Marriage Retreats are a Great Help for Couples

Photo by Natalia Pavlova

The sanctity of marriage is an extremely important thing but it is fair to say that there can be many issues a couple has to contend with during their relationship. No one ever said that marriage was going to be easy and many couples may need a helping hand to get their marriage back on track. The fact that people are willing to spend time and effort into saving their marriage says a lot about them. There are a number of ways that couples could attempt to save their relationship but marriage retreats are an increasingly important way of getting great results and keeping couples together.

One of the problems that couples face is the everyday pressures of life leaves them little to work on their problems. Communication between partners in a marriage is extremely important and it can be difficult to find the time to air any problems and work on finding a solution. This is why going to marriage retreats is a good way of finding time and space to communicate with each other.

A relaxed atmosphere can help couples relate
The relaxed atmosphere of marriage retreats and the specialist advice on offer makes it the perfect location to try and resolve any issues that a couple may be facing. One idea why going on a retreat is helpful is because it can rekindle the thoughts and memories of a honeymoon when the sensations brought about by marriage were all positive. Recapturing these memories and moments is a perfect way of reminding couples why they fell in love in the first place. The stress and struggles of everyday life can make the happiness of the pre-marriage period seem a long way away but it is never too far that it cannot be recaptured.

Professional assistance can help a lot
Whilst space and relaxation are great ways of sorting out any problems you may be experiencing, talking them over with trained professionals can make it easier to see both sides of the story. Going to marriage retreats allows couples to explore their problems with trained professionals who will be able to help the conversation along and allow them to see things from the other point of view. It can be very easy to become wrapped up in your own emotions and viewpoint, so having the opportunity to experience what the other person feels can make it easier to get along. Accepting that your marriage needs some assistance is a great first step and going along to marriage retreats can help you find a solution to any problems you may be facing.

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Book Review - The Secret Spiritual World of Children

Photo by Mike Baird

One of my favorite childhood dreams, a recurrent one that I had when I was around seven or eight, is that I am conducting a symphony orchestra. That would be a special experience in itself. What makes this dream more interesting is that I am making up the music, note by note, as we go. Almost like the wand that Mickey Mouse borrows from the Sorcerer, as I wave my baton, the music comes into being. In the dream, that is a thrilling experience.

What is even more interesting is that in the dream I am noticing that the orchestra seems to know what notes to play even though there are no notes until I wave them into being at that very moment. In the dream I am puzzling over how the orchestra can play the notes at the very instant that I create them.

Years later I can see in this dream many of the themes I've meditated upon in trying to come to a better understanding of a spiritual path that is natural to me, one that involves allowing improvisation to connect with a transpersonal source of creativity. While my adult self can both appreciate and understand the dream, my childhood self experienced the wonder and awe of the dream, but did not have any understanding of its meaning or source. Not all children, however, display the same lack of understanding of such experiences, according to Tobin Hart in his book The Secret Spiritual World of Children (Inner Ocean Publishing). He shares many stories of children seeming wise beyond their years, children who experience cosmic consciousness and understand its significance and use the experience to guide them throughout their lives.

The idea that children are close to God certainly comes through loud and clear in Hart's stories. The children in his book have mystical experiences, visits by angels and other beings, they spontaneously offer healing words or touch to other children and adults, and they have psychic experiences of many varieties. An account of these experiences comprises only the first half of the book. He devotes the second half of his book to providing guidance to parents. There he skillfully weaves together insights for both parent and child as they attempt to respond to such experiences.

Spirituality is a mixed blessing, for while it may open the child to the secrets of the universe, such knowledge can also be a burden on the child. Adults face similar challenges and the parents may find their own spiritual issues mirrored in the struggles of the child. A vision of one's mission in life may also create pressure to succeed. Being given extraordinary insights, visits from angels, and other non-ordinary encounters may make the child feel "special" and disinclined to make the mortal efforts in life required of the rest of us. Awareness of invisible worlds that no one else can see can make a person, child or adult, feel alienated from others. Balancing heaven and earth is difficult, regardless of a person's age.

Psychic experiences offer their own special challenges and they are quite similar for both children and adults. Precognitive experiences, for example, especially about unfortunate events, can make the experiencer feel somehow guilty, as if knowledge of an event creates responsibility for it. Telepathic sensitivity can confuse a person's sense of self, requiring effort to discern one's own feelings from those of others. Balancing individuality with inter-connectedness is a lifelong riddle that requires the development of a stable ego, content enough to remain calmly in the background. The child's experience becomes a teacher for the parents as they endeavor to respond appropriately to the child.

Tobin's advice to parents seems to revolve around two Tkey principles. The first is that the parent should endeavor to respond matter-of-factly to the child's reports. While it might seem inconceivable to us that we might deny the child's reality, making too big a deal of it can be equally harmful. The second, and more challenging, principle is for parents to cultivate a good relationship with their own spirituality and not vicariously live through their children. Although he allows for the probability that our species is evolving, he expresses some reserve about such concepts as Indigo children." He argues, alternatively, that children have always had a secret spiritual life. It is the parents, he suggests, who are now highly interested in spirituality and have become aware of its existence in their children.

The children may seem "special" in the parents' eyes, but this perception may be a compensating projection of the parents' own sad alienation from their own spiritual inner child. The child's spirituality often needs some help with incarnating into the workaday world. Parents who can embrace this need and provide a family atmosphere in which all parties are collaborating to bring heaven into earth seems create the best classroom for the lessons spiritual experiences bring to the home.

Henry Reed, Ph.D., is on staff at Atlantic University [http://www.atlanticuniv.edu]. He has been the prime designer of A.R.E.'s psychic development program, in its various aspects, for the past twenty some years. He is one of the trainers of A.R.E.'s most successful, and long running, psychic training [http://www.edgarcayce.org] conference, "The Edgar Cayce [http://www.edgarcayce.org] Legacy: Be Your Own Psychic." He developed A.R.E.'s program of evaluating psychics. He has published scientific articles on his research into intuition and psychic functioning. He is the author of Edgar Cayce on Awakening Your Psychic Powers, Edgar Cayce on Channeling Your Higher Self, and Your Intuitive Heart. Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Henry_Reed

Yoga – Can It Benefit You?

Janelle Alex

February 2011

Doing the postures can help one gain physical flexibility and strength.  There is a connection between our bodies, our minds, and our spirits.  The more flexible and strong the body is the more flexible and strong your mind and spirit can be.  Going through yoga postures helps massage and stretch your muscles and your organs as well as your spirit.  You can gain better concentration as well as you breathe deeply and bring more oxygen into your body and into your brain.  You will physically become healthier and your body will thank you.  This aspect of yoga is asana and is the most popular aspect of yoga practiced in the West.  Few people even realize just what all the practice of yoga can truly entail. 

Yet, it doesn’t matter what part of yoga you want to do.  You will most likely find a sense of peace and tranquility from your practice.  Even if you do yoga only as a form of exercise, the postures of Hatha (any physical practices) yoga will help calm the mind.  This allows the window to your spirit – to the divinity of God and the Universe – to be opened. 

To truly understand yoga is a much bigger undertaking than this short article can cover and few may actually want to understand it that deeply.  And, that is okay.  Practicing the postures is a beautiful and wondrous experience well worth your effort and the time you give to it.  If you cannot find a class near you to attend, there are tons of websites with video clips and pictures on the Internet.  I am including two links below that I happen to like:  http://www.yogajournal.com/poses and http://www.yogamazing.com/asanas.html. 

I am also going to give you a brief overview of the eight limbs of yoga for those of you, who do want to know a bit more.

1.      Yama – the decision to abstain from – avoid violence, avoid untruthfulness, avoid stealing, avoid lustfulness, and avoid greed. 

2.      Niyama – the decision to give respectful attention to – cleanliness, extreme self-disciplined, contentment, study, and devotion to God.

3.      Asana – the practice of postures – typically remaining in one posture for a long length of time.

4.      Pranayama – sometimes translated as “breath control” it is really the control of one’s most vital energy – some long practicing yogis have even been able to control their heartbeats.

5.      Pratyahara – withdrawing from all external distractions by shutting off one’s senses – being able to become more fully alive within and be unaware of outside influences.

6.      Dharana – absolute concentration – this is the ability to focus on one thing and shut out everything else.

7.      Dhyana – meditation – this is not meditation as most Westerner’s know it, but a development upon dharana and the ability to focus on all (inside) after shutting everything else out.

8.      Samadhi – bliss – some may call this enlightenment as it is a blending of one with the Universe. 

Watch for next month’s article about meditation.  Just how are you supposed to do it?