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Over the past few weeks I have been captivated by the tiny house movement. The timing is right for this little trend to make a BIG impact. Tiny homes are small dwellings – usually under 500 sq. feet. Super small and VERY cute, these homes offer a seductive alternative to the large McMansions that have become the norm. The allure of the tiny homes is the freedom that they can offer. Building your own tiny home means a total investment of anywhere from 25-85k depending on your personal skill set. This means that many previous property owners have been able to downsize into these charming little homes and completely eliminate their mortgage. In addition to freeing up debt and monthly cash flow, tiny homes also inspire the liberation that comes from aggressively editing your belongings. People who have transitioned into a tiny home report a complete life change in terms of gaining peace, relaxation and simplicity. Tiny homes solve a myriad of current problems. First of all, they are a cheap and yet still very attractive option for home ownership. They cost no more than your average trailer park home and yet these dwellings manage to maintain all the class and charm of a tiny cottage. The small footprint has allowed these homes to dodge many building permit and zoning laws – with many designs able fit comfortably in a backyard without damaging property values. This makes them a fantastic guest house or living arrangement for aging parents who seek independence but still need to be close by. They are also a sensible option for people working from home to have an office separate from the house – yet still ‘at home’. Their small size makes them a quick build and a very economical and sustainable living arrangement. As this trend builds, the internet is filling up with new businesses offering to design and construct the tiny homes. There is also a growing selection of furniture and appliances that are specifically designed for these...
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A beautiful book for introducing spiritual concepts to children. Marcela Grant is a Munay-ki and Shaman Healer in the Ajax area. She has recently written her first children’s book called Luminous Mountain. The book is about a young boy who “loses” his mother, and must embark on a journey to find her. During the different stages of his journey, he meets his power animals who teach him lessons for life, maturity and character development. This is a wonderful book for exposing children to spiritual concepts. It creates an awareness that life’s challenges are opportunities for growth. I shared this story with my daughter who is 9 years old, and it was very good timing because they were learning about “symbolism” at school. This book was a great way for her to practice interpreting the themes of the book and what they meant. It was pretty insightful for me to see how she thought and what she took away from it! She felt like the book was telling her that we don’t just learn facts and problem solving (the information she gets at school,) but we also have to learn how to become a “grown up”. She also explained to me that we can learn outside of school too, by thinking about the things that happen to us in the world. Not bad for a grade 3! The book was also a great platform for us to talk about independence, and what kind of “journey” we might each be on. (A great discussion!) My daughter loved the pictures in the book which are bright and beautiful, and talking animals was right up her alley! Her only criticism was that the main character should have been a girl. (LOL!) Mrs. Grant is a skilled shaman healer and explains that there is strong magic actually written into the language of the book, and that it can have a healing effect on people. I know that the time I spent with my daughter reading the book and talking about it was very rewarding, and...
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W hy are we here? Most people personalize this question – curious about their mission in this life. What goal are we to achieve? What is my purpose? The question can just as easily be applied to humanity as a whole. Where do we fit in the grand scheme of the Universe? What are we ALL here for? Well, there is an answer to both those questions, and its beautiful. Human beings play an essential, grand purpose that no other being on the planet is able to perform. It’s what we were sent here for. In fact, if you are NOT performing this duty – you are likely suffering either openly or secretly from dissatisfaction, depression or a dangerously deep sense of apathy for life. This purpose is so coded into your DNA, there is no way to escape its call without denying your very self… Imagine that the earth in its totality is surrounded by a bright golden glow. A consciousness if you will. Its full of potential – sizzling with energies. But all of this potential is trapped in a chaotic and intangible form. We can’t see it or touch it. It does not exist as anything ‘real’, and cannot be perceived by the senses. A human being acts like an antenna – allowing this field of potential to enter their mind, be conceptualized by their brain, and then brought into physicality. We are the only living things who are capable of bringing the etherial – inspiration, spirit, magic, source – whatever you like to call it – into physicality. We do this through almost any form of creativity. Architecture, music, dance, gardening – whenever we take thoughts from our mind and CREATE we are acting as a conduit – providing an opportunity for that potential energy to crystalize into our reality and manifest. When any religion refers to the Godliness within man – this is one of the features they are talking about. Our ability to take an invisible thought, and bring...
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As technological advances sweep through society, there is a counter-balance rising up to match it. Its been described by the sophisticated as a ‘cultural backlash’ or in spiritual terms as a ‘shift in consciousness’, but whatever name you give it – the results are obvious. One-by-one people are feeling a calling and a pull back towards a more earthly rhythm. They are heeding a call back to The Natural Arts. The Natural Arts are activities that feed, nurture and repair. As much as Facebook and Twitter might ‘connect’ us technologically, the Natural Arts are practices that ‘reconnect’ us naturally to our inner selves, to the earth and to one another. Gardening, yoga, meditation, expressive arts, and energy healing are all examples from The Natural Arts movement that are seeing a sharp statistical increase in popularity. The people who are rediscovering these art forms are themselves finding islands of peace in an otherwise loud and chaotic world. Each of us probably now knows someone who has left the ‘corporate world’ to devote more time to one of these inward pursuits. There are people in our neighbourhoods who are smuggling egg laying chickens into their backyards, drying their laundry on outside lines and hiking through conservation areas. We are buying less ‘things’ and instead we are travelling, attending workshops, taking classes and creating. From the simple to the life-altering the Natural Arts are offering us something that artificial economies and shiny products cannot. They are putting energy back into us instead of taking it out.This re-fuelling is addictive. It feels so good to be full, and awake and present. And we are realizing that with some re-prioritizing we can feel like this all the time! The Natural Arts Movement can quickly become a lifestyle. As you perform more aspects of your life with a sense of artistry, appreciation and consciousness you will feel this inflow of energy and life continually. But for the movement to be successful as a lifestyle, we MUST come to rely on...
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Initiation can be used to describe the process that one goes through as they graduate upwards throughout their spiritual journey. This is an AMAZING lecture from the Vesica Institute, that discusses the different levels of initiations, and how they are characterized throughout numerous religions, and groups. There are tons of education tidbits in here, including a grounded discussion of angel hierarchies, religious history, philosophy and the development of the self. Just fantastic. For those of you needing the practical, this also includes the 6 major steps recommended by a Rosicrusian scholar for developing the spiritual self. This is a full length lecture – over an hr – but it is one of the few YouTube videos that has caused me to get out a journal and start taking notes! The presenter is wonderful he keeps up a great pace, and is obviously very well studied and knowledgable. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Watch this video on...
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There is a swift influx of consciousness that is sweeping through the planet right now, and a LOT of theories describing that process. Today I probably heard the best. It was on the Truth Denied radio show, and I was listening to a guest interview with James Gilliland. He was explaining the current spiritual change that we are facing and claimed that up until this point, humans have lived on the planet as beings who inhabit the bottom three chakras. Anyone familiar with the chakra system will understand then, that we have been living in an age dominated by survival, sex and power. Wow. If there has ever been a better way to describe the last era in three words, that was it. Survival, Sex and Power. Looking around at our current culture, economy and value systems, you can really see a physical expression of how poorly we have balanced those three conditions. In fact, all three seem to be wildly out of control, on many personal, family and even national levels. Gratefully however, we are in a time of great spiritual evolution. I’ve heard it said that we are moving from third dimensional spiritual beings, into ‘fourth dimensional’ ones, but I’ve found that a concept that is hard to grasp. Gilliland simplifies it saying: we are evolving “up into our fourth chakra – the heart space”. This description is understandable to me, and incredibly reassuring. It blends well with a myriad of popular spiritual theories like evolving consciousness and the coming of a ‘golden age’. It makes sense if you think about it. Consciousness, just like every other living thing in existence is evolving. As vehicles for consciousness, the pressure to change is currently impacting us – forcing us to grow – right up into our heart space. It is not difficult to see how a species that is NOT grounded its heart space would suffer from its inability to hold survival, power and sexual urges in check. These wild and uncontrolled energies...
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John and Anna Van Dyk are parents of a young son with Autism. During this spring’s Seminar: Holistic Approaches: Autism, they shared their personal story – which you can watch below. I highly recommend watching it, as their experiences seeking ‘help’ for their child, beautifully reflected many of the themes that emerged during the seminar. When many health and wellness practitioners work with patients, they do so holistically. Holistic means that they treat the ‘whole person’. So instead of giving medicine to terminate a symptom, practitioners seek out root causes, examining everything from emotions to environment to family habits. This creates lasting health and more positive change. But how can this kind of approach help children with Autism? As many of the practitioners at the seminar pointed out – Autism is not a ‘disease’ that can be ‘cured’ with medicine. So, ‘treating’ children with Autism is more about working with ‘whole people’ and learning to see children with Autism as ‘whole’. Practitioners who work from this philosophy can offer parents more than just treatments. They can help them find peace. According to John and Anna, it was after seeing meditation expert, and founder of The New Earth’s Children Centre, Michelle LeRoy that they were able to experience their own shift, learning to accept their son instead of cure him. They found it amazing that throughout all their attempts to change their child, what they really needed to change was themselves. After this personal reflection, they found that acceptance of their son’s difference put them on the path towards repairing a relationship they hadn’t realized was broken. Practitioner Marcela Grant as well as a number of other presenters at the seminar spoke at length about the emotional sensitivity of Autistic children. Marcela proposed that children pick up on their parents complex emotions with incredible accuracy. Many autistic children feel the frustration and disappointment in their parents and it is this dissonance that can actually become a basis for many communication problems. Anna speaks to this in...
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The Natural Arts Community in Durham Region is made up of Organic Farmers, Yoga Studios, Holistic Practitioners and any other person or business who is dedicated to creating a more conscious world. Our mission is to make the public aware of these amazing businesses and people. We are growing an alternative marketplace for people who are ready to live a more conscious life.
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