Virtuality Studio

Please join us for our upcoming meditation retreats this August and September!  We will begin advertising for these soon, so reserve your space now!!!  Details are available at www.virtualitystudio.com!

Beginner Meditation Retreats - 1 Day
Our beginner meditation retreats are a wonderful way for those new to meditation to begin their practice. We provide an in depth introduction to the art of meditation, discuss some of the common difficulties people experience while meditating and how to work around them, we instruct you in several different forms of meditation and practice the meditations together as a group. Beginner meditation retreats run from 9am until 4pm and include a vegetarian lunch.8-15-10 | Park Ridge/Des Plaines | $125
9-12-10 | Park Ridge/Des Plaines | $125
 

Advanced Meditation Retreats - 1 Day
Our advanced meditation retreats are designed for those already comfortable with meditating for longer periods of time. In our advanced meditation retreats, we meditate together as a group incorporating both guided and silent meditations. Advanced meditation retreats run from 9am until 4pm and include a vegetarian lunch.

8-29-10 | Park Ridge/Des Plaines | $125
9-26-10 | Park Ridge/Des Plaines | $125

Get comfortable and take a nice, slow, deep breath. Breathe in love and breathe out any tension you might have. Feel your body relax.

Put your attention on the third eye area just behind your forehead. Allow your attention to focus there and grow in awareness. As it grows, notice that it begins to draw your consciousness away from other areas of your body toward it. Feel your consciousness flow through you like a gentle current as it travels upward and collects at your third eye.

Notice after a few moments that your awareness is completely seated at your third eye. Allow your consciousness to remain there, and as it does, feel the third eye chakra cleansed and healed by your presence until it begins to open.

As it opens, feel all barriers between you and the intelligence of Spirit begin to fall away. Feel more connected to the world, to Spirit, and to your path and purpose. Stay with the meditation for as long as you find it enjoyable.

Allow yourself to come back to the room now and back to your physical body. Take your time. When you feel ready, wiggle your fingers and toes and allow yourself a few moments to adjust before getting up. Take a few moments now to write down any experiences or insights you had during the meditation so that you do not forget them.

Melissa Marcy
Virtuality Studio Reiki and Meditation

Disclaimer: this article is intended for inspirational purposes only and the techniques and ideas described herein are not to be used as a substitute for professional medical or psychological treatment or without prior consultation with, approval of, and under the supervision of your physician or therapist. Application of the information, techniques and ideas in this article is at the sole risk and discretion of the reader.

Join us for the special meditation TONIGHT at 10pm central!!!!!!  The special focus of this meditation is sending love to all the negativity in the world so that it may be transformed into positive energy for the greatest good of all. Please spread the word, and let’s see how many people we can get meditating with us tonight!  =)

Join us on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Group-Meditation-For-A-Better-World/109759975708104?v=wall

We are teaching Reiki 1 on Monday, July 26 from 9am-5pm for all who are interested.  Reiki 2 will be held a month later on August, 23. 

 Chicagoland/Park Ridge

$125 for a single class Reiki 1 or 2  (Reiki 2 requires you have already completed a Reiki 1 course).

Save $50 when you register for both Reiki 1 and 2 together!!!

This is a clearing, or purifying visualization you can use to get yourself into the right frame of mind for meditation or any other spiritual work you are doing. 

Get comfortable and take a nice, slow, deep breath. Breathe in love and breathe out any tension you might have. Feel your body relax.

Imagine that you are sitting beside a still clear pond in the middle of a beautiful pine forest. You touch the cool water with your hand and send a few ripples across the surface blurring your reflection. Notice that the water is the absolute perfect temperature for you, not too hot and not too cold, just the way you like it. The water is so clear and clean that you can see the bottom of the pond perfectly. You reach down and pull out a pebble from the pond floor and hold it in your hand. Look at this pebble and notice everything you can about it.

You place your feet into the pond and feel the cleansing powers of this water flow upward like waves through your body. You immerse yourself deeper into the pond and lay down in the water. As you allow yourself to rest in the water, the powers of this pond flow through your entire body, absorbing, dissolving and transforming any fear, anger, worry, sadness, disappointment, pain, frustration or other negativity within you. Everything you have ever been through, every mistake you think that you have ever made, every regret, and every heartache you have ever had dissolves into this pond and is transformed into pure love.

Allow yourself to come back to the room now and back to your physical body. Take your time. When you feel ready, wiggle your fingers and toes and allow yourself a few moments to adjust before getting up.

Take a few moments now to write down any experiences or insights you had during the meditation so that you do not forget them.

This meditation will be available in mp3 format soon on our website at www.virtualitystudio.com!!!! Stay tuned for updates!

Melissa Marcy
Virtuality Studio Reiki and Meditation

Disclaimer: this article is intended for inspirational purposes only and the techniques and ideas described herein are not to be used as a substitute for professional medical or psychological treatment or without prior consultation with, approval of, and under the supervision of your physician or therapist. Application of the information, techniques and ideas in this article is at the sole risk and discretion of the reader.

One thing I have learned is that life is much easier and more pleasant when we can truly allow ourselves to go with the flow.  People often say, “don’t worry, everything happens for a reason,” but we don’t always fully accept that when things don’t seem to go our way.  I know I didn’t.  For many years I struggled and did everything I could to fight the flow only to get nowhere and arrive there stressed, agitated and dissapointed. 

At a certain point something changed within me however, and I now live from a sense of inner knowing that I am always exactly where the universe needs me to be at any given moment.  Regardless of what happens in life, I know that it is just a moment in the flow of things that is bringing me to where I am supposed to go.   If I get stuck in traffic, I am stuck there because I am supposed to be there.  If things aren’t going as planned, I let go and trust that they are unfolding exactly as they should.  Through synchronicity everything always works out in the highest and greatest good of all involved, including me.  Life is much more peaceful this way. 

This doesn’t mean that I don’t work hard or sometimes get caught up in trying to achieve something.  I am just much less attached to the results and much more open to allowing the work to flow through me rather than trying to control it.  I receive much more guidance from the universe now and am more receptive to it when it comes.  The best part is that the more I have learned to let go, the more perfectly things unfold on their own. 

We can either work from our limited human minds and struggle against the current, or we can open ourselves up to infinite wisdom and go with the flow.  The choice is yours.

Melissa Marcy
Virtuality Studio Reiki and Meditation

Disclaimer: this article is intended for inspirational purposes only and the techniques and ideas described herein are not to be used as a substitute for professional medical or psychological treatment or without prior consultation with, approval of, and under the supervision of your physician or therapist. Application of the information, techniques and ideas in this article is at the sole risk and discretion of the reader.

Virtuality will soon be offering Reiki 1-4 classes, if you are interested please give us a call to sign up in advance, or check our website frequently for updates!

 Namaste,

Melissa

We updated our website last night to showcase our new meditation retreats and group meditations!  Coming this fall, we will also be offering Reiki classes.  Check it out and let us know what you think!

 Namaste,

Melissa

Select a word, prayer, piece of scripture or affirmation that speaks to you. Use a set of mala beads and recite your chosen mantra starting on the summit (large) bead. Enjoy the silence after the mantra and then move onto the next bead and repeat until you have come full circle back to the summit. If you wish to continue once reaching the summit, flip the mala and reverse direction. Praying the rosary can also be practiced in a similarly mindful manner and is a wonderful way to meditate.

From the Meditation For Beginners Retreat Workbook Copyright 2010, Virtuality.

Melissa Marcy
Virtuality Studio Reiki and Meditation

Disclaimer: this article is intended for inspirational purposes only and the techniques and ideas described herein are not to be used as a substitute for professional medical or psychological treatment or without prior consultation with, approval of, and under the supervision of your physician or therapist. Application of the information, techniques and ideas in this article is at the sole risk and discretion of the reader.

“You have the right to work, but for the work’s sake only.
You have no right to the fruits of work.
Desire for the fruits of work must never be your motive in working.
Never give way to laziness, either.
Perform every action with your heart fixed on the Supreme Lord.
Renounce attachment to the fruits.
Be even tempered in success and failure;
for it is this evenness of temper which is meant by yoga.
Work done with anxiety about results is far inferior to work done without such anxiety,
in the calm of self-surrender.
Seek refuge in the knowledge of Brahman.
They who work selfishly for results are miserable.”

— Bhagavadgita Mahabharata (from www.goodreads.com )

The words above touched me deeply and are a great reminder of how important non-attachment is in life.  Non-attachment to the fruits of your labor, or really anything for that matter, is often easier said than done, especially when what you are working on is something you care very much about.  This moves us a step beyond faith (that things will work out) and surrender (that a higher power knows best) to devotion (whether it be to God, to the work itself, to helping another or any other cause outside yourself).  Non-attachment means acting selflessly and out of pure love and joy, much like a parent who cares for their child out of pure love while expecting nothing in return.  The paradox of this is that the work we perform from a state of pure joy, love and non-attachment is often the work that ends up bringing us the greatest rewards in the end. 

Melissa Marcy
Virtuality Studio Reiki and Meditation

Disclaimer: this article is intended for inspirational purposes only and the techniques and ideas described herein are not to be used as a substitute for professional medical or psychological treatment or without prior consultation with, approval of, and under the supervision of your physician or therapist. Application of the information, techniques and ideas in this article is at the sole risk and discretion of the reader.