Shambhala Mountain Center Blog » bring balance to your life

Not So Fast

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:54:05 +0000

Last week a friend sent me a Wall Street Journal article by John Freeman entitled “Not So Fast,” an excerpt from his book The Tyranny of E-mail. Freeman’s article points out the bitter irony of today’s media: the faster we communicate, the less we understand; our incessant interconnectivity has actually done little to connect us. Instead, as Freeman explains, social media has “isolated us from the people with whom we live” and has encouraged “flotillas of unnecessary jabbering, making it difficult to tell signal from noise.” Living in a “constant state of digital jet lag,” he concludes, we have become largely unaware of our bodies and minds.

This article is a reminder of the need to slow down and remember what’s really important. Freeman sees the frantic speed at which we text, chat, and type as a way to stave off the specter of our own mortality, a temporary relief from the reality that our lives are finite. “Busyness,” he says, “numbs the pain of this awareness.” But both body-based practices and mindfulness disciplines teach us that in the heart of this pain is the possibility of freedom, the opportunity to face the fact of our impermanence, and to live our lives accordingly.

With society increasingly wired for instant communication and remote networking, it can be difficult to remember to slow down. At Shambhala Mountain Center we offer you refuge from the speediness of modern society. Our programs provide opportunities to transform busyness to mindfulness — a chance to rest and renew your mind, body, and spirit.

Consider this blog post a beautifully-wrapped paradox: delivered via its speedy efficient medium, it is an invitation to stop, turn the laptop off, take a breath, and rest — truly rest.

Best,

Brian Spielmann

Feng Shui: A Cycle of Natural Elements

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:21:08 +0000

Natural elements play a strong role in the feng shui cycle. There are five major elements to feng shui that are addressed throughout the practice: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Each of these main aspects needs to nurture each other in order to maintain a healthy circular system. As a result, if one of these is not nurtured, it weakens and prevents the circle from being completed. In decorating, many of the pieces in a room reflect one of these five elements. For example, wood is symbolized by living plants, fire by candles or fireplaces and metal by many possible shiny objects.

As with most natural health practices that draw from spirituality, in order to harmonize the mind and body, like yoga and traditional Chinese medicine, feng shui must be taken seriously in order for it to work. Buying a plant for your entryway, a table fountain for your dining room, painting your kitchen red, and keeping a lucky penny on your mantle won’t help to bring you fortune or good health unless you invite the actions of feng shui.

Learn how to integrate feng shui into everyday life. Join Eva Wong as she teaches you how nature’s energy can bring balance to your life. Through talks, discussions, slide shows, and walks at Shambhala Mountain Center, Eva Wong will present the principles of landform and the nature of the carriers of energy in the land—dragon veins in the mountains, earth dragon in valleys, and water dragons in rivers and lakes. Contact Shambhala Mountain Center to learn more.

Feng Shui: More than Moving Furniture

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 23:18:02 +0000

By now most of you have heard of the term “feng shui” and, not surprisingly, probably associate it with an expensive form of decorating that will less likely stand the test of time, as so many decorating styles fail to do. These attitudes have created a negative association with a term that actually extends far beyond decorating and has much deeper facets that reach into all aspects of life, not just the arrangement of your furniture.

Developed thousands of years ago in China, feng shui is a combination of art a science, whose intent is to create a balance in all parts of life. The energy balance that takes place in feng shui is often ignored in the West where feng shui has merely become a way to arrange a room according to harmonizing colors and calming doorways. When practiced fully, living in feng shui brings more than good decorating; it brings positive fortune and long-standing good health.