“One of the most precious moments that I relish, is when our son, 8 years old, will quietly tip toe into my room when I am doing SEs and gently climb up and lay close under my SE blanket. He will lay silently for a few minutes on my chest. The peace and the love is so sweet. Then he’ll just as quietly and gently slip away and return to bed to sleep. A wonderful warm aspect of my SEs.”
S.S.
“SE’s are like being wrapped in a blanket of God. I remember being at Living in Grace and having that real experience. The blanket was palpable and luxurious and so ever-loving. I could almost touch it and I could certainly feel it. Doing SE’s and getting to “that place,” where I experience something I call that place of peace or sense of something bigger and greater, is better than anything. When I felt that blanket at the Grace retreat, one of my comments was, ” Wow. It is better than sex!”. It certainly makes life so much better and much more pleasing. I love being wrapped in that love….”
D.L.K.
” “For many years I have not had a “significant” experience that I can recall, and thought that could be helpful for others who haven’t either. I find for me that I will have shifts in consciousness, perhaps it is a change in attitude or a sense that it is now time to try something different. Sometimes I just get new ideas, clarification, or sense of Peace and wellbeing. Sometimes I remember that I have to buy laundry detergent.
” Despite this subtle experience of Spirit, I do have a daily inspiration to keep at the SE’s It seems if I don’t do SE’s I don’t feel “right.” It is a physical sensation as well as mental: I am tired, more easily irritated, have difficulty concentrating, and my eyes don’t seem to work as well. My husband, who doesn’t”do” MSIA, nonetheless fully supports me in my SE’s because he notices a difference when I haven’t done them. I am grateful for this sense of un-wellbeing because it reminds me daily that I benefit from my experience with God and it makes me feel that he is keeping an eye on me, nudging me toward continued devotion.
” Living far from L.A.and the “heart” of MSIA, some of my favorite SE experiences are when [we are invited] to do a certain tape on a certain day or time (e.g. Easter and the Luxor or Sphinx meditation). I feel very touched to be “with” my MSIA brothers and sisters and welcome the chance to be “live” with the MSIA/Spirit energy.
My best to you today my friend,”
L.M.H.
“I have twin 7-year-old girls who sometimes come and chant with me. They think that you say ‘FU,’ saying it aloud like ‘Phew’ instead of ‘HU’! Sometimes I think Phew is more appropriate. It’s a really nice experience as we sit, with one or both of them on my lap, and chant together.”
“When my youngest daughter was a teen, she used to say that she was not interested in anything that I did in MSIA, classes, meditations, etc., and that she only liked the sound of that Hu that we chanted, because it had a way to echoe in her chest.”
Love, S.G.
“My favorite quote from J-R about se’s and Soul Transcendence is: ‘If you were to learn the secret of Soul Transcendence look to the good and Divine in people and things (and this includes yourself) and leave the rest to God.'”
C.D.
“After doing SEs, I’m more aware of the Beloved within me…for some reason, I also have more energy. When I start feeling a little ‘drained’ and ‘on edge’, I realize it’s time for ‘gas from God’ (SEs).”
C.D.
“My favorite books that support me in doing me se’s are the Discourses.”
C.D.
“S.E.s to me are like a blanket of solid strength and support, and a source of pure water. Why do I describe them this way? Because when I haven’t done them, I experience myself as out in the cold without support against the weather and out in the desert without water. After doing S.E.s, I am more whole and ready to front the day, having handled my primary directive. I want to go home to God someday. S.E.s are my hope and joyful prayer answered.”
LL, I.C.
“I have 2 teenagers at home. It has become so ordinary in my house for me to be up in my room yet again, for freeform writing, s.e’s or some such inner work, that I can often hear the kids downstairs loudly saying “shhhhhhhh!” to each other on my behalf. The funny thing is, it can sometimes lead to the typical teenaged bickering about how one of them knows better than the other that Mom asked for quiet. It is lovely being a Mom with the added bonus of my own s.zzz. deterent!
Also, never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect my kids to ask ‘how were your s.e.’s today, Mama/Mom?’ What a blessing.
L.B.
“When I first got involved with MSIA, I watched other people doing SE’s and it seemed very strange and unappealing. Finally my roommate and I decided to do SE’s for 10 minutes. We sat cross legged in front of the kitchen timer set for 5 minutes while we chanted. Then we reset the time for 5 minutes while we listened inwardly. We shared afterward and found we could both hardly wait for the bell to go off, we were so fidgety. It seemed like such a long time!
Eventually we got more used to it and we decided to sit up straight and chant ANI-HU out loud for 30 minutes. I felt kinda dizzy/woozy and wanted to pass out. But it was also a good feeling, like doing drugs. In fact, we even quit doing drugs. SE’s were better. After SE’s we even got the munchies. We went to Baskin Robins and were laughing and kidding around a lot. The clerk didn’t believe us that this hilarity came from meditating, and not from smoking something.
It was about five or six years of just more of the same, no bells and whistles. Why did I keep doing it? I asked myself that. It’s just that there was Something. I couldn’t say what. I wanted it. After about five or six years of doing SE’s anywhere from 5 minutes to 5 hours a day, I woke up one morning and there it was—the Light! Up until then I had not experienced it consciously. It was all around me and through me and in everything. It has never gone away to this day. And I could understand atheists and cynics and people who feel lost, because if you haven’t experienced it, how could you know what it is?
I started incorporating SE’s into my life as a legal secretary. Almost every afternoon for fifteen years I stopped for 10 or 15 minutes and did SE’s. I took myself away to a quiet place like an empty conference room, or a stall in the bathroom, or even in my car if that was the only place I could find. Every time I did this, my troubles lifted in such a short time, my attitude improved, my body and mind felt rested, and many good things were restored in my inner balance. I don’t know how I could have made it through the day in such a stressful occupation, if I didn’t have SE’s
I started doing a few SO-HAWNG’s while walking from my desk to the photocopy machine, just to balance out my mind and emotions. I started doing a few ANI-HU’s while waiting in line. I started doing a few Heartfelt Meditation moments while I was talking on the phone to irate clients. I started listening inwardly while I was doing recreational activities like playing the piano. I received inner guidance and comfort in ways that really cannot be verbalized. The SE’s always improved the situation. Always.
Thank you, J-R, for teaching us this mysterious and valuable process called Spiritual Exercises.
In Love & Light,
B.W.
“I remember sitting one day in the early 80’s in the California Room in what is now the USM building and hearing J-R give a seminar. He said something that became particularly visually, auditorilly, and kinesthetically fascinating to me.
He was was saying that, as it got closer to the Millenium—2000 and maybe up through around 2015—it might feel like a rollercoaster ride, and that all we would be able to do was to hold on to the ‘subway strap.’ That subway strap would be our s.e.’s. He said we might feel like we were falling and being pushed and pulled and couldn’t stay grounded…….in fact, that there was nothing underneath us,,,,,,but as long as we kept doing our s.e.’s, that would be all we needed and we would be on solid ground. The subway strap of the sound current. It might not feel like it, he said, but we would be protected. He said we would be being used a lot in the invisible realms or something like that to support the Traveler.
Last night I sat down in my s.e. chair , put on my seatbelt and wham, the jet took off. My third eye was spinning and the crown chakra…that’s what it felt like. My heart ws bursting. I was flying with the Mystical Traveler Airlines. Hold on to the subway strap of se’s. First stop ecstacy, 2nd stop bliss and always the awe…that we’re going straight home to God.”
Love,
S.K.
