I have dabbled in mindful living for about a decade, ever since I first read Eckhart Tolle’s ‘New Earth’. While it all made sense to me intellectually, and I spent many hours striving to capture that ever-elusive ‘present moment’, I only ever got glimpses of it. My moments of mindfulness were like glimmers on the surface of a pond, a bright reflection of light there for an instant and gone the next. I travelled to Thailand and Nepal, took yoga classes and eventually became a yoga teacher all in the pursuit of the Now.

I consider myself to be quite in touch with my spiritual side and meditate often. I have spent many hours researching and practicing being present, and still I often found myself in stretches of unconscious thoughts and behaviours.

The statement that made me stop and my tracks.

One evening I was watching a magic show on TV. The program revolved around faith healing and whether it is fact of fiction. Darren Brown, the presenter (or is it performer – I will let you decide) said something that completely startled me.

His sentiment was this:

You become the story you tell yourself about yourself.

That was my a-ha moment. Although I understood it intellectually, I never managed to integrate it into ‘knowing’ before. So I started deliberately practicing mindfulness. I started paying attention to every now that I could anchor in. I would sit and breathe or fully engage with whatever I was doing. Whether it was writing articles or putting on my computer, taking a shower or tying my shoes. I started paying attention more and more, especially to ordinary and boring things in my life. Things that I did as part of a routine that required no attention.

 As I started practicing mindfulness during those moments when I could have easily switched to auto pilot, I started to become aware of my thoughts and self-talk. I heard some interesting things – and some very mean things from myself… about myself.

The awful things you say to yourself.

‘You will never make it’, ‘you don’t deserve it’, ‘you are not worth it’… These have been thoughts that I have been working on changing. Each time I would stop the thought and change it into something positive. I would re-frame it to ‘look how far you have come’, or something similar. You become the story you tell yourself about yourself.

Then there were other stories that I would tell myself, stories relating to my abilities and the fact that I am living with depression and (sometimes nearly debilitating) anxiety. I would hear things like ‘this is too overwhelming’ and ‘it is too much, too big, someone with depression cannot possibly get this done’. You become the story you tell yourself about yourself. And every time, every mindful moment when I managed to catch that I simply reminded myself ‘all you need to do is one thing… just one thing… just this one thing’.

And once that one thing was done, I would take a moment to breathe consciously and sit with the heaviness inside of me that has become a rather permanent companion. I would sit in the darkness of me and breathe. And be mindful of my breath. And then I would pull myself together and do the next ‘one thing’. It would start non-committal, and then, as I practice being mindful I would quickly become absorbed in what I was doing and forget all about the heaviness… if only for a few moments of ‘now’.

Seeing the change.

I had changed my story from thinking that if I attempt one thing, I would have to take on everything… and be perfect at everything. But what practicing mindfulness has taught me is that there is always just one thing… because there is always just that one moment. And that one thing in that one moment is all that matters. Because all of those ‘one things’ eventually sting together to create a life filled with purposeful and conscious living.

You become the story you tell yourself about yourself.

Find out how you can increase your self-love and change the story that you tell yourself about yourself through Remembering Your Worth.

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And the signs were coming fast and loud! Numbers, images, messages, man, I was on FIRE!

Slowly… quietly I started to realise that this Twin Flame thing was just an illusion. A way for the universe to shake me to awake me. I had done many, many toxic and even self-harming things in the name of Twin Flame. I convinced myself that nothing I could do could be wrong, because it was the other part of my soul and we were destined to be together. I deserved it. It was mine and therefore any behaviour would be unconditionally acceptable. It was not.

This Twin Flame journey I was on broke me to my very core. I broke me to my very core. I spent so much time in the dark, sitting with my shadow that I started living in it. I worked and worked with all my messy bits until it became a part of my identity. And that is kind of what it’s meant to do – you see your shadow, you integrate it. But then you need to move forward. You need to give yourself the permission to let it go. To let the heaviness go. To allow yourself to be happy, to feel joy.

While I was deep in the Twin Flame illusion I saw a youtube video (I think it was from ‘You are Guru’) where she had just come to the realisation that the Twin Flame idea is just a way to get people onto their spiritual path. She kept saying ‘it’s not real, it is not the point of all of this – ending up with a specific human is not the point’.

I clicked on the cross and closed the window on that rubbish.. because seriously – my soul knew. But then it didn’t.

As I travelled deeper down the rabbit hole of my own spirituality and the awe and elation of this whole new world started to fade, I started to really see. You see, you are given exactly what you need to help you along your path. For me it was the idea of having a Twin Flame. If it was not for that, this website wouldn’t exist. I wouldn’t know who I am or what I am capable of.

That union that I so desperately yearned for – that I needed more than air – that was never the point. The point was to find myself and to find my quiet. The point was to realise that even when you KNOW there is just sooo much that you don’t know.

We look at 11:11 and find signs everywhere. We are constantly looking outside for indications to confirm what we believe. And they are there, synchronicities and signs. They area there to gently guide us along the way, to tell us ‘pay attention to this, now’.

Along my journey I, obviously, came across manifestation. I mean I would have had to be completely oblivious not to, it is so mainstream recently. I spent hours researching and watching videos, listening to guided meditations. Visualizing.

And nothing happened. I was just stuck in this same space, not sure what I was doing wrong. What I was doing wrong was that I did not trust myself – I did not trust myself and the universe to know what is best for me. I asked for things that my mind thought I wanted and needed to be happy, to be fulfilled. I controlled everything. I wanted to figure out and plan out how exactly each manifestation was going to come to me. I couldn’t. I, my mind, was my own cage. Just like it was when I stubbornly believed in the Twin Flame journey.

We get so very caught up in the spirituality of all of it: soul mates and akashic records and past lives and just the huge vastness of it all that we sometimes forget that we are just a bunch of energy – a little bit of universe bundled up and covered in skin. Here to experience itself fully. That is the point of it all. We are here to have a human experience. We’re are here to be an energy that is experiencing other energies. We are all connected to everything and everyone. That whether someone is your Twin Flame or Soul Mate does not really matter – what matters is how you and your soul experience this life, this moment of existence.

What matters is whether you see the cycles that has been running through your life – through the lives of your ancestors – and whether you are able to change it and transmute it. Whether you are able to help yourself and others to vibrate ever higher. We are here to heal ourselves and through that heal the collective.

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Om Mani Padme Hum is believed to have a wish-fulfilling effect. It is the mantra of Buddh Avaloketeshvara who is also known as Buddha Kwan Yin. The Dalai Lama said that this mantra (also referred to as simply the Mani Mantra) can “transform your impure body, speech and mind into the pure body, speech and mind of a Buddha”. Tibetan culture believes that this mantra holds all the teachings of Buddha as well as the truth of the nature of suffering and how to remove its root causes.

Om Mani Padme Hum translates to ‘The jewel is in the lotus’ – referring to the beautiful lotus flower that needs to that grow through mud and muck before it can realise its potential. A vast amount of spiritual energy gets generated when this mantra is chanted. It has a purifying and healing effect on the person who chants it as well as those around him or her. When the mantra is chanted (either aloud or in silence) it allows you to connect deeply with your innate loving and compassionate nature.

It is said that if you recite Om Mani Padme Hum 1000 times each day the next 7 generations of your descendants will be born in higher realms and that anyone who comes in contact with you will be blessed. It is recommended that you chant this mantra 7, 21, 49 or 108 times while entering a Mantra Meditation.

While it is simply beneficial to chant the Mani mantra, it is even more so when you meditate on the meaning of each syllable and chant it with a sincere heart, focus and pure intention. Each syllable frees something in the universe from the need to reincarnate. The pause after each repetition of the mantra is important as it signifies that there is nothing and no-one left to be freed. Through sincerely reciting the Mani mantra you wish freedom for all of creation.

Om (Aum)

Pronounced as Ohm or aaaauuuummmm and frees the Gods.

Om is believed to be the ancient and original sound vibration of the universe. The universe was created with this sound and it holds everything that is, was and ever will be. The sound vibration created by changing Om dissolves pride and our ego while cultivating kindness and generosity. It elevates the level of consciousness.

Changing Om with your palms together concentrates your mind in order to unify your mind, body and mouth. You can read more about Om mantra here .

Mani

Pronounced as Mah-nee. Man frees the gods and ni frees humans.

Mani means jewel. Ma dissolves jealousy and the attachment of fleeting pleasures. Ni also dissolves attachments – especially attachments to desires and passions while cultivating patience.

Padme

Pronounced as Pahd- meh. Pad frees animals while me frees hungry ghosts.

Padme means lotus and represents wisdom.

Pad dissolves attachments to prejudices and judgmental ideas. It also grows perseverance.

Me releases attachments to being possessive and grows powers of concentration.

Hum

Hum or Hung frees demons that live in hell.

Hum is the Tibetan form of affirmation meaning ‘so be it’ or ‘amen’. It releases attachments to aggression and hatred. It also refers to that which is unchanging and cannot be disturbed by anything. Hum cultivates wisdom.

There are 15 benefits to chanting Om Mani Padme Hum.

1. You will meet virtuous kings in all your lifetimes and by being in their presence you will have many opportunities to practice Dharma.
2. You will be reborn in virtuous or holy places. These places will be filled with holy objects, statues and stupas etc and give you the opportunity to practice Dharma, to create happiness and to accumulate merit. By being surrounded by others practicing Dharma (the cause of happiness) you will be inspired to perseverate in your own practice.
3. You will always have good fortune which will help you in your Dharma practice. If good things happen to you, you will be more inspired to practice Dharma, to receive teachings and to meditate.
4. You will meet good and virtuous friends.
5. You will receive a perfect human body.
6. Your mind will become familiar with the path and with virtue.
7. You will not allow your vows and morals to become corrupted.
8. You will encounter kindness and experience harmony with others.
9. You will always have enough wealth and a means to make a living.
10. You will be protected and served by others.
11. Your wealth will not be stolen or taken away by others.
12. Your every wish will come true.
13. You will be protected by nagas (semi-divine creatures) and devas (divine creatures).
14. You will see Buddha and hear the Dharma in all your lifetimes.
15. By listening to the Dharma you will be able to cultivate the ultimate emptiness.

In addition to these the mantra also has the ability to heal diseases and to protect from harm. Even just touching, seeing or inhaling the breath of someone who regularly chants the Mani mantra will benefit you.

Besides chanting the mantra, you can wear it on your upper body (in the form of a necklace of bracelet for example). According to the Bhagavat, writing these six syllables equates to writing 84, 000 Dharma treasuries.

Om Mani Padme Hum is a powerful mantra that can invite change into your life – even if you just chant it once a day… but with intention.

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This got me thinking though, with these dreams so real and me being so lucidly aware of myself and this reality within the dream state, that perhaps life here is just a dream. What if this life that is seemingly so ‘real’ is just someone else’s dream, another me or another form of me? Another part of me who is having a dream of this reality. And if so, who? Or what?

Then I remembered someone posing the question to me once: are you the dream or the dreamer? Once you realise that you are the dream and the dreamer you can take control, and if this life is, in fact, a dream, who’s in the driver’s seat? Can I be lucid in my experience of this dream and take control, direct it? Like a movie, become the star performer and the director!

Seems to me that this also has to do with the existence of Soul and our participation and interaction with this spiritual and all-knowing aspect of ourselves. The soul that is ‘dreaming’ of this reality and this existence and actively directing the experience. If we can ‘wake up’ and become lucidly aware of Soul and the higher aspect of ourselves providing this platform and this existence and experience for us, we can take control, we can become aware of ourselves as both the dream and the dreamer and start to direct the experiences we want to have.

As the dreamer experiencing the dream, I wanted to know ‘who am I’ and asked this in meditation which initially led to the article being written. At that time, I’d just had my purse stolen and apart from the total inconvenience it raised some interesting questions for me. I was asked to produce my identity-book one afternoon shortly after without thinking I replied to the person asking for it ‘Oh! I have no I.D!’ Only a few minutes later did I stop and think to myself ‘what an odd thing to say’ Naturally I was thinking of the ID book when I said it, however, what hit home a few minutes later was the more spiritual and personal implication of the statement.

Who am I? Answering that question is like trying to find and hold onto the soap in a bubble bath! Every time you think you have it, it jumps out of your hands, seemingly unwilling to be found and held onto. How hard can it be in the confined space of a bath can it be to find and hold onto the soap? How hard indeed can it be within the limits of our world as we know it, be to find and hold onto a sense of Identity and ‘I am?’

Perhaps the whole point is that the ‘I am’ is not meant, to be defined. For those who know me, you will know I love dictionary definitions, I must have everything clearly defined, crystal clear and understood! When I give a talk, it inevitably involves a dictionary definition somewhere or another. So, the ‘I am’ is giving me some trouble.

In hand reading terms, we look at the water finger, for those of you who don’t know what that means it’s the index finger. On my hand reading workshops, I call that the finger of ‘I am’. In that context, I mean it is the finger of ‘My relationship with myself’ ‘My Self-perception’ and the finger that governs ‘How I relate to my world’. Until today, I’d not really thought about how significant these statements are.

It does strike me though to get to grips with ‘I am’ that this has very much to do with a few other biggie questions such as ‘why am I here?’ and ‘what am I meant to be doing?’ Over the years on my travels around the country to give workshops and see clients I have been asked these two questions by almost every single person who has come to see me and by most people who have attended my workshops. The penny only dropped today though when I realised that those questions are only answered when we come to an understanding and realisation of the ‘I am’ the rest such as ‘What is my purpose?’ becomes known naturally.

Perhaps to come to an understanding of ‘I am’ we need to understand life itself. Dr Lyall Watson, in his book Dark Nature, takes this view of life:

‘Our world hums with creative energy, glorying in improbable assemblies of unlikely chemicals. Anarchy is loose in the land and against all the odds, is order. The ocean heaves and turns, rain falls, the land rises, winds blow and life blossoms – all because something keeps our environment stable despite vagaries sun and time. It looks astonishingly well organised, more like an artefact than an accident. Which may be exactly what it is, an ecosystem created and maintained by life for its own ends.’

If, as Lyall Watson suggests Life is an ecosystem created and established for its own purposes than what this suggests to me is a physicality is an organised event. Something created me and gave me along with every other living thing, including the very planet itself lives in a very complex and perfectly balanced way! This tells me unquestionably and without a doubt that I have a life for a purpose, and I believe that only soul could have created this.

That the two are intertwined and separate at the same time also tells me that I created my physical life in spirit and soul to experience and, that I’m living out this reality in the physical world that literally is of my mind’s creation. Therefore, I have a purpose, I have a reason to be here and to be a part of the greater ecosystem of this thing we call life. Therefore ‘I am’ as simple as that.

Somehow, I baulk at the idea that life for me is defined regarding an ID number, employee number, bank account number, bond account number, car registration number, credit card number, etc., etc., etc. How about I am a banker, secretary, CEO of a huge corporation! Is that all? Really? Is that who you are? I don’t think so. We are so quick to define ourselves in so much different and limiting ways. Losing my purse was a gift. I’ve not yet missed it, and I’m surprisingly reluctant to rush out and replace all the pieces of plastic and paper that filled it up. For the first time, I have realised how much of my own ‘I am’ statement was bound up in what all those things represented regarding the way I viewed myself.

It is a difficult thing to think of oneself as simply ‘I am’ we invariably want to complete that statement or qualify it in some way, put a tag or a label onto the end of it and give it definition and understanding. To simply be is one of the hardest things to achieve as a human being.

So then to get back to the dictionary! What exactly is the purpose? Well, The Concise Oxford defines it as ‘The reason for which something is done or for which something exists’. Aha, so there must be a reason I exist then, as I understand it in the context of what is my purpose? And if I exist for a purpose or a reason and I have life, then what indeed is life for? Seems to me that life is about creation and recreation in continuous and never-ending cycles, and as it is in nature, so it is with us as humans, we are in an endless cycle of creation and recreation as part of the life system.

‘Who am I’. I decided to meditate on this question, and this is how the dialogue went:

The soul who am I?

You are the spirit and the servant, the helper and the master creator. You are the source of your own creation.

Then why are you, Soul?

I am you, I am the source, and you are me. You are the soul. You are the physical incarnate of my intent. Your meaning and power lie in the intent of your existence and your participation in the creation of that plan.

When the birth was intended, and you became physical, I was always a part of you as the observer as you are me; I observed your experiences. When you asked I re-integrated with your material, I am you. You are my intention.

So then, who am I? I’m still confused!

You are the creator of ‘I am’ at every point and turn of your existence. Nothing happens without your intent when this intent is unconscious, it merely translates as your experiences. Yet nothing happens that you have not intended to create. You make your experiences, it’s like a prism with many facets you shine and reflect and project many colours and, in this way, the ‘I am’ takes many forms, yet you are still the whole prism. You simply are, you exist to be.

How do I define ‘I am’ and Purpose?

You merely exist, as a soul, I created you the physical. There is no purpose, just experience, which you may allow as much or as little of in your own choosing. There is no agenda to the ‘I am’ it is but to be to create an experience and to live and understand that experience. The ‘I am’ is only the tool of the creator to enable to build and have the experience.

What then of Purpose? Everyone keeps talking about and asking about use? Everyone wants to know – what is my goal?

The purpose is always to bring purpose, to whatever you are doing.

Until you actively create, the purpose is irrelevant. It is merely experience. Most people live life by being carried along on the circumstance and experiences of those events, and no experience is wrong.

The purpose is merely when you start to direct the skills yourself. Therefore no purpose can be pre-ordained it is chosen only when you awaken to your soulful self and realise you are the creator of those experiences. As you create so, you have a purpose.

It is not in the belief that you have been made physical (born) for a particular purpose; it is in the ability of the physical to create the goal by conscious effort and conscious connection to the soul source. When you direct the energy of the source with will and intent, you create a goal.

You are physical to experience first; when you learn to create, you have a purpose.

What then of choosing to be an individual person at soul level before becoming physical, and what of choosing and making soul agreements? Surely that pre-sets my purpose and ‘I am’?

As a soul, I made you physical. For you to be physical on earth, a pre-existing set of circumstances needed to exist for you to be born into and of the physical mind and body to understand. A linear and chronological set of events required to be in place for physicality to happen, these circumstances allow for physical birth into a family, country, etc. to take place. In other words, these conditions give you a framework to be physical within.

Those circumstances you chose as a soul, but without the pre-set intent of living out those events, in other words, that life. The longer it takes to reconnect with the soulful experience and to experience yourself as the soul source and creator, the longer you live with those circumstances. Some people live out these conditions to the conclusion, never reintegrating mind while in the physical, that is not wrong, it is merely experienced, and when they die, they still reintegrate fully into the soul with those experiences. The soul is not the experiences, only the observer of the experiences.

The minute you became physical (at conception), as your soul and as you are me, I am with you communicating with you all the time, when you become consciously aware of yourself as soul and a light being, the ‘I am’ simply is.

When this awareness happens, you start to direct and create from the source of your being this is when you in the physical will say it ‘feels’ right, ah! This must be my purpose.

It is when you allow yourself to be connected and guided by me as your soul within the realm of physicality, that what you do seems ‘right’ and that it has a purpose. When you listen to the guidance from the voice within, when you simply be! As you are, with no attempt to change, you begin to direct your purpose.

It is in the guided experience of physicality by your own creation that you direct the energy of the source into purpose.

Therefore, the purpose only happens when you start to create it, and use is not static. By consciously changing your circumstances and experiences by listening to the guidance of the soul, the ‘life’ that you choose is still in the creative process. This means that purpose is ever-changing as it is guided by spirit and created by you in the physical. The mind and the physical integrate and work as one director of creation and purpose.

When you say ‘I’ you alert your soul and the source energy that you are about to create. The ‘I’ is a statement of intent. The ‘I am’ creates the reality as you express it when you attach an additional plan to the ‘I am’. For instance, ‘I am happy’ would create the reality of happiness, in your own direction.

Your life is your playground, and it is yours to choose, set up and intend the experiences you wish to have. The language you want and how you state this intent using ‘I am’ is powerful and literal, your language therefore and how you express your intent is important in the creative process of directing the experiences you will have.

Life and soul do go together, and in the essence of creation, we first must learn just to be. I – used by a speaker to refer to himself/herself. Am – first person singular of the present being.

Your soul created the life you lead, and you are your soul and therefore, the creator. In answer to the question ‘Who am I?’ You simply are to be. ‘I am’ is your instrument to use for the creation of your reality, you may define that in any way you wish it’s limitless and entirely up to you to choose your encounters and experiences of life. As always, the choice lies with you. Shifting, changing and creating realities is in your hands when you listen to your soulful self and allow yourself to be guided this is indeed a powerful way to manifest your purpose, by your own choice and direction.

From now may you bring into your life persuasive intent to create with vivid colour imagination and the energy of the creativity of your source. Do not limit yourself to any statement of ‘I am’ which does not support your growth, glorying in and valuing yourself for simply being in existence, for having life, and may you feel the joy of the pure experience.

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I mean, surely this is a natural state of being. In fact, it is a natural state of being. It is the default position that our bodies, minds and souls want to get back to. It is a moment or more where every bit of you can just relax and be. With no judgement, no second-guessing, no ‘what if’s’. It is fully just present and paying deep attention to what is happening in that one particular fraction of time.

Moments of mindfulness offer us a space to just breathe. Away from the race of life, away from thoughts speeding through our minds at light-year speed. While this is a moment of rest, it is not a moment of inaction (although it could also be that). Studies on mindfulness have shown that being focussed and present makes you more efficient – multi tasking actually gets less done.

Being mindful means you pay full attention. You take in everything that is present in that moment. You really notice the details that sometimes get lost in the madness of a moment. Like the colour of the eyes of the person that you are talking to. Or the feeling of the wind on the back of your neck. It not only helps you to do things more thoroughly, it also creates a space where you get to soak up the essence of life. Moment by moment.

Being mindful and staying present is something that needs to be practiced. It is something that you need to remind yourself to come back to again and again. A good way to start practicing mindfulness is to invite small moments into your everyday life. Become fully present whenever you remember. Here are some tips to help you do that:

Pay attention to your breathing.

Your breathing tells you a lot about what is going on around you and within you. Long, deep breaths tell you that you are comfortable and relaxed. Short, quick, shallow breaths usually mean that there is something you need to pay closer attention. In these moments ask yourself what is going on, check in with your thoughts, feelings and emotions to identify exactly what is happening inside. Once you have identified this, then you can look at your surroundings and the situation to see what could have triggered this response. You might find that there is some healing work that needs to be done, or you might find that you are just really unfit and out of breath from climbing that hill! Either way, congratulations, you just spend a few moments being fully present.

Make a habit of bringing mindfulness to everyday tasks.

Start to develop the habit of being mindful during specific everyday tasks like taking a shower or doing the dishes. Pay attention to each and every spoon, knife, fork and plate. Notice the tiny scratches or dents. See the bubbles that the soap makes and notice the texture of the sponge in your hand. Fully immerse yourself in washing the dishes. As this becomes a habit you will naturally start to become present and notice more and more moments of being mindful during your day. The wonderful thing about practicing mindfulness is that the more you do it, the more spontaneously you will slip into those moments of peace.

Do yoga.

Yoga is a great tool to help you achieve mindfulness. Yoga means ‘yoke’ and aims at binding or connecting your mind, body and soul. Through practicing yoga, you aim to get all three of these elements in synchronisation. During practice you focus on your body and breath, lose your focus and your poses become less stable and you tend to be unable to go as deep as you might when you are focusing and breathing. By focusing completely, you are giving your mind the opportunity to experience what it feels like to be fully present, to focus on only the asana that you are in, with no distractions from outside, or from your own scattered thoughts. Yoga is the ultimate tool that leads you to be able to experience deep meditation and mindfulness.

Meditation.

A powerful way to crate mindfulness is through meditation. It helps you to cultivate that deep stillness where your mind and soul can rest. Meditation aims at quieting your mind and creating a space where you can just be. As you are, in that moment.

Like all forms of mindfulness, meditation is a continual practice and some days the quiet will come easier than others… and that is ok. As time goes by you will experience more moments of quiet and those moments will get deeper and deeper until you get to the space where you enter a semi-dreamlike state. Where time does not exist, and you feel like you are floating in a universal soup of energy. That…that beautiful moment is what meditation is about, or at least for me. I have created a few guided meditations here, they are great for beginners and more experienced meditators.

The ultimate goal of practicing mindfulness is to become fully present in each moment. It is to create a space where your mind is quiet and focused, and you are free to absorb everything that the moment brings you. Every moment of ecstasy and every moment of sorrow. Every ordinary moment… until you realise that there are no ordinary moments, only extraordinary moments waiting to be witnessed.

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The day they arrived I ripped the package open and instantly feel in love. I felt super spiritual and aware, because my rosewood mala even came from Nepal – never mind that it was dyed and stained most of my arm red when I did yoga on a humid day!

That was almost 5 years ago. Since then I have learned a lot about yoga and spirituality, about what spirituality is and what it looks like. Now my mala is no longer something pretty that I wear to look like a yogi. It is a powerful tool that I use for meditation practice to create mindfulness, focus and enhance my self-awareness.

Why are there 108 beads?

Malas represent the path of the sun and the moon across the sky, called the ecliptic. The ecliptic is divided into 27 equal parts called nakshatras and each of these are divided into 4 sectors, called paadas. Together this makes up the 108 steps that the sun and the moon take through the sky.

 Each one of these steps represents a specific blessing force and as you move each bead through your fingers you align yourself with these forces.

 In Buddhism it represents the 12 astrological houses multiplied by the 9 planets in our solar system.

 Some believe that we take 10, 800 breaths during the day (while it is light) and 10, 800 breaths at night (while it is dark).

 Others believe that there are 108 each of earthly desires in mortals, lies humans tell and delusions or forms of ignorance humans prescribe to.

 The 108 possibly also represent the most important 108 Upanishads, and some say the beads represent Krishna’s gopis (close servants), with Krishna himself being represented by the Guru Bead.

The Guru Bead is the 109^th bead on a mala. It is usually larger than the others and doesn’t get counted. When you get to this bead, you can flip the mala around and move backwards through the beads as you continue with your mantra, moving through the blessings again. Turning the mala around also avoids you going over the Guru bead – an action that could represent stepping over your teacher or the divine.

 The Guru Bead also represent the summer and winter solstices, when the sun stops and ‘turns’ and the seasons start to change. This is a way to remind us that we are connected to the cycles of nature and the universe.

 There are 108 energy lines that run from the heart chakra, leading to self-realization, while Ayurveda recognises 108 sacred places (crossways between matter and consciousness) in a human body. According to Hinduist beliefs, we have 108 Earthly Desires that we need to give up before we can become the 108 Energy Lines that form our higher and enlightened state of existence.

 Ancient Hindu scriptures known as Veda believe 108 represents the wholeness of the universe. For them the 1 represents the solar (or God and higher truth), the 0 is the lunar (emptiness and completeness in spiritual practice) and the 8 represents infinity and eternity, and thus the entire universe.

 Tassels represent the connection between us and the divine (as it holds everything together), while the string of the mala shows how everything is connected.

How to use a mala.

Malas are used during meditation or prayer in conjunction with a mantra or spoken phrase. This is Japa meditation, which means ‘muttering’ or ‘to recite’ in Sanskrit. They can also be used during pranayama practice.

 Some malas have space beads that divide the mala into four sections of 27 beads – they are there for you to keep track of where you are and should not be counted. These beads act as a reminder to be mindful and to bring you back to the present moment during your meditation.

The mala is generally held in the left hand and each bead is passed along as the mantra is spoken or thought. The beads should be held between your thumb and index finger and the thumb pulls the beads to slide along the index finger with each completion of the mantra.

 Mantras can be used for 4 purposes: to increase, to overcome, to soothe or appease or to tame by forceful means.

 A popular mantra to use with a mala is ‘Om Mani Padme Hum’. This mantra is said the hold all the teachings of Buddha as well as the truth of the nature of suffering and how to remove the root cause of it. Other popular mantras are ‘Om’ and the Gayatri Mantra.

 They are powerful meditation tools but can also be worn around the neck as a reminder of being mindful, and/or the intention represented by your mala. You could also place it at the top of your yoga mat while you practice, to increase your set intention.

How do you choose a mala?

 Like most things spiritual, your connection with your mala beads is unique.

While malas are usually made up of 108 beads, you can find shorter mantras, with 9, 18 and 27 beads to wear around your wrist.

 Bodhi seed, red sandalwood and lotus seed malas are recommended for universal use.

 Mantras intended to soothe or appease should be used with malas made from crystal, pearl or mother of pearl beads that are clear or white in colour. This clears away obstacles (like illness or bad luck) and purifies someone who is unwholesome.

 To increase something mantras are used with malas made from gold, silver, copper or lotus seeds. These mantras usually focus on increasing your life span, knowledge and merit.

 Sandal wood, saffron or other fragrant woods combine with mantras for overcoming others. The intention behind this should be self-less, only with the wish to help others.

Raksha seeds or human bone beads can be used by holy men to tame extremely harmful spirits or general afflictions.

 Base materials like rudraksha, sandalwood and rosewood all have their own unique properties. Sandalwood have calming and meditative qualities while rudraksha is healing and rosewood has protective qualities. All three of these are considered to increase prosperity and abundance.

 Many malas are made by incorporating different crystals or gemstones into the pieces. They can either form part of the mala as the 108 beads, or the Guru bead. The mala will carry the energy and vibration of the gemstones, like love if it is made up of rose quartz for example.

 Some malas have tassels or bells while others are plainer. When choosing your mala, look at what you would like to invite into your life, consider the intention that you will set with your mala, but above everything, get quiet and let your intuition guide you.

Remember that your mala is a sacred object and thus needs to be treated with respect. Keep it with your other spiritual objects and don’t let it touch the floor or get wet and dirty.

 Malas are not only beautiful pieces to wear, but they are a physical reminder to come back to practicing mindfulness. They are helpful tools to assist during meditation and pranayama and they can amplify mantras and intentions through their unique qualities.

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Law of attraction.

While there are a number of Universal Laws (also known as Spiritual Laws or Laws of Nature) that all influence the lives, situations and circumstances that we manifest in our lives, the Law of Attraction is the most well-known. Generally when people speak about the law of attraction they often include concepts of the other laws like the Laws of Vibration and Resonance – perhaps even without realising it.

The premise of the Law of Attraction is that your thoughts create your reality. Practitioners visualise their desires while infusing the visualisation with emotions, with the feelings of ‘already having it’ and with gratitude of receiving that which is asked for.

According to James Malins, the Wisdom Guide, “The law of attraction is an internal law that everything uses consciously and unconsciously. Once you start to become aware of your own creative ability you use desire, visualisation, emotion and action to bring your desires into the physical reality you live in”.

Magical energy work.

In the book Wicca: The Complete Craft, D.J. Conway defines magic as “the drawing down of energy from another realm and using that energy to create and shape a desired result. The Witch must create the result on the Inner Planes in order for it to follow universal laws and manifest on the physical plane”.

This does not only relate to practitioners of Wicca, but to all practitioners of witchcraft. Melanie Marquis, in her book A Witch’s World of Magic

instance, the belief that our conscious intentions and symbolic actions can sway the inner workings of the world around us”.

Quantum physics with special reference to wave function collapse.

Quantum physics might seem a bit intimidating at first but when you dig a bit deeper it offers amazing and interesting theories of understanding how the universe works. The field of quantum physics investigates the characteristics of the world around us right down to the subatomic level (or things we cannot see).

Quantum physicists have discovered that everything in the universe, everything that is seen and unseen, is all made up of energy – referred to by some as ‘light’. Some quantum physicists speak about wave forms of probabilities. These ‘probabilities’ have the potential of being any infinite amount of things that, could or will or may happen or not happen.

A bit confusing, huh? Bear with me… every ‘probability’ that ever existed, currently exist or will exist in the future is a wave form. As to date no one has figured out how these wave forms are made or where they come from, but they have proven that they exist.

Most of us know that everything is made up of molecules, which consists of atoms, what quantum physicists found is that these atoms are made up of sub-atomical particles which include photons, leptons, electrons, neutrons and quarks etc, which are made up of pure energy or light. This discovery stems from Albert Einstein’s discovery of E=MC². In short, it proved that everything is made up of pure energy or light.

Quantum physics has thus proven what Rumi said in the 13^th century: that “you are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop”. Basically we exist in this ocean of energy made up of the same energy as we are.

Through observation and research quantum physicists have proven that everything in the universe is vibrating frequency of energy (can you say Law of Attraction?) which then combines with energy of similar frequencies to create the physical world or our perceived reality. Thus everything around us are not solid things, but forms made up of pure, vibrating energy – all connected to each other.

What does all of this have to do with manifestation and magic? I’m getting there, I promise…and it is very interesting!

Around 1927 Neils Bohr collaborated with quantum physicists and theorist in what is called the Copenhagen Interpretation. The experiment found that sub-atomical particles are not only particles but exist and are made up of both wave forms and/or particles – but they could not exist in both forms simultaneously.

The Copenhagen Interpretation also found that energy is waves and when given attention, or observed, all wave forms collapse and particles, or matter, is formed. The person paying attention to, or observing, the particles determine whether they are (or turn into) waves or particles. If the observer expects to see the energy as waves s/he would, but then if s/he expects to see particles that is what would be observed.

To clarify that: sub-atomical particles take on form as matter based on the thoughts or believes that an observer has about them. Thus our thoughts literally create the material (and non-material) world around us as we turn wave forms of ‘probability’ (or something ‘spiritual’) into particles or bits of matter (‘reality’).

To dig a bit deeper, let’s speak about Quantum Entanglement. Scientists broke some sub-atomic particles in half (or separated them). When they did this they found that the pieces could communicate with each other. This communication happened instantly, no matter how far the ‘pieces’ were removed from each other. On a side note: Cleve Baxter proved this with DNA and found that DNA taken from an individual responded and reacted to the emotions of that person at the exact moment that s/he experienced the emotions, no matter how far they were apart.

This proved that energy does not need to travel. That it is all connected and messages and information can be sent instantly.

To sum up all the jargon: quantum physics has proven that your thoughts create they world around you- and that this can happen instantly. Because all sub-atomical particles exist in a form of ‘probability’ the only thing that influence what it turns into is the observer- you!

Energy work has been part of human cultures nearly since the beginning of man. Shamans, sages and holy-men have energy manipulation in one form or another for centuries- millennia even. Whether you call it manifestation, magic(k) or quantum physics, it seems that they are all the same and they all come to the same conclusion: that you are the creator of your universe.

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