Click here to view a photo slideshow by Ken Jones from Sacred Tones on New Year’s Eve at Prana.
On New Year’s Eve, we come together at Prana to sing the sacred names of the Lord. What better way to celebrate the New Year than to share our gratitude for all we are being given. At Prana, we regularly hold our Sacred Tones evenings on Mondays, but this lovely evening is special — it is the tithing of our devotion to the Spirit we all are and the seeding for even greater blessings for the year to come.
As is usually the case, the event was hosted by MSIA president, Paul Kaye. However, this year was made even more special by the unexpected presence of the Mystical Traveler, John Morton.
The theme of the evening was letting go of the old and setting intentions for the new. Paul led us in calling in the Light and then moved to ease us into the attitude of receptivity through the Breathing Meditation.
Breathing is a process of letting go of the old (air) and receiving into us the new. In the meditation, John-Roger said, “I knew that breath was intimately connected to life and to Spirit and that everything that breathes has life in it. And life is awareness, which is Spirit, which is God.” Just as in the breath, letting go is a natural process. And we then do not have to take a breath because we are being breathed — all we have to do is receive. When we hold on to the old it is like holding the breath. We need to release the old (and that which is stagnant and not working for us) so that there is space to receive what Spirit is breathing in for us.
Next, Paul took us through the Light Attunement to prepare us to let go. He then told us that there are three steps to this process of letting go:
1) Putting down what we are to let go on paper
2) Forgiving it all
3) Ripping up the paper
Paul told us to choose partners and discuss with them what we wanted to let go. Then we wrote down the things we wanted to “lose.”
Next, we were treated to the Forgiveness Excerpt (another selection from the Momentum: Letting Love Lead CD). Forgiveness is part of the process of letting go. It has the effect of releasing you from the energy drain of something that is pulling on you. It’s really freeing! J-R says in this excerpt, “(Forgiveness) …is not about you forgiving me anything. It’s about me forgiving me for giving up myself to the exterior senses and selling myself out and not having a wonderful, joyful life inside. That’s the greater forgiveness.”
We then all had the opportunity to do forgiveness with ourselves, usually in the form of, “I forgive myself for judging myself as…” Judgment is different from evaluation. Evaluation comes from neutral observation; judgment comes from the placing of an emotional value on what is observed. Once forgiven, the judgments lose their hold and we become freer. To demonstrate that, we performed the third part of the Light Attunement formula — we ripped up the paper.
Oh, I almost forgot — there’s something missing. Forgiving is great and forgiving & forgetting is even better. Letting go seems complete when you no longer have the emotional memory of the thing. When that’s gone, you’re over it.
Finally we got to the bottom line — the Loving. Paul played the “Love it as it Is” track from the Momentum CD. This track served to remind us that we must always start from where we are, and wherever we are is just perfect. We don’t have to become anything special for God to love us. We shouldn’t think we have to change anything to love ourselves. Welcome anything that is a part of you. When all that “shoulda, woulda, coulda” is gone, so are the blocks to enjoying who we are.
When the letting go and letting love in was complete, we were ready to “be breathed” by Spirit. We shared our intentions for the New Year with our partners. We wrote these down too, but didn’t tear them up. We placed them in an envelope to view on December 31st of 2009.
To cap off our evening, we received a wonderful blessing for the New Year from the Traveler. The planned evening ended at around 9:30 pm, and some folks went to other festivities while others continued to celebrate here at Prana. There were plenty of Urth Caffe goodies and sparkling apple cider for toasts.
We had a great time celebrating the New Year. Please know that you’re always welcome to come celebrate a New Year here at Prana, on New Year’s Eve and any other day. And if you’d like to experience a day of “Receiving through Grace,” come do that with us at the next Spiritual Spa Day, Saturday, January 24. Register online at www.peacelabyrinth.org or call the registrar at 323-737-4055 ext 1137 or email registrar@peacelabyrinth.org. God Bless You!
