my “perfect” team and my “perfect” plan was no longer.

I hadn’t realized on the call earlier that day that total surrender would be so near, that total surrender would actually hit that night. But it did and I did – totally surrender, that is!

I didn’t grow up believing in God, religion or anything of the sort. I believed that religion was the root of all wars, conflict and trauma on this earth and so by default, didn’t believe in a God. Yet over the past few years, with my own life circumstances, with the deepening of my yoga, meditation and spiritual practice, I had begun to find peace and belief in a higher power, in universal, or divine, wisdom and even had become comfortable with using the word God.

And here and now, with so much of my life invested in this dream of OneGiving, with such a strong calling to keep going and to not give up or quit, I let go of my plan and of complete control and asked for divine guidance to show me the way. I no longer knew what the staircase looked like, just that I needed to take the next step.

When I told my friend, he told me that I had shifted from trust to faith. I guess that is what it means to surrender – to truly let go of the plan we had and to be in complete service and utter faith in that service.

That is what OneGiving has been for me – a journey in service, surrender and believing that what we are creating is not about any ONE of us, but that it is the energy of a movement we are creating. A movement to bring together many not just to facilitate more and easier giving on the planet, but better opportunity for equity, transparency and fairness in giving, in resource exchange and in economic equality. It is not about me, but is about whatever is being created.

As I surrendered into the moment, I realized I didn’t need a plan. Every sign along the journey had and has come at the exact right moment. Not on my timing and in the moment that I thought it should come or wanted it to come, but in exactly the right moment that was needed before I would go completely over the cliff. This is the point of trusting and walking in step with faith and letting go in complete surrender. I also believe it is why so many people hit the breaks just before going over the cliff because it is in that moment that we must truly believe and have faith that we will be caught and the net will appear, yet so few truly believe. This is faith. This is what total and complete surrender has become for me.

Birthday Gratitude for My Friends

As I sit here on my birthday and reflect upon the past year and the upcoming year, what is really clear for me is how much friendship has kept me going through the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful times. This last year has been one of growth, transformation and faith. As I stepped away from a world and life that I knew and was comfortable withm, and I fully stepped out with courage and faith to follow my heart and dreams, I realize that what has gotten me through have been my friends.

A friend is one who believes in you when you have ceased to believe in yourself. ~ Unknown

On my birthday last year, I 100% committed to myself to growing, building and creating my mission, my calling and my dream that is OneGiving (http://www.onegiving.com/). Before I stepped out to do so, I thought it was too BIG a vision, too BIG a dream, too BIG a mission. Yet, when I didn't believe in myself, my friends believed in me and wholeheartedly stepped up and let me know that they would be there for me to support me in the vision. They gave me the strength to move forward and believe in myself at a time when I couldn't fully believe in myself.

A friend is someone who sees through you and still enjoys the view. ~Wilma Askinas

Those first months of my committment were rocky. I had many good days and bad days --days of fear, days of faith, days of skipping and laughing with joy, days of being curled up in a ball crying and not wanting to get out of bed wondering to myself, "What have I done?" It was in those days that my friends saw through me and reminded me to keep going!

A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words. ~Unknown

Some of those days, I felt lost, alone and afraid. While so many days, I walked forth with confidence and knowingness -positive with grace and shining my light, other days I would lose my way, forget the words in my heart, only to be reminded by my friends of my gifts and the necessity to stay on the path.

A best friend is someone who knows all about you and loves you anyway. ~ Elbert Hubbard

Every time I turned around, I would see a friend who reflected back the love and light I hold in my heart. I remember when a spiritual teach said that if you ever doubt the light that you are, just look around at your friends as they are just a reflection of your own light. It was truly a moment of appreciation and awe! I never really knew of my light, but looking out at my friends, I thought to myself, "Wow, could it really be true?"

A true friend reaches for your hand and touches your heart. ~ Heather Pryor

Yet the display of friendship - of the amazing friends, reaching out to me over the past year - and years of my life - friends new and old - from near and far - as I have been reconnected with many through Facebook - truly has warmed my heart. I couldn't have done it without the little angels showing up at exactly the right time - sending an email to help with investor introductions, or come volunteer for me and OneGiving, or let me crash on a couch when I needed it, or buy me a meal, or fly across country to move with me, or give me a hug in one of my momentary lapses of faith. Thank you!

A true friend is one who thinks you are a good egg even if you are half cracked. ~ Unknown

And of course, in moments of completely losing my S-H-*-T or my mind, knowing that I am not losing at you, but that it is just a momentary lapse of reason and knowing that I will recover and helping me to get back to sanity!

What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. ~Aristotle

The reality is that we are ONE! You are me and I am you! That despite any of our differences - personal, professional, cultural, sexual, or otherwise - at the core of it we are LOVE - we are ONE!

Friends are relatives you make for yourself. ~Eustache Deschamps

That my friends have become my family - giving me unconditionally loving when I myself or my family might no have not been able to give it! You are the ones who show me your flame when I am in darkness to remind me and inspire me to relight mine...

A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be. ~Douglas Pagels

And that I might do the same for YOU, when you flame flickers or burns out!

I salute you my friends for the outpouring and love you have given me over the years, over my lifetime and particularly over this last year which has been one of the most significant years of transition, rebirth and growth - one in which I have needed you more than ever before.

THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS YEAR THE BEST YEAR YET, and cheers to this year as it will be the BEST YEAR EVER! May I be there for you as you have been there for me! Happy Birthday to ME and to YOU - in gratitude eternally!

in peace and love, ;) pilar

You can find me on Twitter @pilarstella and Facebook at www.facebook.com/pilarstella.

Peace - Yes We Can!

Peace worldwide, starts from inside. ~ The Luminaries

I have been watching the articles and the comments fly about the fact that President Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize. There are many people who are skeptical about it and think he was awarded it undeservedly so. What I think many of the critics don’t understand is that this is actually one of the trademarks of the Nobel Peace Prize. That is, if you look over the Nobel Peace Prize and who it has been awarded to – it has a long history of controversy that goes with it. In fact, I would dare to say that the uniqueness and beauty of the Nobel Peace Prize is that it stirs up controversy, raises awareness about an issue and most often also makes a very strong political statement. In fact, so often it has been used to not only award acts of peace and deeds accomplished or achieved, but to provide an incentive to take further steps and strides in creating peace.

Here are some examples of controversies and political statements made by the Nobel Peace Committee over time in awarding its Laureates:

· One of the most controversial awards was in 1973, when the Prize was awarded to Secretary of State Henry A Kissinger and North Vietnamese Leader Le Duc Tho even though there was clearly no peace agreement achieved. Further controversy ensued when Le Duc Tho declined the Prize (the only person to have ever done so) and Kissinger refused to go to Oslo to receive the prize and tried returning it, but wasn’t allowed.
· In 1976 with both the awards to Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan for the conflict in Northern Ireland and in 1987 to President Oscar Arias for the conflicts in Central America, there was significant controversy due to the fact that the conflicts had been far from resolved. The committee had awarded the Prize in the hopes of providing an impetus to move more quickly towards peace – something that still took many years to alleviate or resolve either of these conflicts.
· In 1989, the year of the Tiananmen Square massacre, the committee awarded the Prize to the 14th Dalai Lama in Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso. Clearly this was not a coincidence, but rather a strong political statement opposing the Chinese Government’s policies against Tibet and within for its hostile actions.
· In 1992, on the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s “discovery” of America, the committee awarded the Prize to Rigoberta Menchu Tum, who advocated for Indigenous Rights in Guatemala and Latin America. The ironic intention of the Nobel Peace Committee was unmistakable in this blatant example of controversy to raise awareness around an issue.
· In 1994, the Peace Prize was awarded to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. The prize was awarded despite the fact that negotiations were still far from establishing peace.
· In 1995, the committee awarded Joseph Rotblat, one of the creators of the atomic bomb, the Nobel Peace Committee for leaving the Manhattan Project and dedicating his life to nuclear disarmament. The irony was they did so on the 50th anniversary of the atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
· In 1996, at a time in which East Timor had nearly been forgotten internationally many years after the Indonesian invasion of 1975, the Nobel Committee awarded Jose Ramos-Horta and Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo the Prize. The Prize was a leading contributor in raising attention back to East Timor and helping them get on the road to independence.

While the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to those who have worked for humanitarian assistance and aid, arms control and disarmament and human rights, the Prize has also come to be used unmistakably “not only as a reward for achievements accomplished but as an incentive for the Laureates to achieve even more.”

My guess is that this is exactly the call to action the Nobel Committee intended by awarding President Obama the Peace Prize. Perhaps for some, or many, his election as the First African American President of the United States and his unwavering commitment to creating a renewed HOPE in our country and around the world and CHANGE, or a correction of course, are not enough to warrant the prestigious award of the Nobel Peace Prize. But the Nobel Peace Committee definitely did what it is known to do so well in its long history: create controversy, raise awareness and set a new high standard of achievement and accountability for President Obama to live up to.

For that I tip my hat to the committee for taking the leadership and lighting a fire to incite the President to truly stand up for HOPE, CHANGE and PEACE. It is encouraging to see the Committee raise the bar and hold a new high standard for President Obama to step into and live up to. May it inspire us all to raise the bar for ourselves to step up above the criticism and controversy and take a deep look within to ask ourselves, how are we contributing to peace, hope and being the change we wish to see in the world?

You can find me on Twitter @pilarstella and Facebook at www.facebook.com/pilarstella.