Gallery Lotus

Nourishement (Moon) Yantra Creation Process

admin — Thu, 26 May 2011 15:13:23 +0000

In between finishing a commission for a client in Wisconsin, I took a few photos to show the process of creation of a yantra. They look beautiful and simple when done, as they are geometric. But to get the precision of the shapes and the exact relationships of each part one uses a compass. Then much of the lines are erased. It is actually time consuming and takes a lot of concentration and patience. So here are a few images that show some the final yantra and a few of the steps just of drawing.

Meditation Art to Shift Life Conditions

admin — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 17:36:10 +0000

Video of Meditation Art Yantras by Kala V Williams

Watch my short YouTube video on yantras. Yantras are sacred geometry similar in some ways to Tibetan mandalas, they are used as meditation art. They are utilized in a type of yoga (yogic) meditation and for energetically affecting the energies of the space around them.

Do you need more prosperity? Are you lonely? Do you feel stuck career-wise and overall? Each yantra meditation art piece, has a specific power and energy that you can utilize in your life to change conditions. Typically a 40 day meditation practice with the yantra you choose is recommended. All of the info you need is given with a purchase.

Benefits of Yantra Meditation Art

In Wheels of Life writer Anodea Judith list the practice of Yantra Yoga as correlating with the third eye or ajna chakra development. Yantras are part of the Indian Tantric tradition of practices. If you are a yoga practitioner you might find yantra meditation particularly effective. As it works on the subtle energy or prana in the body. Meditation practice with a yantra art piece dissolves samskaras (knots) in the energy body and allow us greater clarity in attracting what we desire into our lives.

To a contemporary Westerner using art to meditate seems a bit odd. Culturally art has been separated and put into isolated spaces away from day to day life. But art has since the beginning of time (think cave paintings) been deeply intertwined with religion and spirituality in cultures from Africa, Asia to Europe. In fact artistic expression was a means of connecting- a conduit to Spirit. That was arts primary purpose in society! Secondarily of course the beauty and emotions it evoked were also key to it’s value. We have relegated art primarily to a commodity-like wheat or pork bellies.

Some but not all of the meditation art yantras are available as inexpensive prints (see home page sidebar) to find if the one you feel drawn to is custom one of a kind or available as a print.So if you want a wonderful gift to help a friend or family member or to enhance your own life prospects see GalleryLotus home page for more sacred geometry yantras, their effects and prices, now.

Namaste, Kala

Beautiful Photo of Dalai Lama & a Young…

admin — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 02:35:15 +0000

The 14th Dalai Lama meets the young reincarnation of one of his main spiritual teachers, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (1910-1991). Bodh Gaya, India 2000, photo by Matthieu Ricard.

I love this image, it just created such a resonance for me. The child is an incarnation of Dilgo Khyenste Rinpoche, who was an amazing teacher. I recommend the latters book: The Hundred Verses of Advice: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on What Matters Most; it’s written in an very simple style but what I found is that it’s as if he is speaking directly to you. IT’s a book that is a translation of a text that teachings given as if the teacher were talking to regular people involved in ordinary lives, children and work, not monastics or recluses.

Matthieu Ricard Buddhist monk, photographer and translator in French for the Dalai Lama, and is the founding director of Karuna-Shechen, a charitable non-profit association with branches throughout the world. Karuna-Shechen provides education, medical and social services, care of the elderly, and assistance to individuals in need.
To learn more, check the “Humanitarian” section, or visit directly www.karuna-shechen.org.

How-to Meditate: Breath Awareness (Part 1)

admin — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 23:24:25 +0000

Share |

As I mentioned the last post one of the easiest types of meditation to start with is probably the breath awareness method. It’s simple, non-religious, since we all breathe and the breath is always there so. This is sometimes called anapanasati and was taught by the Buddha in the early scriptures, which are preserved in Pali language and translated into Sanksrit as well. A benefit of this type of meditation* is that it deepens concentration as the attempt is to keep the mind on one thing. In this case the breath is the “object.” It is a particularly good if one is suffering from anxiety or worry in my experience, as the mind is brought back over and over to the object. (Metta meditation would also be good for anxiety/worry) This type of meditation has similarities to other types of meditation that involve focus or concentration. For example mantra meditation, or yantra meditation. Those types have other aspects but they involve bringing the mind back over and over too.
Also be aware this article is not about pranayama in the yoga tradition, where we alter the breath and use ratios or holding of breath.
*See Dr. Jon Kabat-Zin’s books (below) for info on scientific studies of the efficacy of mindfulness meditation (which is related to breath awareness meditation.) Here is link to a twelve minute Youtube video of him talking about meditation at Google.

Before you start meditating:

As with most types of meditation you will need quiet (within your control.) So turn off phone ringers, beepers, hang do not disturb sign on door if you have roomies… If construction begins outside your window not to worry. You do the best you can. And outside noise can end up strengthening your meditation! I know sounds counter intuitive. But trust me on this one. Wait a bit after a full meal, 1 or 2 hours it will be easier.

Meditation Posture:

If you want the easiest route, then sit in a chair, like a straight back kitchen type chair. Do not choose a slouchy recliner. You want the back straight and so feet are flat on the floor hip distance apart. You may want to put a small cushion at your hips parallel to the back of the chair. The cushion should not accentuate the curve of the lumbar spine, so not right where you back naturally goes in. A bit lower is good. If you do use cushion then don’t lean upper back onto the chair as you would be slouched. The cushion would be placed so it helps you to have a straight spine.

If your chair has a slanted back then the cushion should be at the upper back. All of this explanation to say that from a side view-the spine is straight. So you would not sit so you are leaning back into chair even if you back is supported. Think spine perpendicular to the ground.

Or sit on a cushion it’s good if it’s thick, a depth 5 or 6 inches would be good. Sit with hips elevated on the cushion and cross the ankles. The lower back should have a slight arch to it as the hips are slightly elevated. If the knees are way up high, first try adding more height to your sitting cushions and/or grab 2 other cushions and put them under your knees so that the knees are supported and not just hanging out in the air.

If you find value in this information please consider contributing to this blog, or if you make a purchase of a book or video use links below.

Meditation Method:
Once sitting. The key words are alert yet relaxed. So feel your whole body first, you might want to shrug your shoulders a few times up tense them and drop them quickly and relaxed. Your hands can rest in your lap comfortably. Some schools give exact position of hands but its not crucial especially if you are just starting.

Become aware that you are breathing. Give the breath your attention. Notice where you feel the breath most predominantly in the body. It’s usually one of 3 places-the nostrils, chest or abdomen.

Ananpanasati is usually taught with the awareness at the nostrils. Feel the touch of the air at the upper lip or tip of the nostrils. Do not alter you breath in any way. Just let it be natural. To start-counting is good, especially if the mind wanders a lot (which is normal.) So you could count “inhale, exhale 1, inhale exhale 2,” or “in out 1, in out 2″ all the way up to 10. Then start again. It’s important to not choose a high # like 20 or 50 as you will be hard pressed to get that high without mind wander and losing count. So generally 10 is used, if you find you have lost count-START OVER from 1.
Don’t be discouraged

Starting over will most likely happen a lot or at least once in awhile. Don’t be discouraged it’s as if you were lifting weights-you start small, with lower weights get stronger then add more. In fact the practice is in the coming back again and again-that is the training of the mind.

Length of Meditation Practice: I would recommend sitting for ten minutes as a start. Work your way up to 20 minutes over a few weeks if you feel pretty comfortable.
Frequency: Aim for 3x a week at first. Go to daily if that feels good. Otherwise stay at the lower # of minutes and frequency.
Decide in advance of the time. And set a timer (one that is not too harsh sounding.) If you have no fancy timer then use your clock radio set to a classical or easy listening station.
Time of day: Morning is best as close to waking up as possible but before eating. Also evening is good a few hours after dinner. Problem with night is you might be too tired to concentrate…So hmmmm. Experiment.

RESOURCES:
(FREE)Mindfulness of Breathing by Guy Armstrong 52:15
(FREE) The Four Noble Truths And Breath Awareness 48:34

——————————–

Guided Deep Relaxation- get to sleep faster, release stress after a day’s work with this guided deep relaxation! Simply listen as you are skillfully guided by Kalavati, an experienced yoga teacher, deep inside to a place of peace Learn how to release muscular tension, unwinding your body. Helpful for those who have trouble falling asleep as well as those dealing with symptoms of stress. Subtle flute and piano accompaniment. MP3 format. 23 min. in length. $9. Delivered immediately via download. Via Paypal or use credit card on their secure site.

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

Begin it now - Goethe.

Meditation How-to, An Introduction

admin — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 02:33:25 +0000

IntellectYantra

This is going to be an overview/introduction post that I hope will be useful especially for beginners about types meditation. By necessity it needs to be in parts and will cover meditation how-to’s and include links to reputable sites for each type of meditation. So do check back in as I’ll post every few days on this. My background is a certified yoga instructor/practitioner for 15 years. I also maintain a regular meditation practice; see bio for much more detail. I will only discuss types of meditation that I have some familiarity with. But this gives a good start!

There are so many types of meditation many are especially good places to start for a beginner. Many schools/teachers teach their method, just know that not every method will be best for you. So there are as many practices as there are traditions. I will list here some of the most popular types from the Yogic/Hindu(origins) and Buddhist. Also know that just because a method comes from a particular tradition-trying it does not mean you are now a Buddhist or a whatever! In fact mindfulness meditation (from the Buddhist tradition originally) is now being used in the west to deal with stress and chronic pain. Google Jon Kabat-Zinn a research doctor who has written books on the subject, he has stripped out the religious aspect. Also please be aware that each type of meditation has levels or layers as you progress, so it’s really best to learn from a teacher if possible. The easiest to start with for a beginner is probably the breath awareness method. It also is not to be overlooked simply because I’m saying it’s good for beginners, as in fact it is very powerful and useful practice. It’s simple, non-religious since we all breathe and the breath is always there so it’s accessible.

A Prayer Wheel

There are so so many benefits to meditation practice, which I’ll cover in a later post. Please check back as I will be expanding on this every few days with a new post of various types of meditation till each is covered. Namaste.

Metta Meditation-Loving Kindness meditation, one sequentially wishes ones-self well, then benefactor/family…. friend broadening the sphere till one gets to generating this feeling for all beings. Buddhist tradition (many)., especially Theravadin/Insight & also Tibetan schools.

Yantra Meditation- Use of a visual diagram to meditate with by looking at the shapes while repeating a mantra. (Tantric/Yoga tradition.)

Mindfulness Meditation-( also called Vipassana)- awareness of whatever is arising in the mind, moment by moment. Often one adds a simple label to what is noticed. So for example: one realizes one is thinking about an bill that needs to be paid. You might label that “worry, worry” or “planning..” and then return to a home object which is usually the breath. (Buddhist trad., especially Theravadin/Insight schools.)

Chakra Meditation- Visualizing either with a external image or internally only the symbols for the chakras (subtle energy centers in the body) while trying to feel them energetically. Often repeating specific syallables for each chakra. (Yogic/kundalini/tantra)

Breath Awareness(ananpana sati)-(also referred to as a concentration practice) Focus on ones natural breathing, not altering it in anyway. May count each inhale and exhale up to ten for example and start again. Or if concentration is stronger no counting just keeping the mind on each breath, feeling the touch of it, the length etc./Buddhist, vipassana, Tibetan too.

Namaste. I will discuss the benefits of each type next.

Benefits of Meditation with Yantras-it’s Easy

admin — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 00:29:21 +0000

Nourishment Yantra

Some of the benefits of meditation on this yantra are relief from “self-destructive behavior, (and) emotional reactivity,” according Sarah Tomlinson in her book Nine Designs for Inner Peace. It helps to calm the emotions and nourishes our feminine side-qualities such as intuition, compassion, receptivity. And so it’s helpful to heal our relationships with women, family, one’s mother. Helpful for creativity, and developing one’s imagination. So this yantra is helpful for meditation for both men and women. For a male for example who had a difficult relationship in childhood with his mother and is having difficulties now in relationships with wife or girlfriend this yantra may be appropriate. Or again for example of how a male may use this, perhaps he finds he is driving himself too hard in work, has trouble relaxing and enjoying life, again then Nourishment yantra as art or to use in meditation could be indicated.

The planet this relates to is the Moon. Some correspondences are:

Color: white
Metal: silver
Gem: pearl
Element: water
Day of week: Monday

For instance if you do a 40 day spiritual practice of repetition of a mantra and meditation on the yantra, you would start it on a Monday.

I am working with this yantra currently and it is a relatively easy meditation technique, one just needs perseverance to do the 40 day sadhana (spiritual practice.) Working with yantras, or sacred geometry engrosses the mind and the eyes; the ears are also engaged if one starts by repeating the mantra out load at first. Then to repeating it softly almost inaudible and then finally silently. When you order one of the nine yantras that I create the accompanying mantra is given and is easy to pronounce.

namaste

Book Review: Tantric Yoga & the Wisdom Goddesses

admin — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 03:40:33 +0000

Tantric Yoga & the Wisdom Goddesses, is a wonderful book, if you want to go very deeply and have a good background already. The subtitle is Spiritual Secrets of Ayurveda. He gives a through grounding in Tantra history both traditional and modern. Then discusses the various types of meditation approaches-right or left handed tantra and the third or direct path. The reason this book is mentioned here on Gallery Lotus is his extensive info on and line drawings of yantras as they relate to various goddesses.

Detail, Yellow Tara

The bulk of the book takes you chapter by chapter through the 10 Wisdom Goddesses, starting with Kali and ending with Kamalatmika. For an example of his treatment lets take Tara, in chapter 2. He begins with a beautiful line drawing of the Goddess, her history, implements and characteristics. Gives various mantras, long and short, relates her to other forms of the goddess in Buddhist and Hindu tradition. Then discusses location of the goddess in the body and meditation approaches. It’s detailed but not drawn out.

The most interesting and helpful part of the book for me so far has been the chapters on developing or diminishing tejas, ojas or prana in the body. He relates them to Pitta, Kapha and Vata respectively. It’s easy to be imbalanced even if one practices yoga and meditation. Frawley tells signs to watch for and practices to even out the balance between these subtle energies; he lists food, gems, mantras to create harmony among them. The chakras and the five pranas are covered.

This is an great book for a yoga teacher or serious practitioner. Also students of Ayurveda would find it wonderful. So it presumes previous reading and meditation practice I would say. Previous reading on Ayurveda, the doshas and other terms would be helpful.

Should Art Shock Us to Enlightenment?

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 04:18:41 +0000

Check out this article at Elephant Journal called

Can the Arts Make us Enlightened?

by Ari Pliskin who is a meditator and all around cool guy affliated with Zen Peacemakers and Socially Engaged Buddhist activist, in Western, MA.

He wonders about whether art especially online digital work, can create, “an experience that overwhelms the sense of business as usual, knocks the viewer out of their comfort zone and puts them into direct contact with something in front of them. Or as we say at Zen Peacemakers, puts them in a state of Not-Knowing…”

It’s about letting the shock of homelessness, poverty, degradation of our planet excetera, act like a “visual koan” like in the Zen tradition. I wrote this response to the article:

Ari, is a kind of shock experience-like a visual koan, the only positive use of the arts? I think your article is great but I feel that art (I’m an artist) and I”m biased-can be uplifting. Not in a superficial feel good way, but in such a way that it causes or precipitates a “spiritual” experience or even awakening. And yeah even feel good. Right now Ari, so many– even in the west feel really bad, we are in a state of overwhelm leading to shock and withdrawal from problems….you know? I see that in how people are actually reacting to life these days.
It’ almost like you and I are climbing the same mountain but by different paths, perhaps karma, society, gender, temperament causing us to choose our respective paths. Things that come to mind are the Enso? paintings of circles, yantras (which I create,) and mandalas etc. I actually see that black, grey and white ink painting of the plums on vast white space…
Anyway what I’m really pointing to is not about art, it is: shock or a slap is one way and may work for one personality, some may come out of their shell of withdrawal and fear by a more nurturing, supportive approach in general…

Namaste,

Kala Viv Williams

Art for Manifestation-Example 1

admin — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 04:15:00 +0000

It’s nearly midnight here. I’m finishing off Blue Moon’s Pear Ginger sorbet on this humid evening-delicious! I really want to post these new pieces I just finished. This is a new blog for me, and so you may happen upon it and not know-I’m an artist, intuitive with extensive background in yoga and mindfulness meditation practices.

I do a daily reading for myself, and today was fantastic. I use Doreen Virtue’s Goddess Cards, and Osho’s Zen Deck. I got Pele-Divine Passion, invest yourself in following your dreams/start a new business etc. And also Yemanya-Golden Opportunity, don’t hesitate, this is the right thing to do/get ready for a big and happy change!

So here is are a few images of the Expanision Yantra-good for (apart from it’s beauty)-manifestation of abundance.


Jupiter yantra with a citrine stone

It has been such a joy to create these. They are visual yoga images. I finally feel ready to combine my two great loves-spirituality particularly eastern and visual art. I needed it to be in a meaningful way. These yantras are sacred geometry, ancient symbols of various states of being…
more soon. Namaste

Yantra-Sacred Geometry

admin — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:47:00 +0000

I’m now exploring Yantra’s-Ancient mystical sacred geometry symbols that embody various states or characteristics. They are used in one type of meditation-gazing at the center point or bindu, while repeating the matching mantra. Below is the, Nourishment Yantra, in person it is quite magical. To purchase an inexpensive glycee print, framed or not with choice of mattes or just plain-go here: http://lifeyogini.imagekind.com/. Or go to my home page to choose an custom created yantra as a gift. Read my artists bio for info on my training and experience as an artist and yoga teacher, Buddhist practitioner.

Stage 3 Finished-Watercolor Pencil Approx 6×6 in.
Not for Sale

Stage 2

Working on these yantras has evolved to be part of my Yoga of Manifestation challenge, to increase my abundance by primarily spiritual means. I was given this book- Nine Designs for Inner Peace by Sarah Tomlinson. I have wanted it for some time and a dear friend Ken bought it on the spot for me for my B-day! She studied with Harish Johari, author of many books on chakras, yantras, tantra. that would interest a yoga practitioner who wants to go deeper and learn more. Order a custom made yantra for your yoga practitioner as a holiday gift. Specific yantra designs have specific energies-read more yantra info.

Stage 1 Pencil Drawing Approx 5×5 inches

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

Begin it now - Goethe.

Intuitive Consultations/Yoga of Manifestation/Yoga Listen to My New Podcast @ ITunes!