Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Why The Sufis Whirl ~ By Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy


Let the body-mind dance the rhythm of the Heart! Spiritual awakening need not arise only through the depth of misery, years of meditation, inquiry or scriptural study. All valuable of course, but why must it always be such a serious affair? After all, who is the enforcer?

Free of attachment, why not allow the body's passion for movement such as whirling, ecstatic dancing or ecstatic anything? As presence, you will notice a subtle shift of attention to inner quiescence that is whole, complete and still, even as the body moves.

In this, divided thinking dissolves into the unity of the body-mind. While the body responds to the music and the pull of forces, conscious breathing naturally and effortlessly draws attention to the "inner" body. Suddenly, we become aware of the core stillness that is both the silence of the universe and the open window to the divine.

In 1986, I was an operator of aerobics studios in the Northwest. My life seemed as “normal” as any other human being. While I was teaching the class, thinking was not an option, when in concentration on breath and rhythm. Often in class, everything would slip into slow motion and an uncommon serenity and ecstasy would come to the forefront. Just beyond that thin veil-like trance, the divine is courting "you" from within.

One extraordinary day during aerobics, I became aware of a sacred synergy that was far greater than the dancing community that I loved so dearly. It seemed like I was sensing some ethereal, new dimension. I became intensely alert and without cause, I was radically whisked from time and space altogether.

I disappeared so deeply within the body that earthly experience vanished into the divine mystery. When I became conscious, the body was somehow far above and still enthralled in the joy of dancing. I was no longer sourced in the body and the idea of “Katie” had shattered. I realized that I am the pure awareness that is purely being-consciousness-bliss. Neither thought, nor emotion, nor body is the Essence that I am and yet they are absolutely inseparable.

It took twelve years to fully integrate as the Totality. Pure being burned every trace of illusion as it arose. In fact, the aerobics studio literally burned down in the great fire of Truth! Today, I am neither in this world, nor not of it.

While the divided mind could wonder how this could possibly be appealing, we realize the undeniable truth that we are divine. The natural world is perceived within the intelligence of the Awake Heart. This extraordinary beauty is permeating all that you see and all that you cannot see. Whether with form or without, there is only the Essence that I am. We appreciate an overwhelming fulfillment, while perfect peace and wise love prevail.

However, there can be no pathway to what you already are. One could say that the time-space activity, or no activity, within the dream-mirror is almost inconsequential. Who are you prior to all experience?

Be present with what is consistently everywhere that you are and the miracle emerges on its own accord.

The Sufis who whirl, like planets around the sun, turn dance into a form of mystical prayer or movement meditation to realize the blissful stillness that they genuinely are. In this, what can Hafiz do but Forever Dance?

Katie Davis Website, Author, Awake Joy www.katiedavis.org

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Sundance Burke, Author, Free Spirit, on the Never Not Here Show

Sundance Burke, author, "Free Spirit," on Chicago's Never Not Here Show, April 2 live worldwide via webcam from Maui with the Producer, Richard Miller.

Sundance Burke Website www.SundanceBurke.org



Katie Davis, author, "Awake Joy," will broadcast live on Wednesday, April 22 at 7:00 pm Central Daylight Time (Greenwich Mean minus 6 hours).

At showtime, on your computer, go to:

www.NeverNotHere.com/videopage.htm

If you would like to talk live with Katie, ask questions or share, call the telephone number that appears on the screen.

Katie Davis Website www.katiedavis.org

Friday, April 3, 2009

Awakening to the Invincible Summer by Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy


On Maui, the sweetness of spring seems to be awakening, as the sleepy winter transforms. One senses it mostly by the delicate fragrances, but there are other delightful whispers. The scents harmonize and breathe life into the early morning darkness. The breezes are warmer as they enliven our bodies and consciously ground us as Spirit.

The Monarch butterflies are migrating all the way to Mexico and we have the intuitive sense that our intelligent friends, the humpback whales and newborn calves, are beginning their departure to brave the San Juan Orcas and dine out in Alaska.

Even the “snow birds” are flying home, as Maui relaxes into its more genuine pace. One cannot help but notice the simplicity of living the cycles of Gaia. However, there is something deeper here; something ineffable and sacredly indefinable.

Each spring, I am tenderly reminded of the natural birth of my second daughter. As a focal point, I used a poster of the sun shining through snow covered pines in a silent forest. The Albert Camus byline read, “In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was within me an invincible summer.” Upon first glance and still ripe with pregnancy, I instinctively knew that my new daughter would be named named Summer. However, I had not yet consciously awakened to the unfathomable depth to which Camus was possibly pointing.

Just as the scarlet ‘I’iwi is perfectly adapted to sip the honey of tubular flowers; we are able to innately taste the sweet nectar of the Silence of the Heart. We are able to realize that we are this extraordinary and divine stillness.

With a quiet mind, we are especially graced with the magnificent beauty of its outpouring. If we would just stop for an instant, we would have the immediate opportunity to spontaneously awaken to a steadfast beauty that never fades. This rebirth is our true renewal and the awakening from a dream that never happened. We discover that which is permanently here and never changes, even as seasons change.

Traditionally, the plight of the pseudo self, the concept of “me,” camouflages this radiant stillness. The ego endlessly searches to attain what it already is. Its strategy is to maintain itself, through healing the past or becoming what it wants to be in the future. Other than a constant “work in progress,” my question is where is it and who is it right now? I suggest that the answer is nowhere and nobody, but this is for you to investigate.

Unfortunately, the desires and fears of the pseudo self are conditionally based on past experience, so we unknowingly recreate what we are trying to escape. Generally, we have many excuses as to why we cannot be happy and yet this false sense of self is the only thief. This con artist is a myth and only seems to exist in the imagination of the time-based, divided mind. Can you see that it is creating its own pain gap? The invitation to awaken is the realization that you are a mysterious Secret Garden and that the pain is a consequence of believing in the mind's separation.

Through awakening to life’s inner purpose, “we” are surrendered and the radiance animates as life. We no longer require this hopeless relationship with “ourselves” that always seems to separate us from every other.

After all, we are not two; neither “i” nor “me.” We are neither subject nor object; we are free. In the grand release of conscious freedom, we realize the fulfillment as bliss and live as the wise love that we truly are.

We have unsuccessfully attempted to live the constraint of an individual consciousness that attempts to divide itself by notion as a separate subject. Through this unexamined assumption, we experience the limitation of unconnected separate objects. A limited subject can only imagine limitation. Who are you beyond every belief? It just makes sense that unrestrained freedom cannot be found within restraint.

In difficult times, we may lament our distance from the Supreme. Who is distanced and from whom? First, we insist upon our independent existence as true identity and then fear the mind's imagination of that distance. We grieve solely for what is unknown, unexamined and assumed.

We are not a vulnerable, singular point in a chaotic universe. We are the open and still Awareness that sustains all life. We are That which shines invincibly and joy is our birthright.

During the rejuvenation this spring, we have the chance to realize the ultimate truth of “no rain, no rainbows,” as we say on Maui. Life need not be burdened with suffering to appreciate true compassion and mystical happiness.

After all, even our gardens effortlessly delight: healing green, dancing fuchsia, laughing yellow with trumpets of purple, smiling faces of cream, a circle of blue featuring eyes of lavender!

When the seasons change, what remains?

If you had a choice, and I am not saying that you do, would you choose the concept of “you” or unfathomable bliss, perfect peace, unconditional love and causeless joy?

Hele me kahau’oli ... Go with Joy.

Katie Davis, Author, "Awake Joy"

For the Katie Davis Website, Author, Awake Joy please click www.KatieDavis.org.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Live Worldwide Broadcast with Katie Davis on Never Not Here Show

Wednesday, April 22, 2009 at 7:00 PM Central Daylight Time (Greenwich Mean minus 5 hours)

Join Katie Davis, author, Awake Joy, live directly from your computer on the internet with the Producer of Chicago's Never Not Here Show, Richard Miller.

If you wish to talk directly with Katie, please call the telephone number that will appear on the screen to ask questions or share.

The interview will be on spiritual awakening, Self-inquiry, oneness, enlightenment, Non-duality, Advaita and Self-realization.

At showtime, please click this link:

www.NeverNotHere.com/VideoPage.htm

More information at the Katie Davis Website:

www.KatieDavis.org

Live Worldwide Broadcast with Sundance Burke on Never Not Here

Thursday, April 2, 2009 at 7:00 PM Central Daylight Time (Greenwich Mean minus 5 hours)

Join Sundance Burke, author, Free Spirit, live directly from your computer on the internet with the Producer of Chicago's Never Not Here Show, Richard Miller.

If you wish to talk directly with Sundance, please call the telephone number that will appear on the screen to ask questions or share.

The interview will be on spiritual awakening, Self-inquiry, oneness, enlightenment, Non-duality, Advaita and Self-realization.

At showtime, please click this link:

www.NeverNotHere.com/VideoPage.htm


More information at the Sundance Burke Website:

www.SundanceBurke.org

Friends of the Heart April 2009 Issue is Posted by Katie Davis at www.KatieDavis.org


Friends of the Heart April Issue is published.

In This Issue:

"Mediterranean Silent Retreat" and Satsang
Katie Davis and Sundance Burke

SILENT RETREAT is an opportunity to step out of daily activities and profoundly rest as deep silence. This stillness is the aliveness that is already within you, untouched by the ego, its time and suffering. This is an extraordinary chance to realize the Heart that you genuinely are at the core of being through being present, deep resting and Self-inquiry ...(continue reading)

"Who Is Looking?" by Katie Davis, Author, Awake Joy
WE HAVE FOUR essential tools to realize who we really are. The first is sensing and conscious breathing, to get out of our heads and consciously in our bodies. This first basic step will spontaneously lead us to a second fundamental step, which is shifting from the time-based mind into the refuge of our timelessness or what we might refer to as presence. The third elemental tool is the most ... (continue reading)

"Who Is Witnessing the Dream? by Sundance Burke, Author, Free Spirit
IF YOU ACCEPT only the feeling-sense underlying and supporting "I am" and abide as pure Being, you will realize that your life is only a dream. Be the witnessing presence and do not allow the mind to tempt you into the wild goose chase of seeking your Self through imagination. With simple awareness, you can observe the thinking mind and what it's up to! You can watch the train of thoughts ... (continue reading)

"You Are So Beautiful" by Katie Davis, Awake by Katie Blog
YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL ... this knowing, glowing, bliss; So radiant ... complete ... so full that it is overflowing; Always asking for the impossibility of its speaking ... or kindly requesting for a word to be written that could not possibly contain it ... (continue reading)

"Maui Satsang, Oahu Satsang and Live Worldwide Broadcasts"
Sundance Burke and Katie Davis

Worldwide LIVE Broadcasts with Sundance Burke or Katie Davis with call ins from viewers and interview by Richard Miller from Chicago's Never Not Here Television Show. Tune in worldwide from your computer ... (continue reading)

To forward to the Friends of the Heart April Issue, please click:

www.KatieDavis.org/FriendsoftheHeart.html


Free monthly published articles on awakening, oneness, enlightenment, Non-duality, Advaita and Self-realization.

Mediterranean Silent Retreat & Satsang with Katie Davis & Sundance Burke ~ Registration Is Open


September 16-20, 2009 at Jardin de Mar Retreat Center by Valencia, Spain

Registration is now open for the Mediterranean Silent Retreat & Satsang with Katie Davis and Sundance Burke, September 16-20, 2009 at the Jardin de Mar Retreat Center that is 3 kilometres from Valencia, Spain and 15 minutes from the Mediterrean Beaches.

For a complete retreat description, Jardin de Mar Retreat Center photos and the "Retreat Brochure and Registration Form, please click:

www.KatieDavis.org/Schedule.html

You are invited to the Home of the Heart.