4.
07.
2010
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.
20.
04.
2010
Sometimes in life we can find ourselves surrounded by negative people and the negativity they produce can often cause us stress, take our energy and even sometimes wreak havoc in our lives. Here is a meditation to help you protect yourself from the negativity of others.Sit or lie down and close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths and exhale out any tension, stress or negativity that you feel within you. Notice a bright light begin to form around you until it envelops your entire body and see this light increase in brightness until it is almost blinding. Feel the heat from the light penetrate through your body and dissolve any negativity from your being. Stay with this feeling for as long as you feel necessary.Once you feel you have been completely purified, allow this light to fill you with light and love. Feel your body filling with light and love until you are so full that the area around you begins to fill as well. As the area around you fills, notice the energies begin to take the shape of a sphere around your body. See this entire sphere fill with love and light and as it becomes full notice the exterior of the sphere begin to crystallize into a mirrored surface. Know that this crystalline mirror is designed to protect you from negativity while still allowing loving energy in and allowing you to send loving energy out. It filters out only the lower frequency negative energies, bouncing them back to their source just as a mirror does with light. Leave it up to the universe to deal with the energy as it sees fit once it is on its way back to its source.
This is a meditation that you can do not only for yourself, but for others in your family as well and you can even create spheres large enough to encompass your entire home should you feel the need to do so. You can do this meditation as often as you feel necessary – from every morning, to once a week or even just on occasion.
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.
18.
04.
2010
Please join us for the group meditation for a better world tonight at 10pm CDT and help spread the word! The bigger this group becomes, the more of an impact we will be able to make. We will be sending Reiki to all the participants who wish to receive it during the meditation as our way of saying thank you for helping us make the world a better place. Sign up the group’s webpage at http://www.virtualitystudio.com/gmfabwreiki.html if you would like Reiki sent to you during the meditation.
Main webpage for this group:
http://www.virtualitystudio.com/gmfabwreiki.html
Join us on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Group-Meditation-For-A-Better-World/109759975708104
14.
04.
2010
Visualizations are basically day-dreams that are directed for a specific purpose. Everyone has the capability to “visualize” in their own way and there is no right or wrong way to do it. I have always been a visual person, so my visualizations are typically like movies that play in my mind. People who are more sound-oriented might experience their visualizations though sound and those who are touch-oriented can easily visualize by imagining how something would feel.A great way to practice visualization is to pick a room in your home that you spend a lot of time in. Take time to walk through the room and notice all of the details – from the color on the walls to the materials it is made of, the furnishings that fill it, the way that the light comes through the windows during the day, the breeze blowing through the windows, the sounds you hear while you are there, and even the memories you have made there. Take off your socks and feel the way the floor feels beneath your bare feet. Glide your hand across a piece of furniture in the room and feel the texture of it or sit down and notice how it feels. Once you feel you are ready to visualize, just sit or lay down and close your eyes. Imagine yourself in that room and see what comes to you. Can you see the room in your mind? Do you hear anything? Can you feel the textures of the materials you touched earlier in your mind? Can you replay memories of things that happened in that space in your mind? If you are able to do any one of those things, you have successfully visualized that room.Most of us visualize in one way or another every day whether we are aware of it or not. Unfortunately for most of us, our visualizations are usually not directed toward things that are in our best interest. If you worry about something and imagine a possible worst-case scenario event in your mind over and over again (whether done visually, though sound or touch) you are visualizing and helping to attract that worst case scenario to you. When you get a large number of people obsessing negatively over something (such as the economy at the moment) the effects of the collective visualization become much more powerful.
Learn to harness this power and direct it instead toward your greater good and the greater good of everyone we share this planet with. Pick something you would like to see change for the better and imagine it exactly as you wish it to be. Don’t focus on how it will get there, just enjoy visualizing the perfect end result and trust that the universe will find a way to make it happen for everyone‘s greatest good. See it, hear it or feel it in your mind and allow the energies of love, happiness and gratitude build up within you. These energies are just as important as the visualization itself. Once your being can no longer contain all of this energy, feel your third eye center begin to open up and direct the energy from your visualization out to the universe and to the situation you are trying to change. Stay with this feeling for as long as you wish.
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.
10.
04.
2010
Sit or lie down and get comfortable. Take a few deep breaths and feel your body start to relax. Breathe in positivity and breathe out any tension, negativity, fear or stress you might have. Feel your crown chakra begin to open and visualize a bright white light coming toward you from all directions. Feel this light enter your crown chakra and begin to fill your body starting with your head and progressing downward until it fills your hands, legs and feet. Feel this white light fill you with love. Feel it penetrate each and every cell in your body until your body is so saturated with love and light that it can no longer be contained within you. As the light continues to fill your being, feel the love and light explode outward from your body taking with it any remaining residue of negativity until you exist as a channel of pure love and light. Feel the love and light continue to flow into you from all directions and shoot outward from you in all directions to the world and everyone in it. You can stay with this feeling for as long as you like.
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.
7.
04.
2010
We all too often feel as though the things in our world are happening to us and we feel hopeless or powerless to change what we see. We are taught from an early age just to accept the world as it is, to accept that we cannot change it and to learn to disconnect ourselves from what happens around us. It is true that there are certain things in life that we cannot physically change and it would be foolish, or even dangerous, for us to try and do so. What then is there that we can do?
Change isn’t something that is difficult – it isn’t something you need to strive for or work at. Change is as simple as starting with yourself and your own life. Begin by learning to focus on the positive in your own life. Learn to be grateful for all the positive things you have in your life, no matter how small. Show the people in your life how much you love them and let them know as often as possible. Be kind to all those who you cross paths with. Smile at people you meet, hold open doors for them, talk to them, and give out compliments or help as often as you can. As you help others, you influence them to do the same for others that they meet and much like a boat does in water, you send out positive ripples in all directions wherever you go. Change is that simple, but it needs to begin somewhere – it needs to begin with you, and me, and everyone else who reads this.
Empowering Meditation:
Take time every day – even if you can only spare five minutes to send love out to the world. Start with the people in your life you truly care about and feel the love you have for them. Feel the love build up inside of you until it fills up your entire being and then direct the love to the person you are thinking about. Once you have mastered the art of sending love to those you know and care for, expand your love to encompass the entire planet and all who reside within it. As you send out love to the world, not only will you receive love back, but everyone who received your love will become more loving themselves.
Join the Group Meditation For A Better World and become part of a global movement toward love! Visit the group’s main webpage at http://www.virtualitystudio.com/gmfabwreiki.html and become a fan on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Group-Meditation-For-A-Better-World/109759975708104?v=wall for meditation times and group updates and discussions!
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.
26.
03.
2010
In preparation for the first Group Meditation For A Better World this Sunday I want to open up a dialogue with everyone about what you feel needs to be changed in our world. While I know it is important to stay positive and not to focus on negativity, we do (unfortunately) need to be aware of what is going on in the world if we ever hope to change it for the better. We cannot achieve anything if our eyes are closed, our ears are plugged and our heads are buried in the sand. This doesn’t mean that we need to dwell on these things or fight against them… we just need to be aware of them so we can send our love to those in need of it and so we can visualize a positive outcome for each situation. Here are some of the issues I have recently come across that led me to form this group… visit with caution as some of the images are graphic and/or disturbing:
Slaughter of dolphins in Japan: http://www.thecovemovie.com/
Slaughter of whales in Denmark: http://earthfirst.com/pilot-whales-brutally-slaughtered-annually-in-the-faroe-islands/
Dogs, cats and other animals skinned alive for their furs in China: http://animalsaviors.org/
Abuse, rape and violence toward women and children worldwide: http://www.hrw.org/en/category/topic/women
The global economy is also an issue to most people at the present time and could use a great deal of positive energy.
The above are only a handful out of many situations (affecting both humans and animals) across our planet that could use improvement. Please share anything you are aware of so we can begin to send our love and positivity to all the wonderful beings in our world who greatly need it. We can work together to create positive change for the greater good of us all – from the economy, to the treatment of people and animals, to world peace. The more people who participate in this meditation the more powerful it will be, so please help us to spread the word!
Please sign up at one or all of our online locations so we know who will be participating and so we can let you know when the upcoming meditations will be. We plan to do at least a few group meditations each month.
The Group Meditation For A Better World’s Main homepage: http://www.virtualitystudio.com/gmfabwreiki.html
Gaia group: http://anewgaia.ning.com/group/Group_Meditation
Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=103540023013888&ref=mf
Our greatest thanks to all who take this journey with us!
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.
17.
03.
2010
The good old question of what you want to be when you grow up is just as important at the age of 80 or 90 as it is when you are 10 or 20. You don’t have to get it right the first time and you don’t have to actually grow up either… really. The fact is, when you truly enjoy what you do, it can often feel more like playing than work anyway. We all incarnated into this world for a reason. We came here to do something, experience something or learn something. This isn’t a mission you were commanded to achieve, but something you chose to come here for.Have you ever woke up one morning and thought to yourself, “this is it? There has to be something more to life than this.” I certainly felt that way. After doing everything in life that I thought I was supposed to do, I realized I wasn’t fulfilled. I had a beautiful home, the education, the career, the marriage, a great car and all of the material things that made for an outwardly perfect life, but I knew that something was still missing. I knew that this nagging sense of unfulfillment was my dharma’s way of calling me back to my higher purpose and I needed to find out what that was.The wonderful thing about the universe is that once you recognize that inner call from your soul to embark on that journey you receive the guidance you need to get you there. Things fall into place and opportunities open up for you that you could have never conceived of before. Even if you don’t know what it is that you are looking for, just the act of recognition alone can often work wonders. Surrender to your higher self and to the universe and the path will be shown to you.Many people fear that if they don’t do what they came here for that they will be punished in some way… this isn’t true. There is no authority in the sky judging you and handing out punishments for taking a different path. Remember that you came here of your own free will to do or experience something of your own choosing. If you aren’t walking down that path, you will simply feel unfulfilled and perhaps receive some guidance when you are ready. Guidance can come in a variety of forms – people you meet, things you see, coincidences, aha moments, feelings and even obstacles. The more open to and aware of the guidance we are, the smoother of a path we are usually able to lead.
If you come upon an obstacle or two, don’t let that worry you. I have come upon many myself and can say in hindsight that as frustrating and painful as those obstacles sometimes were, I can now honestly look at them as blessings in disguise. I happen to be one of those people who is more spiritually “dense” for lack of a better word and it took quite a lot of effort on the part of the universe to guide me. I am starting to get better, but it does take effort, especially on the part of those of us with very “busy” minds.
Once I made the decision to find my purpose, changes in my life started to fall into place rather quickly. I divorced my husband in the summer of 2007 and everything went very smoothly, our home even sold within a week. I spent a great deal of my time in the remainder of that year healing from my marriage, from the death of my father several years earlier and from my childhood. I went to therapy once a week and between therapy I immersed myself in the writings of Louise Hay, Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra and Rhonda Byrne.
I was working as an architect at the time and was not totally thrilled about my career. While I enjoyed the artistic aspects of architecture, there was not much room in it for helping other people and that left me feeling very unfulfilled. I knew I wanted to help people in some way, but I wasn’t sure how to do that exactly. I dreamed about one day figuring out how to do that for a living because I was so exhausted after work each day that I knew it wasn’t something I would ever accomplish in my spare time.
My analytical mind had trouble accepting that drastic of a career change, especially after the amount of schooling and effort that went into obtaining my license in the first place. My entire identity had been built up around my career as an architect and I felt it would be irresponsible to give that up. I decided to look for a job doing architectural visualization as it was my specialization back in college. I figured that since it was more artistic I would be happier and much more fulfilled doing that. I had a phone interview with a firm out in Los Angeles who was looking for someone with my skills and it went really well… the only problem was that the visualization portion of the job would be only a small part of what I would actually be doing there. I finished the interview well, but thought to myself that it would be the same situation, just in a new location and I came to the conclusion that if I couldn’t find a job doing what I loved that I should just create one for myself. The thought of taking such a huge risk scared me though.
In early 2008, the company that I worked for was advertising at a home and garden trade show and I was scheduled to represent us there. On my drive there I was immersed in thought as usual when the realization came to mind again, “I would really just like to help people.” As usual the thought was quickly dismissed by a long line of excuses and logical reasoning. I arrived early and was sitting in our booth waiting for the show to start when a stranger came up to me and said, “I don’t normally do this, but God asked me to tell you something, is it ok with you?” “Sure,” I said. She continued, “He wanted me to let you know that there is an idea in your head that you have been thinking about recently and that idea did not come from you, it came from somewhere else, it came from him. You need to go home and be still, be silent, so he can talk to you.” I left the show that day feeling somewhat stunned, but comforted that I was at least moving in the right direction.
The question was however, which “idea” was it… the idea of starting my own business, or fulfilling the desire of helping others? I quickly reasoned my way out of the idea of a life of service… partly out of practicality and partly out of the fear of making such a huge leap.
Shortly thereafter I started my firm Virtuality as an architectural visualization business. After a year of working tirelessly to gain clients the recession hit full force with business trickling in at a snail’s pace. I had enough business to just barely survive, and more than enough time to think. That inner voice started call out even louder and I began to wonder if I had once again veered off course. I realized that something was still missing.
I still wanted to help others, but was unsure of how to do that. I began to write in my spare time as a way to help me find my purpose. I thought that if I could figure it all out, then perhaps what I experienced would be helpful to others as well. I felt lost again, but eventually learned to accept that feeling and embraced the endless possibilities I had before me. I hadn’t had that sense of freedom since childhood and it was a welcome, although scary, feeling. Every day for about a month I would drag my notepad out into the garden and write. By the end of that month I had amassed enough material to fill a book. The fact that I didn’t have much business coming in was scary, but who would’ve ever thought I would write a book. I was both giddy and petrified at the same time, but assured that I was on the right path.
In August of 2009 my mother and I decided to take a spiritual trip though the western United States. We had about 17 days to embark on our journey. Both of us knew that we needed to go, but neither of us really knew why. I knew that I needed to take inspirational photography, both for my book and to sell, but I could sense that there was a greater purpose. Living in and around the big city of Chicago for all of my life, I had never really ventured out that far… mostly because I never had to. As a result I didn’t get to see the magnitude of God’s beauty. In Chicago I could see things that man had built, but never experience the wonder of God’s creations. I had never experienced the mountains. I had never been to a place where I could see the sky touch the earth. I had never been to a place so pure that you could actually feel the presence of God. I went out in search of photography, but came back with my soul.
While at Glacier National Park I realized when trying to photograph a waterfall that the sound and movement of it was so beautiful that I needed to share it. I thought for those people like me, who live in big cities away from nature, that watching a video of a waterfall or stream would be a great way to meditate. I started on a new quest to capture as much beauty as I possibly could – both for myself and for others. After the trip I spent a great deal of time and energy putting together the meditations and finishing my book.
It seemed that every time I was ready to take the next step, the next teacher would appear. While on our travels we came across a spiritual practice called Reiki. We thought it was interesting, so we signed up for classes to learn more about it and how to do it when we got home. I was skeptical, but figured at the very worst it would be a great meditation retreat. Our experience there was unlike anything we could have ever expected. After the attunement and over the course of the Reiki sessions the following month, I went from a person who worried constantly about almost everything to a much more balanced individual. I stopped clenching my jaw and my headaches went away. I actually look younger now as well because my face is much more relaxed than it was before and I am much more happy.
The only downside to the attunement was the 21 day clearing process that followed. In truth, the 21 day clearing process following the attunement was not fun at all. I was both physically ill and an emotional wreck for that entire period of time. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Reiki, during the 21 day process, the Reiki energy flows through your different chakra centers and helps to release any spiritual blocks that impede the flow of energy. I must have had a lot of negativity that needed to be released, but I figured I was better off releasing it than trying to hold it in. It was amazing to me to see just how much old “stuff” came up that I thought I had dealt with years earlier. It was at that point that I realized just how much of a difference there is between burying an issue and releasing it. That discovery alone was priceless.
The Reiki also seemed to be massively accelerating everything I was doing on my spiritual path and I wanted to learn more. Over the next few months I received a series of several other Reiki attunements from different teachers to learn other forms of Reiki. After experiencing what it had done for me, I felt that I had finally found my way to help others. I decided to incorporate it into everything that I was doing and made the choice to transform my company from the architectural visualization firm it once was into a Reiki and meditation studio. That is the benefit of working for yourself I guess – your career can evolve along with you much more readily.
Had the recession never hit or had I received tons of architectural business right after opening my firm, I probably would have continued on doing what I knew. I would have been comfortable, but unfulfilled.
The path my life has taken has proven to me that the things in our life we often see as obstacles are really just the universe’s way of guiding us toward our highest fulfillment. Looking back on all of the frustrating, scary and seemingly horrible things that have happened in my life, I wouldn’t trade an ounce of it because I know that it all brought me to where I am today. I can now stand in awe of how intelligent the whole process was, knowing that if things had always gone the way that I planned or hoped for I would be nowhere near as happy or fulfilled as I am right now.
Your path isn’t something that you need to only find once, it is an ever evolving journey that unfolds one step at a time before you. Keep your eyes open, trust your intuition and have faith in the universe to guide you in the right direction. With the universe’s help we can all achieve the things we came into our lives to do. May you have the best of luck, happiness and peace on your journey.
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.
17.
02.
2010
I have created a new spiritual forum at http://spiritualpeople.ning.com/ where spiritual people can get together to discuss spiritual things, share information, inspire one another and grow together! Stop by for a visit and become a part of this new community!
Melissa Marcy
Virtuality Studio Reiki and Meditation
14.
02.
2010
Pick something you wish to manifest and visualize having it each and every day. Remember to be consistent, but keep this practice enjoyable.
