“If anything disturbs your peace, practice having faith that divine grace is already actively at work restoring wholeness and well-being.

Then make any necessary adjustments in harmony with that insight.”
Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian, Spiritual Director, Center for Spiritual Enlightenment

Inspirational Messages

Meditation & Yoga Center:

CSE south county meditation center

May 30, 2021

Inspired Right Action

Paula Whang-Ramos

"Commitment to a worthy goal opens the door to divine support."
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian, 05/27/2021

As we prepare to return to community life, it seems that we are given so many ever-changing guidelines about how to do so. What do we do if these new parameters are not in harmony with our own consciousness or health needs? And what if our personal intentions are not in harmony with our friends and family? What do we do then? Well, here is what I do. I start by turning toward the inner wisdom revealed from my Spiritual Teachers.

In the heart of the One Divine Mind, experienced during meditation and its aftereffects, I hear Mr. Roy Eugene Davis, my Teacher's Teacher, remind me to do what I know I should do to serve the highest wholeness within us all, including my Self. I hear Yogacharya O'Brian, and her grandmother, asking me if my thoughts, words, and actions reflect the highest integrity that I am. And I hear both of these beloved Teachers remind me that the wisdom I seek from them also indwells me.

When I listen more deeply within my Self, I hear the divine Truth that Wholeness, in all ITs incredible power, divine potential and eternal wisdom, is always present within and around us - all the time, everywhere, no matter what, even when we forget ITs presence in our lives. IT is present in every blessing and every challenge we face. IT is the energy enlivening our thought, word, and action. IT is the hope waiting to be heard during moments of frustration, the clarity waiting to be experienced during moments of confusion, the love that holds our deepest grief, and the wisdom that can guide us through these interesting times.

During these ever-changing times, let us be intentional about who and what we allow to influence our thoughts, words, actions, and choices. In Yoga, our Spiritual Teachers reflect the light of divine remembrance and Wholeness within us all. May our meditation and spiritually conscious living practices open our hearts to our highest indwelling wisdom. And may that wisdom inspire the right action that we all seek and are called to live now.

Study, meditate and grow with others devoted to thriving in peace, love, and wholeness. Make this the year that we affirm and skillfully live in peace - in our minds, our hearts, our families, our community, and our world. Blue Lotus Meditation & Yoga Center welcomes sincere seekers from all backgrounds.

May 23, 2021

Expeditions Into Divine Remembrance

Paula Whang-Ramos

"Attempting to arrange outer conditions to sustain happiness takes us far from the source of true happiness within us.
While the ego uses life energy on expedition after expedition, the soul life languishes. If the mind, free of the strivings of the false self,
sinks into the heart of divine remembrance, an incomparable joy arises within us."
~ Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian, Living For The Sake Of The Soul, 2016, pg. 99.

We have many reasons to choose to be happy! As individuals and communities, we are gradually becoming healthier as our resilience against COVID-19 increases. Reduced sheltering restrictions allow us to visit with family and friends that we haven't seen in over a year. We can enjoy outdoor activities during longer and warmer days. And we can get proper haircuts. After being restricted to our homes for so long, we may be excited and impatient to get out again!

As we begin to reintegrate into life outside our homes, I strongly encourage us to maintain a "both/and" consciousness, instead of an "either/or" mentality. The mind's limited thinking says, "Either I meditate, or I meet my friends for coffee." "Either I spend time reading sacred scripture, or I rejoin my book group." "Either I attend meditation group, or I watch a ball game or go shopping instead." This limited, externally motivated form of thinking puts us at risk for falling asleep in our lives as we choose temporary remedies in our pursuit of permanent happiness.

During our time sheltering in place, we have developed an inner intimacy with our Selves.

When we expand into "both/and" consciousness, we realize the essential value of both maintaining our daily spiritual practices, and their necessity to help us consciously reintegrate into our community lives. We can both remain open to divine possibility in every thought, interaction and experience in our lives, and allow this inner wisdom to inspire and guide our lives to remain grounded in the Source of happiness that we all seek. Both our spiritual integrity and inner agreements are honored, and our earthly experiences are enhanced in the realization of how Wholeness celebrates our lives right now. And there will still be time for a fabulous haircut!

May 16, 2021

Stop and Breathe

Paula Whang-Ramos

"Each day the door to spiritual fulfillment opens to us. Life continually presents us with opportunities to be awake, to love, and to serve."
~ Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian

I notice how easy it is to overlook divine opportunities for spiritual fulfillment when I am rushing to complete my daily tasks. In my wrong thinking, I mistakenly believe that task completion will reduce my stress level, when all it really does is trap my mind in the hamster wheel of realizing even more tasks that call for my attention.

The threshold of divine fulfillment is revealed when I STOP moving and simply witness the glory of Life expressing Itself. I can share in the joy of my neighbor, the blue jay, as she splashes in the fresh bath water I prepared for her in the backyard. I am inspired by the power of Life as I notice the tiny new bud emerging from the trunk of a very old jade plant. I can rest in the peace of my old cat sleeping. When we stop struggling and open into the Divine wholeness that flows within and around us, then we can directly experience the deeper fulfillment of grace, love and joy that all seek.

Try it for yourself. Stop, take a breath, and notice how Life celebrates through you right now. Join us this week online for meditation and Yoga Sutra study.

Study, meditate and grow with others devoted to thriving in peace, love, and wholeness. Make this the year that we affirm and skillfully live in peace - in our minds, our hearts, our families, our community, and our world. Blue Lotus Meditation & Yoga Center welcomes sincere seekers from all backgrounds.

May 9, 2021

Meditate More, Smile More

Paula Whang-Ramos

"Meditate more. You do not know how wonderful it is...The more you meditate, and the more your mind
stays centered in the spiritual state during activity, the more you will be able to smile.”
Paramahansa Yogananda, Man's Eternal Quest, 1975, p. 174-175.

Paramahansa Yogananda, a beloved Teacher in our tradition of Kriya Yoga, reminds us that the purpose of meditation is not to meditate. The purpose of meditation is to allow the inner peace, love and joy realized in meditation to inspire our daily thoughts, words, and actions.

During these times of enormous change, wouldn't you like to be less reactive, and more grounded in the divine intelligence that does not change? The daily practice of meditation helps us learn to quiet the restless mind. When the mind is quiet, we can naturally open into the inner peace and clarity that we need to joyfully live in the world today. Each time we sit to meditate, it is like recharging the mind in the awareness of our inner spiritual integrity. As we deepen our inner connection with the Self, it becomes easier for this divine consciousness to overflow into our daily lives.

Join us this Thursday evening for BLC's free "Learn to Meditate" class. Establish or refresh your daily meditation practice. Learn to inwardly access and return to the Source of peace, love and joy, that can transform our lives of perceived frustration and hopelessness, into visions of hope and divine possibility.

May 2, 2021

Let Your Soul Qualities Emerge

Paula Whang-Ramos

"Situations don’t define us. We define them."
~ Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian

Before we open into the consciousness of Yoga/Oneness, we may believe that our life circumstances define our identity and purpose. We may measure our own worth based on our financial income, our social status, or how young we look. When we have money, are popular, and look young, then we may feel happy and have high self-worth. When we are in between jobs, our relationships end, and we are ill, then we may feel less happy and less worthy. Living this way, our quality of life may feel more like an unpredictable roller coaster ride and less like anything over which we have control. We may even come to believe that happiness and authentic living are beyond our reach. This is not so!

When we study and live Yoga/Wholeness, we open into a different way of looking at and experiencing our lives. We come to understand that happiness and peace are not fleeting life qualities whose occurrence in our lives is unpredictable. As we learn to meditate and live in a more holistic way, then peace, joy, and clarity naturally emerge from within us. We learn to consciously cultivate these qualities into the circumstances of our lives. And these inner qualities become the guideposts to define us, because we realize they, and not our daily circumstances, are the truth of what we are. Join us this week online for meditation and Yoga Sutra study. Experience the wholeness within you.

Blue Lotus