Q: A client recently wrote me, "The word dharma came up a couple of times while I was at a yoga workshop. I still can’t get a grasp of what it means. I thought you might explain it better than what I’ve read." A: Dharma is right action. It's being in the flow of your authentic self, following your personal path that is in alignment with your soul and your purpose and with the universe. Dharma never violates the laws of nature; it is in tune with Truth and the universe. Your dharma and path are unique. Copying what someone else does is not a good choice, although it is common. You have to find what inherently feels right and...
"You can change the world by being yourself." Yoko Ono Be your true self. Keep in mind that, as Oscar Wilde said, "everyone else is already taken." Why would you want to be exactly like everyone else? How boring! If you never seem to fit in, perhaps there is something good and magnificent about that, and you should figure it out. I remember clearly struggling to fit in and finding out over and over that I didn't. It was a huge revelation when this idea popped into my head that my individuality was a plus and deserved attention. This allowed me to flourish more. It's when my life started opening up even more. Why live a restricted life that doesn't...
Create beauty around you! Beauty is a requirement in Vastu, a requirement for which I am grateful, since I'm an artist and very inspired and nourished by beauty. Creating beauty around you should be legally required, since it has such a positive impact on the world! I write about beauty quite a bit in my book Vastu: Transcendental Home Design in Harmony with Nature. This is a personal Shiva altar in my home. It's a little corner of a bookcase on which I've installed a small Miriam Kasin watercolor painting from 1974 when I was on Vedic Studies Program in Europe with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. I added an empty organic perfume bottle with a sprig of dried hydrangea in an...
Years ago when I moved into a Cambridge apartment with my now-friend of over forty years, we consolidated our houseplant collections. Today when we get together in the San Francisco Bay Area, we both take photos of amazing flowers we find in nature. We harvest Meyer lemons, oranges, and nasturtium blossoms in her backyard and oregano and other herbs from my porch garden. Lately I've read a number of articles that propound the virtues of having houseplants and gardens to live longer and happier. We knew this already, but it's nice to see it verified. An article on simplemost.com gives these findings from Harvard: "Women who lived in the greenest surroundings were found to have mortality rates a whopping 12 percent lower...
March 28 is the beginning of the new year this time in the Vedic calendar. Recommit to what you wish to manifest. I'll be meditating, spending more time making art, immersing myself in nature. More love. More consciousness. More prosperity. And helping lots of people transform their lives with my Vastu sacred space design consultations. After the challenges of the first few months of the year, it's time to get back to your Self. Everything will be fine. I know you've done this before, but set your intentions, your sacred sankalpa. Allow yourself to do the things you most want to do. When you're happy, everything flows to you. When you're centered, everything comes to you. Meditate. Create. Let the...
