Inspirational Messages

“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

Blue Lotus

October 30, 2022

Honoring The Holy Presence

Paula Whang-Ramos

“A divine plan is now unfolding in a world struggling to awaken to its wholeness.
Let us step into this time as spiritual pilgrims with eyes, heart, and soul alert
to the holy presence around and within us.”
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O’Brian, CSE Daily Inspiration 01/06/2022

Ancient pre-Christian wisdom traditions honor this time of year as a holy season. It is a time when the veil is said to be thin between us and our loved ones who have made their transition. In these traditions, contemplative time was spent with loved ones in gratitude, love, and conscious communion in the timeless Wholeness of eternal Life. And, right now, around the world, families and communities gather in this tradition.

Today, I invite you to let your heart break open into the holy Presence that continues to join us all in ITs wholeness. Take a quiet moment and remember those you love who have made their transition. Offer heart gratitude to the wise ones who have blessed your life.

And, before you hand out the Halloween candy, consider offering a spiritual treat to the youth in your life. Share a sweet love story of an ancestor or a wise elder. Reveal the divine Presence within the contemporary rituals of Halloween.

Join us at Blue Lotus Center (BLC). Experience a time of meditation and spiritual contemplation. Study, meditate and grow with others devoted to thriving in peace, love, and wisdom. Contribute to the realization of peace in our minds, our hearts, our families, our community, and our world. Blue Lotus Meditation & Yoga Center welcomes sincere seekers from all backgrounds. Beginning and experienced participants from all traditions are welcome at all gatherings.

October 23, 2022

This Is Yoga

Paula Whang-Ramos

"Choose your life! Risk following your authentic path to be fully who you are.
Even if you fail in your initial attempts, it will still be the right choice.
How else do we discover our full potential?” ~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O’Brian,
Living for the Sake of the Soul, (2016), pg. 80

I’ve heard it said that a baby falls 17 times an hour when learning to walk, and a toddler may fall 38 times a day. What tenacity and courage these young ones have! The willingness to learn a new way of being, unafraid of failure and even falling, for the opportunity to live their lives upright and balanced.

Like these wise wee ones, what if we could accept our life trials and tribulations as a normal part of our growth? What if we could recognize our perceived failures as divine invitations to learn to stand up once again? When we lose our inner balance 38 times a day, can we also see that we are given 38 opportunities to get very skillful at reclaiming our inner equanimity and Wholeness?

Like learning to walk, our spiritual path may not always be clear or comfortable. As we breathe into our own innocence of youth, may we remember that the divine power that helped us stand up then is still with us right now. Let us reclaim our soul tenacity and courage to inspire us to walk in the Wholeness and joy we took birth to experience – in this lifetime! This is yoga.

Join us at Blue Lotus Center (BLC). Experience a time of meditation and spiritual contemplation. Study, meditate and grow with others devoted to thriving in peace, love, and wisdom. Contribute to the realization of peace in our minds, our hearts, our families, our community, and our world. Blue Lotus Meditation & Yoga Center welcomes sincere seekers from all backgrounds. Beginning and experienced participants from all traditions are welcome at all gatherings.

October 16, 2022

Commitment In Oneness

Paula Whang-Ramos

“Those who live in tune with the attractive force of love achieve harmony with nature and their fellow beings, and
are attracted to the blissful reunion with God.”

~Paramahansa Yogananda, How to Cultivate Divine Love (1995) pg. 12

Yoga is defined as Oneness, the inherent Source of Life that transcends linear time, physical gravity, and the limitations of being human. In It, we are eternally connected in Its presence, power, and wisdom that flows through us, uniquely as us, as whole expressions of Divine Love. The blessing of Yogacharya O'Brian's ordination is a living example of our interconnection in Yoga Oneness.

Forty years ago, Ellen Grace O'Brian, a devotee on this path of Kriya Yoga, was ordained by Mr. Roy Eugene Davis, her Guru, to represent the Teachers and teachings in this tradition. Their divinely blessed commitment in Oneness set forth a ripple effect that has positively impacted sincere seekers worldwide. Forty years ago, I had no way of knowing that a divine agreement between 2 people I had yet to meet, would totally transform my own life, 23 years later. For the past 17 years and especially today, my heart overflows with deep eternal love and gratitude for Mr. Davis and Yogacharya O'Brian, and the generous ways in which they so freely share these teachings of true freedom. If you are reading this newsletter, then you have been blessed by their divine commitment too.

Join us at Blue Lotus Center (BLC). Experience a time of meditation and spiritual contemplation. Study, meditate and grow with others devoted to thriving in peace, love, and wisdom. Contribute to the realization of peace in our minds, our hearts, our families, our community, and our world. Blue Lotus Meditation & Yoga Center welcomes sincere seekers from all backgrounds. Beginning and experienced participants from all traditions are welcome at all gatherings.

October 9, 2022

Turning Toward Freedom

Paula Whang-Ramos

"Spiritually conscious living involves turning, turning away from appearances to rely on what is true,
turning away from limiting beliefs and turning toward freedom, turning away from fear and returning to wholeness. "
~ Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian, Living for the Sake of the Soul, pg. 130

Before we step onto the path of Yoga in earnest, we may mistakenly define our worth and well-being based on our financial income, our social status, or how young we appear. When we have money, are popular, and look young, then we may feel happy and have high self-esteem. If we are in between jobs, our relationships end, and we are ill, then we may feel sad or even scared about who we think we have become. We may even come to believe that happiness and authentic living are beyond our reach. This is not so!

When we meditate, study and live into Yoga/Wholeness, we learn to stop identifying with stories in the mind and our reactions to them, and to stop seeking our inner integrity and Wholeness outside ourselves. As the intentionality of our daily practices deepens, so does our inner peace, clarity, and nonreactivity to changing life circumstances. Living into these inner qualities, we can open into the innate freedom of our essential Wholeness that is always prosperous, held in highest regard, and eternally ageless.

Join us at Blue Lotus Center (BLC). Experience a time of meditation and spiritual contemplation. Study, meditate and grow with others devoted to thriving in peace, love, and wisdom. Contribute to the realization of peace in our minds, our hearts, our families, our community, and our world. Blue Lotus Meditation & Yoga Center welcomes sincere seekers from all backgrounds. Beginning and experienced participants from all traditions are welcome at all gatherings.

October 2, 2022

The Gift of Change

Paula Whang-Ramos

“Look for divine harmony in all circumstances. Refuse the mindset of blame
by cultivating awareness of what is good and calling it forth. Let the rest fall away.”
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O’Brian, CSE Daily Inspiration 10/01/2022

Over the past 2 1/2 years, we may have come to dread change, judging it as a bad thing. But the truth is that regardless of the mind's judgment about change, it is an inherent part of earth life. And, the spiritual Truth is that Divine Wholeness and Grace have always been within and around us, supporting, guiding, and blessing us, regardless of how we judge and react to life changes.

This transitional season of Autumn overflows with the power of yet more change. So here is the question I ask us to listen and live into: “During this season of change, how can I step into this flow of divine Grace and live into changes that support my highest good today?”

As we welcome Autumn, join me in taking the wisdom lessons and leaving the difficult stories from the past 2 1/2 years. Let's choose to intentionally live into this day overflowing with divine possibility for deep inner peace, healing, gratitude, and even joy (remember joy?). I hope you will join me in accepting the gift of change that Autumn brings, and choose to consciously seek and follow Wholeness, harmony, and your highest good today.

Join us at Blue Lotus Center (BLC). Experience a time of meditation and spiritual contemplation. Study, meditate and grow with others devoted to thriving in peace, love, and wisdom. Contribute to the realization of peace in our minds, our hearts, our families, our community, and our world. Blue Lotus Meditation & Yoga Center welcomes sincere seekers from all backgrounds. Beginning and experienced participants from all traditions are welcome at all gatherings.