Paths to Power Network
Self-Improvement and Self-Growth

Montreal Jazz Festival: Before, During and After

This post is continuation of the Montreal in Pictures. Jazz Festival in Montreal is something to talk about separately.

Today is July 7th, 2009 and the Festival will last till 12th. I already enjoyed some good free concerts, the biggest one being the performance of Stevie Wonder on the main stage of the festival to inaugurate the beginning of the 30th Montreal Jazz Festival.

I took some picture to show you the magic of transformation and the exceptional work done by the Ville de Montreal with the help of major sponsors such as General Motors and Rio Tinto Alcan.

Wonder Summer Night 2009 with Stevie Wonder
Free inauguration concert!

If you are Stevie Wonder’s fan as I am I don’t need to tell you how excited I was on June 30, 2009.

On my way to work around 8:30 am I already noticed a group of young people waiting for the festival site to open. From the way they looked you could tell they were determined to spend over 12 hours near the main stage to really SEE Stevie Wonder and not only listened to him live.

By the time I got home from work I was pretty tired but the festival site was close to my house so I decided to go despite my tiredness.

I started some work to do and as it usually happens I could hardly put it aside to leave.

I left my apartment around 8:30 p.m. – an hour before the show and I live within 5-minutes walking distance.

Oh my God! it was crazy outside. One of the major streets in Montreal, Sherbrooke, was blocked by pedestrians – there was just not enough space on the sidewalk!

The street Jeanne-Mance that takes directly to the main stage was so crowded by people starting from the corner of Sherbrooke street which is good 3 blocks away from the main stage.

Living in the area and knowing it very well as well as being alone and very quick definitely helped me to get as far as I could using the alternative roads.

It was raining but most people just closed the umbrellas to be able to navigate in the crowd. I closed my umbrella too. My glasses were covered by water so I could hardly see, I was getting wet already but I kept walking through the crowd till I find a place near to the one of the huge screens.

Show started at 10 p.m. The newly constructed Place des Arts was completely packed, including the surrounding areas in all directions. And yet, I was happy to be there, even if i could only see him on the screen. At least I could listen to his concert LIVE.

I didn’t even notice how it became midnight and then over midnight. The crowd was singing along and dancing.

There was a beautiful moment when Stevie started to play the Beatles’ song “Michelle ma belle”, He didn’t sing the French part, he just played and slowly people here and there started to sing the French part and then it seemed to be that everybody sings so Stevie was playing and we were singing….

Beautiful moment, especially if you consider that Montreal is predominantly French-speaking environment.

And then Stevie started to sing when the English part of the song came.

This unforgettable concert was closed by grandiose fireworks inaugurating the opening of the Montreal Jazz Festival.

Below are the pictures that I succeeded to take with my camera. There are also some pictures of the main stage in the process of construction and in the morning of the concert’s day.

Amazing Transformation
Part 1

In this module I just attached lots of pictures so you will see the amazing transformations that took place on the ordinary streets and parks of Montreal making them extraordinary.

I am attaching 3 different picture of the same site so you will see the transformation over time:

2. Car Show (the next 3 pictures)

Amazing Transformations
Part 2

Here I will show you the next two transformations:

2. Second big stage of the Festival – stage Rio Tinto Alcan. (3 pictures)

Amazing Transformations
Part 3

Below are the following pictures:

1. The construction of the bar by SAQ (3 picture).

2. Two other Festival stages on the second day of the Festival (2 pictures).

Amazing Transformations
Part 4

Here are pictures of

1.Loto-Quebec stand (2 pictures) and

2. Transformation of the banner on the top of the building (2 pictures).

Amazing Transformations
Part 5: Final

Here are 3 pictures of some Festival stands.

Read also Montreal in Pictures for the full Montreal experience!

What is This About?

This post is about Montreal. The city of Montreal is located in North America. If we zoom in we will see that it is in Canada. Going even deeper will bring us to the beautiful province of Quebec where Montreal is located.

I am going to put lots of pictures here. I took it with my digital, not professional camera and pictures are not Photoshoped. I hope you will still enjoy them

Since I am a human being and not an objective travel guide, everything here is from my own perspective; it is how I perceived this place I called home for many years.

If you are interested in visiting Montreal, consider investing in travel guides that I have on this page.

Is this lens only about Montreal? No, it is about MY Montreal that for sure will differ from yours and someone else’s.

The picture above was taken in September 2006 and shows my most favorite street, McGill College.

The pictures below are taken in August – September 2006.

Montreal in Winter: Q&A
Music: Vivaldi “Four Seasons:Winter”

This beautiful Christmas Tree is installed every year in the Place Montreal Trust.

Why I am writing about Montreal?

I moved to Montreal several years ago. The reason for that as I believed at the time was hard economic conditions in my country and the opportunity to have better life for me and my daughter. Now, as I look back, I realize that it was an attempt to escape%u2026 from my own self. Unfortunately this kind of escape is always doomed.

Was it hard for me in Montreal without any relatives and friends?

Incredibly – especially during the long and harsh winters.

Do I regret taking this step? And, if not, why?

No. I don’t regret. Like chemical substances that have to go through tremendous transformation, “endure” lots of changes to become gold, so does the human soul.

Being alone and in harsh conditions helped me to understand and love myself; helped me to forgive and accept, to realize that I can’t run from myself BUT I can grow and change and start loving myself the way I am.

Why am I here? – was the question I was asking myself every winter.

It wasn’t a complaint it just expressed my genuine desire to understand why I chose to be in such conditions.

After lots of reading and inner work, I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I started to understand.

Would I do that inner work had I stayed in my country?

Not likely. The cold, icy, “no mercy” winter was the trigger for that. I also wouldn’t have access to the vast amount of resources to do the inner work.

Did I reach the “perfection”?

Far from it. Growing is a constant and long process especially if you can’t devote months of your life to do the inner work. We live in a society where we need to EARN MONEY to survive.

I believe the more we realize that we that hurting others is hurting ourselves and judging others is non-accepting that part of ourselves the more advanced we become.

Through the struggle with deep depression I had here, I emerged as a completely different person. I also realized that I had the depression almost all my life – I couldn’t realize that I was depressed because I was surrounded by close, dear friends and relatives.

More winter pictures below. Winter includes March and in some years April .

One of the pictures below “Bushes in the Snow” was in April after the snowstorm. It is very nice actually. Winter is nice when you are not outside, walking on a slippery ground and cold doesn’t penetrate your bones… Like on this picture.

The pictures of Christmas Trees below are taken from the Complexe Desjardins and Gare Centrale. So when you inside, the winter is actually very nice!

Montreal in Spring
Music: Vivaldi “Four Seasons:Spring”

This is NOT a usual spring picture. We just had a violent snow storm around April 15, 2007 and a gate that was proudly withstanding Montreal weather for years was destroyed by a violet wind.

The wind was so strong on my way to work that day I though it was going to be the last day of my life- the wind was blowing in the direction opposite to mine so I had to stop and right above my head there was a brunch of a tree about to fall…

To return to my previous topic:

In an attempt to fight the lost of interest in everything I started to take pictures with my digital camera. I was pretending that I am a reporter and my pictures are extremely important.

My camera wasn’t of a high quality so I had to discard lots of pictures but still there are good ones that I want to present here.

By taking the pictures of winter I was trying to persuade myself that my desire to leave Montreal is not another escape from myself but rather a normal, human desire to have a better life.

Don’t get me wrong here! Montreal is a beautiful city. Many people, natives and immigrants alike, are not so sensitive to cold and ice as I am, so for them it is not an issue. Plus there is beautiful spring and summer after all.

Some Spring, early Summer pictures are below

Montreal in Summer: Lots of Life
Music: Vivaldi “Four Seasons:Summer”

So many things are going on in Summer in Montreal. This really require a separate lens. I am working right now on the Montreal Jazz Festival Lens so I won’t cover it here.

Summer in Montreal will always be always stay with me no matter where I live. Montreal is one of the most vibrant cities in the world at this time of the year. Festival of Design and Mode followed by the famous Montreal Jazz Festival, Francopholie, Cinema Festival and lots of other in between.

You really don’t want to miss this ones. Come at the end of June and stay till the beginning of September if you can. Weather is not always nice but there is so much going on you won’t even notice.

I started to enjoy summers in Montreal the last two years only when I moved downtown, close to the events.

The mere fact that I started enjoy something in Montreal was already a positive sign that depression is over. At least I am aware of it now and pay attention to smallest signs.

Beautiful Summer Pictures

The Fountain I Discovered
Music: Just the Sound of Water

This is really a piece of art and as a matter of fact it belongs to the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art.

i found it out by accident and then started to go regularly to relax under the sound of running water. If you ever visit Montrea, it is located at the corner of Viger and Bleury – you don’t want to miss it really.

If you wait long enough you can witness the extraordinary thing – the fire circle around the fountain, right in the water!

Here are the pictures

Montreal in Fall
Music: Vivaldi “Four Seasons:Fall”

For me it’s a little bit depressive time. It means summer has gone and yet another harsh and long winter is expected.

End of summer is usually another active periods for different festivals. Below are some end of summer festival pictures that I took from my balcony on the second floor, as well as other beautiful pictures of Montreal fall.

Oratoire St-Joseph
Music of Church Bells

I can’t write about Montreal without mentioning the Oratoire St-Joseph. Whenever I felt depressed, down or was just in search for some answers I would come here and find the peace I was looking for.

Come here to relax and re-charge your soul.

Each time I visited it I discovered something new and amazing. Last time it was the beautiful church bell music.

If you are planning to visit Montreal, you don’t want to miss it. It’s a huge complex – do not rush through, devote an entire day to it to embrace its beauty.

Let’s stay here for the moment and pray for peace: peace in our souls and peace on this beautiful planet of ours.

Below is the picture of candle-liting gallery

The Closing Question

Ok, Ok, after so much stuff I took out of my chest you might be wondering:

Do I Love Montreal?

The answer is Yes, absolutely.

The problems that I had were not related to Montreal. As a matter of fact they were not related to anything outside me.

Montreal helped me to go deep inside me and find out what lies there…
and I discovered something I learned to love – myself.

The idea of any goal achievement journey is to get eventually what you want. This process involves steps, some of them are the actual actions you need to take and others are preparatory. If you do your preparations right you will achieve your goal in the shortest and the easiest way.

When you take steps that involve the evolution of your soul, make sure you don’t do them solely because someone told you to do so. These are steps that you actually need to FEEL. They must involve your emotions not only to help you achieve results that you want but also, in the process, to help you purify your soul and to ease your Karma for this life and any future re-incarnations (if you believe in them).

One of the steps that must involve your feelings is Gratitude. You can’t just say “I am grateful for this and that”, you have to feel it actually. And when you feel it you realize how lucky you are.
Our problem is that we do not notice things that we have, we start to notice them very often when we lose them.

When we’re young we don’t usually feel gratitude for that, in times when we are in good health it doesn’t cross our mind to express our deep gratitude for that – have it ever crossed your mind to express the gratitude to bread you have daily? Unfortunately we take everything for granted. This is especially true in the Western society.

So first thing we need to learn is to express gratitude for things that we already have.
Make it a habit to express your gratitude daily for big and small things that happened throughout the day.

Try to devote separate 10 minutes to this exercise. Do no multitask. Do not do this exercise while you are driving, washing dishes or taking a shower. While you might have things to be grateful while doing different activities for the purpose of this exercise devote 10 minutes to this.

You can even close your eyes to connect better with your inner self. Being GRATEFUL is really a feeling not just words so you need to FEEL it during the exercise.

There is no better way to connect to God than to be grateful for everything you have.

When you master this step, the next step is to be grateful for the things that yet to come into your life… You have to master step one before you can succeed in step two. After all if you are not grateful for lots of things you already have how you can be grateful for the things that haven’t manifested yet?

Here is what Wallace Wattles says about the Gratitude:

… the first step toward getting rich is to convey the idea of your wants to the formless substance.
This is true, and you will see that in order to do so it becomes necessary to relate yourself to the formless intelligence in a harmonious way.

To secure this harmonious relation is a matter of such primary and vital importance that I shall give some space to its discussion here and give you instructions which, if you will follow them, will be certain to bring you into perfect unity of mind with the supreme power, or God.

The whole process of mental adjustment and attunement can be summed up in one word: Gratitude.
…
The grateful mind is constantly fixed upon the best. Therefore it tends to become the best. It takes the form or character of the best, and will receive the best.

There is a law of gratitude, and it is absolutely necessary that you should observe the law if you are to get the results you seek.

Also, faith is born of gratitude. The grateful mind continually expects good things, and expectation becomes faith. The reaction of gratitude upon one’s own mind produces faith, and every outgoing wave of grateful thanksgiving increases faith.

If you want to achieve your desires, here are the steps:

First, you believe that there is one intelligent substance, from which all things proceed. Second, you believe that this substance gives you everything you desire. And third, you relate yourself to it by a feeling of deep and profound gratitude.

There will be many parts to the Goal-Achievement series. Subscribe now using the RSS button “subscribe by e-mail” to receive the blog updates via the e-mail.

“Paths to Power”: Some Clarifications


In this post I want to cover several things:

1. Meditation Practice vs. the Sitting Still Practice as it is described in the book “Paths to Power”.

2. How you can know you are connected to the Universal Creative Power or God (hint: through the way you feel).

3. How you can really achieve what you want.

In fact this post will bring together different pieces so you will be able to see the whole picture.

Let’s start from meditation.

Meditation is not a light topic to go briefly through it. Meditation requires a thorough coverage but most importantly it requires practice. You can learn about thousands meditation techniques that exist out there and still get nowhere if you don’t practice it daily.

One can practice meditation in different ways. The key is letting go of all thoughts and becoming mindful of the moment, fully present. Feeling present and fully aware means having no fear, no worries, no anxiety.

It is a state of feeling connected, feeling that everything is indeed perfect in your life; it’s a feeling of what I call “silent, quiet happiness” when you just allow yourself to be. It’s when you have full trust in God knowing that you are taken care of. It can also be associated with feeling of deep Gratitude for everything you have.

As a matter of fact, Gratitude has an immense power of connecting us to God and Universe. Gratitude is so powerful that it requires a separate post of its own. Just contemplate on the concept of gratitude when you have time and you’ll be able to discover its amazing power.

Let’s now consider the “sitting still” practice. Here is its essence as described by Floyd B. Wilson in the book “Paths to Power”:

First, then, learn to sit and be still physically. Select an hour in the day or evening – a full hour, and just an hour, when you can be free from interruptions, and take that same hour each day, and no other.

Sit in the same chair, and in the same room. Having relaxed, you may fold your hands or let both of them rest in your lap, and then keep still.

Sit with both feet resting on the floor; let the chair be of height to permit this. With both feet resting on the floor, a right angle should be formed at the knee. Next, be careful that the spinal column be kept erect-there is a fluid passing through it to the base of the brain, with which your thought has everything to do.

In a lying down posture this fluid presses against the base of the brain; and, if concentration is attempted in that position, it will be found exceedingly difficult to sustain it.

Knowing now the position to take, and the absolute requirement of coming to these sittings the same hour each day, you are ready to commence your work. Knowledge can only come to you from the Infinite when you are still.

Of course, it may come in a moment of stillness, when you are sitting listlessly; but the discipline herein proposed is to put yourself consciously into an attitude to draw that power and force.

The book concentrates on the attainment of our desires and the first part of it is to clear the mind and then comes the second part when you contemplate on what you want till you have the feeling of KNOWING -which is very profound feeling and people who experienced it know what I am talking about.

It is when you just KNOW that something that you want will come true without any physical signs of it coming into your life yet.

This is the feeling the Floyd B. Wilson urges us to develop when he suggests the “sitting still” practice.

This is what he says about “keeping still”:

By keeping still, I mean that you do not stir. If stray hairs seem to fall over your face and tickle, you must learn not to move your hand to brush them away.

It is not an easy practice as it may seem because the more you concentrate of NOT doing something the MORE of it you will want to do.

If you keep saying to yourself “DO NOT move” – you, in fact, will have an irresistible desire to move – all of the sudden your posture is not comfortable or you will urgently feel a need to scratch your nose, for example.

That’s why I suggest that you practice a regular meditation. The sitting posture described in the book is excellent starting position but instead of concentrating on the stillness of the body just pay attention to your breath – inhale, exhale – notice your breath.

Close your eyes and pay attention to your inhales and exhales for 15-20 minutes. With time you will learn how to sit STILL without any effort.

You can also repeat a MANTRA in your mind. There shouldn’t be any effort or concentration involved. Here is what the book says about it:

Do not concentrate too deeply. It is a concentration akin to passiveness which I am suggesting.

You can also practice Yogic breathing exercises to clear your mind. Here is what the book says about it:

All well-directed breathing exercises harmonize the system and fit you mentally for the more serious work. One of Yogic breathing exercises: inhale deeply through the left nostril, centering thought on the nerve current, or spinal column, as if you were sending your breath through it so that it may strike (mentally) on the last plexus, which yogi call the seat of the Kundalini.

Then hold for a short time, and exhale slowly through the right nostril. This practice is conducive to repose or rest. If you have tired nerves, it will calm them down so that such peacefulness will come, that you will feel you have never before known what rest meant.

Practice Yogic breathing exercise or Pranayama. See the Yoga and Spirituality post for more details on Yoga. Practice regular meditation 20 minutes twice a day everyday. You really need to do this regularly for 2-3 months to feel the difference.

Afterwards you will be ready to “listen to your inner voice”, to feel connected with your Higher Self and hence to have that feeling of KNOWING of what you want to achieve/attract is as real as the reality you see right in front you at the present moment.

There are different ways to achieve it. Another way is self-hypnosis that I provided in great details in the self-hypnosis mini-course.

If you haven’t read the “Paths to Power” I would suggest that you subscribe and receive the book. Then, you would need to read it several times till the concept becomes clear to you. Afterwards you need to practice.

You would also want to subscribe to the blog updates e-mail notification (see the RSS “subscribe by e-mail” button) this way you will be notified when a new post will be published.

To summarize the steps of attaining what you want:

First, find out what your deep inner desires are, what you really want – see the Goal-Achievement Course part I and then apply the techniques described in this post and in the book to clear your mind and improve your connection with your own self and God so you will develop the feeling of KNOWING.

The practice of Gratitude is another important way to connect with your Higher Self and Universe. I’ll cover it in another post.

After that you are ready to take an ACTION to bring what you want into your life – knowledge is power but without taking an action nothing will happen.

I had an urge to write this article seeing how yoga is being degraded to simple flexibility training and how yoga’s popularity is being used to sell practically anything from Absolut vodka to underwear.

Yoga and Spirituality are inseparable. Yoga is an ancient teaching that helps the persistent practitioner to achieve the spiritual enlightment. By no means it consists of a set of exercise routine only.

Yoga is comprehensive system, a way of thinking, a way of living our everyday lives. Physical postures or Asanas and breathing exercises or Pranayama that are so popular on the West are just steps 3 and 4 of Raja yoga, which is one of the yogic paths’ to spiritual development.

There are 7 steps in Raja Yoga leading the practitioner to self-realization. These steps are described in the book of the sage Patanjali “The Yoga Sutras”. You can download it for free on this page.

Yoga played an important role in my life providing insights and answering the numerous questions that I had hard time to find answers to.

The Eastern occultism entered my life when I was 20 years old. I was lucky enough to find the book of Mabel Collins “Light on the path and through the gates of gold” in the country where the books on spirituality and religion were not published. Read the details on the Yoga page. You can also download the “Light on the path” for free.

Yoga personally helped me in a variety of ways – from improving my intuition to losing weight.

How to combine the simple Western Yoga practice with Yoga as a spiritual development tool?

It is not as hard as you might think. Here are some steps, simplified:

1. Do not lie, cheat, take advantage of other people or harm others in any way in your everyday life.

Stop habits that are damaging for you; stop harming and sabotaging yourself in any way.

Change your habitual negative thinking into positive the positive one. See some tips in the Techniques to Help You Think Positively article.

Stop judging people, you are no better than they are. As you go further in your practice you will realize deeply the concept of Oneness of all life so this will become easier for you.

2. Limit the stimulants intake such as coffee, alcohol, etc and at some point try to eliminate them completely. They deplete the body of vital energy and exhaust the body. Eat vegetarian diet that provides body with energy, include whole grains in your diet, drink lots of water daily. Do fasting once a week at least 3-6 months during the year.

See the the article entitled Fasting and Weight Loss. Even though it is entitled Fasting and Weight Loss it contains general information on how to fast.

3. Practice Yogic Asanas regularly.

4. Practice Yogic breathing exercises (Pranayama) regularly.

I am in the process of finishing my yoga video and manual. It will be available here for download shortly. It includes Asanas and Pranayama.

5. Meditate twice a day for 20 minutes – in the morning and in the afternoon. You can do twice a day 20 minutes mantra meditation which is a silent repetition of a word or phrase to clear your mind. Use mantra OM for example, which is the Universal sound of creation.

If you think you don’t have time to meditate do the Mindfulness meditation – be present every second of your life.


These are first 5 steps. These steps are enough to bring vibrant health, clarity of mind, happiness and peace into your life. The devoted spiritual seeker then can go further.

If you haven’t done this yet, visit the Yoga page page for more details on Yoga.

The concept of positive thinking is not new. It became especially well-known recently with the popularization of the Law of Attraction through the book and movie “The Secret”.

While positive thinking leads to better health and being satisfied with life, it is not always easy to think positively.

Here are some tips to help you think positively:

1. One of the things that affect the way we feel is relaxation. Lack of relaxation during the day and not getting enough sleep at night are direct ways to feeling down, depressed and negative.

If you have problems falling asleep or remaining asleep consider natural methods that induce sleep before you start taking pills.

Sleep well is all about natural ways to get good sleep at night and feel energized and positive throughout the day.

Some tips in order to sleep well:

Do not eat after 7 p.m;
Do not watch TV late at night or read thrillers;
Try to go to bed around 10-11 p.m;
Drink herbal teas around 8-9 p.m. such as chamomile tea,
Use lavender essential oil in a burner or take a bath with few drops of the lavender essential oil
If you can’t fall asleep do not force yourself. Get out of bed and do some boring chores that will help you fall asleep.

2. Another way to stay positive is to exercise.

Here are simple exercises that will help you improve your mood:

- Bring your shoulders to your ears and then let them drop. Keep your hands by your sides. Repeat 5- 10 times.

- Bring your shoulder blades together as much as possible, hold for 5-10 seconds and release. Repeat this 5-10 times.

- Bring your chin parallel to the ground. Clasp your hands and place them under your chin. Now push your chin against your hands. Do not allow your chin go down. Hold for 5 seconds. Repeat 5-10 times.

3. Diet also plays an important role in how you feel. For example, foods containing certain amino-acids can help improve your mood. Getting enough of vitamin B complex vitamins and Omega-3 fatty acids can also contribute to positive thinking.

4. Some other ways of letting go of stress and tension and all the negativity associated with them and feel rejuvenated are dancing, getting a massage, aromatherapy wraps, progressive muscles relaxation with visualization exercises or self-hypnosis, meditation, breathing exercises, color therapy.

Body and mind cannot be separated. Healthy body promotes positive thinking; in its turn positive thinking promotes better health. By developing positive thinking you will be able to improve substantially all areas of your life.

Additional resources:
Learn self-hypnosis to achieve success in everything
Sleep well
Hypnosis for everything
Comprehensive Hypnosis Program

I initially published this in a slightly modified form as a two-part article on the Ezinearticles website so don’t be surprised if you already read it on their site…

From the early childhood we were told what is good and what is bad. To avoid punishment and all the nasty things that come with it we had to hide some parts of ourselves that didn’t fit into the description of a “good person” with “good manners” as it is accepted in our society. These traits are usually so well hidden that we totally forget about their existence.

But the “bad” character traits didn’t disappear; instead they were pushed deep into our subconscious mind and started having a life of their own. They have a tremendous power of attracting people and situations in our lives that show us the qualities that we try to deny in ourselves.

This concept can be found in various teachings around the world in different forms from the Jungian principle of “shadow” to Hawaiian healing process called ho’oponopono.

By not embracing our whole self we waste the valuable life energy. We are trying to prove through our entire life that we are not who we really, in fact, are.

Denying parts of ourselves and not knowing who we really are is a direct way to self-destructive behaviors.

Do you feel you keep attracting “wrong” people into your life? They are brought into your life by your shadow to show you a quality that you have in yourself but venomously deny. People, situations in our life, our whole life the way it is right now are just mirrors that reflect back who we really are.

The process of embracing our “shadow”, the negative aspects of ourselves as part of ourselves helps to heal us, make us whole. It also stops the appearance of “wrong” people and circumstances in our lives; ones that are trying to show us a quality inside ourselves we needed to make a peace with.

We usually become interested in this process when patterns start repeating in our lives and we want to know why they happen.

When we start seeing patterns and asking questions then we are ready to meet with the well-forgotten part of ourselves, our shadow. This is not an easy process and it takes time to go through but the end result is the complete liberation; seeing our choices clearer, making peace with who we are, our past and our present, and moving quickly towards realization of our deepest desires.

Hawaiian healing process (ho’oponopono) is similar to the Jungian concept of “shadow”. It states that we are responsible for everything in our life, even the other people’s behavior. The mere acceptance and love of ourselves with all the positive and negative traits are enough to rectify the situation: people can change around us, circumstances change, our entire world changes merely by changing ourselves, our perception of the world.

In order “to change” the world around us we just need to say to ourselves: “I love you”, “I am sorry”, “Please forgive me”, “Thank you”. This kind of healing is conducted by a healer in Hawaii, Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len, with miraculous results.

When you have a strong negative emotional response about people around you look for the answers inside you.

So next time when you ask yourself : “Why all these idiots are in my life?” remember all the situations when you were acting like an idiot. Embrace the fact that you can also be an idiot from time to time. This way you will stop seeing “what’s wrong” with other people and stop judging them. You will also make a peace with a part of yourself you always denied.

Accepting the denied parts of yourself doesn’t mean going and hurting the people around. It is a way to free up the energy that was trapped when you were trying to be someone you are not; it is an incredible liberating experience; it is a way of allowing yourself to be who you are, to love and accept yourself fully and completely so you will be able to realize your full potential.

The same is true for “bad” people who for whatever traumatic reason denied the positive traits and buried them deeply into their psyche. This process will help them experience a tremendous transformation and make peace with their past; it will allow them to become whole again.

Everything starts with love. Love is the white light of all emotions. White light is the combination of all colors. Love is the sum of all emotions. Start loving and accepting yourself the way you are and then you will slowly uncover how to make peace with yourself, your past and your present; how to forgive and be forgiven; how to embrace all parts of yourslef, good and bad, let go of judgments and become whole again.

I discovered this incredible video about a week ago. Talented people all around the world playing and singing together!

No matter who we are, where we live and what we do – we are just humans living together on this beautiful planet. And if we stand by one another instead of fighting each other we would heal this planet and the humanity in whole.

I hope you will enjoy this video!



From Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

I decided to write about chakras because this invisible to “regular” human eye centers play an important role in our well-being. They are affected with our lifestyle – what we eat, our exercising habits, what we think and life we lead in general. Our negative thoughts contaminate the chakras so energy flow becomes disrupted and we feel low on energy.

If we persist in holding negative thoughts our body will eventually become physically ill. This will not happen overnight but sooner or later we will see the negative affects of our thoughts on the physical body. They usually manifest in different forms and might include from minor aches and pains to serious diseases such as cancer.

Energy flow in the body is also disrupted by holding negative emotions inside. Emotions such as anger, fear, grudges, jealousy and others if not released properly in a healthy way, sooner or later manifest as illness in different parts of the body.

That’s why it is important to do emotional releases and clear the negative thoughts. Exercise can help release the energy blockages in the body however it doesn’t last for a long time as soon as we return to our old ways of thinking energy blockages occur again.

Positive affirmations can also be helpful in the short run but they do not usually have lasting effect. In order for affirmations to work they need to be repeated in a deeply relaxed, hypnotic state. Self-hypnosis, in general is an important skill to learn. Click here for a program that I recommend. You can also do deep chakra clearing in a hypnotic state.

Chakras are energetic centers of the body. The word “chakra” comes from a Sanskrit word meaning wheel. Chakra system is pretty complicated system – energy centers are run throughout the body. The seven chakras that located along the spine are the major chakras of the body.

They are connected to the endocrine system, the central nervous system, and the spine. Each of them has a color, a sound, a specific location in the body and affects specific organs. They are keys to energy healing and serve as pathways transmitting light and universal life force energy to the physical body.

Research has demonstrated that health, wellness and energy healing of our physical body are largely determined by the strength and clarity of this subtle energy field.

Seven Chakras in brief:

The Root or Base Chakra
Color Association: Red
Sanskrit Name: Muladhara
Location: Base of spine, coccyx
Imbalances include anemia, fatigue, lower back pain, sciatica, depression, frequent colds or cold hands and cold feet.

The Sacral Chakra
Color Association: Orange
Sanskrit Name: Svadhisthana
Location: Below the navel, lower abdomen
Imbalances: Eating disorders, alcohol and drug abuse, depression, lower back pain, asthma or allergies, Candida and yeast infections, urinary problems, sensuality issues as well as impotency and frigidity.

The Solar Plexus Chakra
Color Association: Yellow
Sanskrit Name: Manipura
Location: Above the navel, stomach area
Imbalances: Digestive problems, ulcers, diabetes, hypoglycemia, constipation, nervousness, toxicity, parasites, colitis, poor memory.

The Heart Chakra
Color Association: Green
Sanskrit Name: Anahata
Location: Center of chest
Imbalances: Heart and breathing disorders, breast cancer, chest pain, high blood pressure, passivity, immune system problems, muscular tension.

The Throat Chakra
Color Association: Blue
Sanskrit Name: Vishuddha
Location: Throat region
Imbalances: Thyroid imbalances, swollen glands, fevers and flu, infections, mouth, jaw, tongue, neck and shoulders problems, hyperactivity, hormonal disorders such as PMS, mood swings, bloating and menopause.

The Brow or Third Eye Chakra
Color Association: Indigo
Sanskrit Name: Ajna
Location: Forehead, in between the eyes.
Imbalances: Learning disabilities, co-ordination problems, sleep disorders.

The Crown Chakra
Colour Association: Violet
Sanskit Name: Sahasrara
Location: Top of head
Crown Stimulants: Focusing on dreams. Writing down one’s visions and inventions. Violet food & drink. Violet gemstones and violet clothing. Using violet oils such as lavender or jasmine essential oils.
Imbalances: Depression

Now when you are familiar with the locations and colors of major chakras, apply the self-hypnosis technique to relax deeply and then start mentally scanning your chakras starting with the Root Chakra; visualize the colors corresponding to each chakra and feel how energy flows from chakra to chakra reaching the top of the head.

Do this process slowly so you will vividly visualize the colors and feel the flow of energy.

You will feel revitalized after this exercise.