Category Archives: smile

100 Years Shri Mataji Anniversary🌹🎊

I’m still getting unlimited benefits from Sahaja Yoga Meditation after 41 years daily practice:

Short, free, expert meditation introduction course

artists don’t retire

When I turned fifteen, half-a-century ago TODAY🎈 — back in the era of Rock’n’Roll🎸 — this is how I thought I would look now! (Rock-Star saving the World with MUSIC🎶 … didn’t quite work out that way😉)

(Only the stuff on the wall is photoshopped!)

You

Beyond the windows of your eyes,

Your soul abides in sunny skies,

Bathing in the light of love

That pours down sweetly from above.

That is the way it’s supposed to be

When a soul is clear and free,

But on the unmapped sea of life

Inner storms bring pain and strife.

High above each storm, a star

Shines to show you who you are:

Not this head and not this hand;

Not the owner of this land;

Not this angry shrunken heart

Feeling like it’s torn apart;

Not the one whose thoughts bring noise

Never knowing peace or joy;

Not the child that fears the night;

Not the man that wants to fight;

Not the woman, alone and sad;

Not those thousand dreams gone bad.

High inside, but within reach,

There waits a pristine, sunlit beach,

That graceful shore of your own spirit –

Listen now, and you will hear it.

Open your hands and feel your breeze

That softly blows through inner trees,

In the Country that’s your own

Where seeds of happiness are sown.

It’s only just a breath away.

Once you reach here, you will stay;

For here is where your life will start,

And soul and joy will never part.

– Edward Saugstad 2008

what time is it? it’s time to groove🎶….

Here’s a new melody/rythmn I played spontaneously in morning meditation today (and some top music stars talking about thoughtless-awareness and the cool-breeze)

new beginnings…

my first try on my new toy – meditative begin to the new year (after enjoying the globally televised Strauss concert from Vienna!🎶)

“Happy New Year!”from the Canadian/Austrian Saugstads

Brigitte Saugstad Art Exhibition

public opening in Neulengbach, Lower Austria

3 December 2022:

AND ALREADY FIFTEEN YEARS AGO!😃

(Brigitte’s first solo exhibition)

Georgio Pilla, Italian art critic
~Austrian artist Brigitte Saugstad~
(Venice, 16 January 2008)

“This artist, this charming signorina, is here to present her ceramic work.
These pieces are art in its purest form.
She takes nature and transforms it into art.
That alone should give you an idea
of her intellectual and comprehensive capacity.
But she doesnʼt rest there.
She also wants to give us the feeling of joy in form,
and so these pieces were created, beautiful, sometimes white,
sometimes colorful, a little darker a little lighter.
And when she concentrates on her favorite sport,
she gives us the ice princesses, where the body weight defies gravity.
As you can see, the skaters are quite robust,
but their whole being, the whole body, their physical form turns to poetry in her hands.
They simply float in the air, there is no weight,
only music and dance, only pleasure in contact with the frozen earth
or lifting up and away from it.
These ice dancers, when they are in the air, appear to be flying.
It looks like there is no weight holding them down.
She was able to feel this and express it in these wonderful works of art.
Look at these figures that float towards the sky.
It is truly an expression of joy, an expression of happiness, and much more.

Nature is expressed in these beautiful spheres, which are made up of nothing but little field flowers.
Look at the wonderful forms that remind me of seashells and the waves, the song the ocean sings.
We are looking at pure art; we are in the hands of an artist.
Out of a handful of earth, out of a handful of clay, life is created, because these figures are alive.
They live in her and, as they are here in front of us, they should also live in us now and in the future.
We should feel the joy and the lightness of heart that she has given us today.”

Cabella river wonderworld

about Creativity 🌞🌱

In case you’d like to hear Edward talk spontaneously about Creativity for a few minutes (from the SY Cabella Camp!) …

PUBLIC ONLINE INTERVIEW IN CHINA
First video:
“How do you keep the inspiration flowing continuously and bring forth the new ones in your artistic works? Have you ever felt the inspiration exhausted? Can you share the secret of persisting in creation for decades?”

Second video (scroll down):
“Modern people’s creations can easily be displayed, for example, when they are posted on the Internet, they can easily receive affirmation and cyber attacks. For a creator, being criticized may hurt his creativity. How can he protect it?”

CLICK: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/NM66yrEY-pkkf1Vm3iz1Mw

HOST’S WEBSITE TEXT:

—The second chakra of the subtle system—

The abdominal chakra is the second chakra of the subtle system. In the body, this chakra provides the energy needed for the liver, spleen, pancreas, intestines and cerebral cortex to function properly. It expresses creativity and execution. This is a very important chakra: it creates all our desires on the left side, while the right channel starts at the location of the abdominal chakra. The main quality of this chakra is creativity, but this chakra also produces fat cells which, upon reaching the brain, are converted into an energy supply that helps the brain to think and process all the information it receives.

The Trait of the Abdominal Chakra is “Creativity”
The origin of all creativity is Love. Without Love, there is no creativity. When Kundalini nourishes this center, people become very creative. All great creative work has vibrations. All works of art that vibrate are held together by time. All work without vibrations is destroyed by nature and forgotten over time.

—Ten Days of Yoga—

(IMAGES – Brigitte Saugstad artworks)

She (Kundalini/Saraswati) teaches us through nature: listen to the sounds of birds, the gurgling of a creek or the thunderous roar of a waterfall, the rustling of the wind over the leaves or the forceful blowing of a canyon.

Look at the many greens in the garden, look at the sky, look at her paintings in the clouds. How many colors she uses when the sun rises over the sea or when the sun sets, enjoy her creations.

The origin of all creativity is love. Without love, there is no creativity. She holds a veena on which she plays the most beautiful music to inspire everyone.

Not only did she teach us beautiful music, but she taught us how to dance, talk, sing, write books, paint, and build. When we meditate, she exposes us to all the knowledge we can grasp.

Ganesha, Ganesha everywhere!

(My wife’s beautiful artworks ☺️)

please, meditate

Yesterday my wife and I felt a deep peace filling our nervous systems and I heard the same from friends in various parts of the world. There is definitely a general change of frequency taking place on Earth which is fine tuning, but also exposing embedded corruptions, individually and collectively. For over forty years I’ve been advising others to develop subtly by meditating (long before most doctors discovered its usefulness).

Please take a few minutes a day for this. The only way out of all this mess created by human beings is in-and-up. Otherwise the shaking and quaking is going to be experienced more and more intensely, and the roots of the chaos in us cannot be replaced by harmony.

Lots of love,

Ed

https://wemeditate.com

In-and-Up (essential now)

becoming your own spiritual master

Ed leading international online meditation via Australia today

(I finally got a chance to visit Australia!😃🇦🇺🦘)

https://youtu.be/ArbfnRFbgAg

“Happy Birthday!”🌞

Brigitte and I have our birthdays just 2 1/2 weeks apart in mid-winter. Look who greeted us this year!

Brigitte Saugstad Ganesha Happy Birthday

https://goldenganeshart.com/

40 years ago – Christmas 1981🎄📞📺⏳

I’ve enjoyed sixty-three Christmases with family and friends. Most of them were at home in the suburbs just south of Vancouver, and in the charming old heart of Vienna. A few were in rural India. One was in New Jersey, and one in North Carolina.
Although all of these occasions bring back colourful memories of abundance and joy, one of the most memorable happened when I was, internally and externally, quite down and out — at the bottom of a long dive that was about to transform into a steady ascent that is still bringing me higher and higher today.
Forty years ago, Christmas 1981 (before portable telephones, personal computers, The Internet, etc.) I was living in a ‘shack by the railroad track’, on the edge of a wealthy neighbourhood. At this time of my life I used to have my place open to parties with local peers on the weekends. On Monday I would cash-in all the beer bottles to buy a bit of food for the week.
My fridge was always empty (except for all the alcohol from Friday to Sunday). On this occasion I came back to my humble home late Christmas evening and opened the fridge for some reason. I can’t describe to you my utter surprise when I FOUND IT PACKED FULL OF EVERY IMAGINABLE FOOD! Although I tried to find out who did it, none of my many smiling friends would admit to doing the deed. I still don’t know.
When I moved back to Canada twenty years later, a mature married man who had traveled the world and enjoyed undreamed of wonderful experiences, it was about a year before I ran into one of the old crowd (back in the 1970s, a couple hundred teenagers, and then young adults, in North Delta). My heart sprang open and my chest was filled with gravity-defying mirth! Then that same day I ran into three more old buddies in various locations, between ten and thirty kilometers apart, something I consider nothing less than a miracle. (As a result I ended up organizing a reunion that brought about a hundred and fifty of us back together for a nostalgic gathering.)

One thing that life has taught me is that Friendship is the highest form of love (collective consciousness). Even in a family, if the members aren’t ‘friends’, there’s no real bond.
May the whole world become a family of best friends.

Merry Christmas 2021!
Lots of love,
Ed Saugstad

(more here: https://edwardsaugstad.com/reaching-the-top-reloaded/ )

https://goldenganeshart.com/

“Happy Festival of Light 2021!”🌞🎆

goldenganeshart.com/

Happy ‘Pentecost Day’💨

An artist’s depiction of possibly the first historical mention (Bible) of the cool breeze https://wemeditate.com/subtle-system/kundalini (“Wind of the Holy Spirit”) and flowing waves of light (“Tongues of Flames”) above the heads of Self-realized human beings:

my China interview, reloaded (中文翻译)

new, edited version of my recent Oakee Doakee, children’s books, interview 🌞


what’s fresh out of the oven?…

!😃!

https://goldenganeshart.com

The RAMAYANA reloaded🏹

“Happy Easter 2021!”💐

“Happy Easter 2021!” 💐 (from us and our new ‘Family’!)
“Happy Easter 2021!” 💐 (our joyful garden Ganesha celebrating his 16th Easter with us!)

https://goldenganeshart.com

fresh out of the kiln!

🌈🌞 https://goldenganeshart.com

208 years, Husarentempel in the Vienna Woods (from 1813)

the Austrian Saugstads out and about exploring our neighbourhood again! 🦌🏔🔭🌞

“Happy Valentine’s Day!💗”

https://goldenganeshart.com

https://goldenganeshart.com

Behold! Oh, Ancient Castle in our backyard ⚔️


(my pre-birthday hike)

 

(we ended up walking down the mountain in the night!!!)

inner-silence, freedom

We all seem to be climbing a great mountain, some slower, some quicker. Up here near the summit we discover that we are free from the bindings of our egos, conditionings and physical bodies — that we exist permanently above and beyond these limitations. In Rhonda Byrne’s new book, The Greatest Secret, I was happy to hear that deep experiences I’ve been having for almost forty years, through the teachings of Shri Mataji and the practice of Sahaja Yoga meditation, are becoming mainstream. This isn’t because of mass media, but because human beings are asking the right questions and feeling reality within themselves.
But I find that this new book, although it beautifully describes thoughtless-awareness and natural detachment from internal and external complications, is missing much of the detail that so many of us have experienced through daily, actual meditation. Among the most prominent phenomena is the amazing ‘cool breeze’ that flows in our central nervous systems when human beings attain joyful equilibrium. Also missing are the details of the workings of our subtle-systems of energy centers and channels, and the benevolent Kundalini energy in our spines.

Of course, the highest priority is the deep, silent meditation itself, a natural, essential state that should be achieved by all. But The Greatest Secret is only a glimpse through the window of enlightenment.
Just sayin’.
https://wemeditate.co

new scientific evidence – benefits of Sahaja Yoga meditation

Meditation and Neuroscience

Mental Silence benefits your brain.

• Meditators showed around 7% more grey matter, the largest published difference between healthy groups.

• As grey matter decreases with age and with most mental illnesses, this difference throughout the brain is associated with a younger and healthier brain.

• The grey matter difference was more marked in areas related to the control of attention and emotions.

An investigation on the influence of mental silence in the human brain has just been published in the magazine Plos One. The article is entitled: “Larger whole brain grey matter associated with long-term Sahaja Yoga Meditation: a detailed area by area comparison”. The original text is available at the following link:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0237552

It is said that, for more than forty thousand years, human beings have a language that allows us to communicate with precision, that language is reproduced within our brain as thoughts without interruption. When negative thoughts are repeated in vicious cycles, our mental health can be affected with issues such as stress, anxiety or depression.

Today there is plenty of scientific literature that shows that being with the attention in the present moment, in the here and now, is beneficial for our psyche and our general health. Unfortunately, thoughts take us out of the present moment and to stop the thoughts for a long time is not easy, especially when we are not doing tasks that demands much attention.

Yoga includes many different techniques, among which meditation (Dhayana in classical yoga) plays a leading role. The first yoga treatise, “The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali”, mentions that “yoga is the suppression of the modifications of the mind.” In ancient yoga a higher state of consciousness has been described, called “Nirvichara Samadhi”, which can be translated as “mental silence” or “thoughtless awareness”. In this state, the mind is calm, with a feeling of inner bliss, and with the attention focused on the present moment. Sahaja Yoga Meditation puts into practice the goals of classical Yoga to achieve the state of Nirvichara or mental silence.

Researchers led by Professor Sergio Elías Hernández from the University of La Laguna in Tenerife (ULL), in collaboration with scientists from King’s College London University, Jaume I University of Castellón and Sermas of Madrid, have been exploring for more than ten years the benefits of the state of mental silence on the human brain.

The study was carried out at the ULL MRI scanner, where the researchers recorded the brain anatomy of 23 meditator volunteers, experts in Sahaja Yoga meditation, and 23 non-meditating volunteers. Both groups were made up of healthy volunteers and both groups did not differ in age, educational level, ethnicity, proportion of men and women, etc.

To better understand this study, we must mention that the brain tissue is classified, according to its appearance, into three types: grey matter, made up of neuronal bodies and interconnections, (dark grey in resonance images); the white matter, formed by nerve fibers or long connections between distant areas, (light grey in the resonance images), and the cerebrospinal fluid or watery substance that fills the interior voids and serves as protection and transport of chemical substances.

The study of brain anatomy showed that meditators had, on average, 7% more grey matter in the whole brain. This type of comparison of the grey matter of the brain has been made in recent years among other groups in: athletes, musicians, taxi drivers, Buddhists, mindfulness meditators, etc. In these cases, the analyses showed that the group studied had local differences, greater grey matter, in brain areas associated with their specific practice, but the difference was never in the whole brain as it is the case with mental silence. The difference of 7% larger grey matter is especially significant if one takes into account that our brain loses between 0.15% and 0.3% of grey matter per year and small differences in grey matter can mark whether or not we keep intact our cognitive functions. It should be also noted that diseases, typical of the elderly, such as Alzheimer’s, senile dementia or Parkinson’s are also associated with loss of grey matter.

An advance of this study was published in the same journal Plos One in 2016, but the available methodology did not allow a detailed study to be made to see how the grey matter differences were distributed in the different areas of the brain. Given the uniqueness of the group differences observed throughout the whole brain, the researchers had to develop a specific statistical method (ad- hoc) to be able to evaluate these differences, area by area. Of all the brain areas, the grey matter difference was significantly larger in meditators in the right temporal lobe, an area associated with emotions, and in both frontal lobes, areas associated with cognitive and emotional self-control functions.

Study authors: Sergio Elías Hernándeza*, Roberto Dortab, José Sueroc, Alfonso Barros-Loscertalesd, José Luis González-Morae, Katya Rubiaf

a: Departamento de Ingeniería Industrial, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain.

b: Departamento de Matemáticas, Estadística e Investigación Operativa, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain.

c: Centro de Salud Jazmín, Sermas, Madrid, Spain.
d: Departamento de Psycología, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain.
e: Departamento de Fisiología, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
f: Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College, Londres, UK.

*Author for more information: Email: sehdez@ull.edu.es

SAHAJA YOGA MEDITATION: https://wemeditate.co

“Happiness and Good Fortune, 2021!”

Wishing you all the best for the coming year!

Best wishes, Ed and Brigitte

“Merry 2020 Lockdown Christmas!”

Lots of love from Brigitte & Ed.

Here comes 2021! …

Christmas songs:

outer lockdown, inner freedom

https://wemeditate.co

outer lockdown, inner freedom

 

“Happy Diwali…

…with lots of Love and Light to you and yours!”

https://goldenganeshart.com/ceramic-art/

HANUMAN the Great!

New from Brigitte’s studio …

https://goldenganeshart.com

GoldenGaneshArt.com

Welcome to my wife’s beautiful new Online Shop:

GoldenGaneshArt.com

Goldenganeshart.com homepage

5 May 1970 – when the Seed sprouted

Two weeks before May 5, 1982, I learned how to meditate (really meditate, in thoughtless awareness, feeling the benevolent effects of my very own kundalini energy in me). Now Sahaja Yoga is celebrating 50 years of establishing global transformation, from a time when meditation was viewed as an esoteric hobby, to the present when it’s recommended worldwide by health experts for its universal balancing and integrative effects.
How time flies. Today it’s been half-a-century since that crucial sprouting that’s since risen into this majestic tree. Then, for me, it was still a 12-year-old sapling that has gradually lifted me into reality.
It’s so peaceful and fulfilling up here. Thank You, Shri Mataji, and everyone that has dedicated their lives to establishing this essential metamorphosis. 🦋🌳

https://shrimataji.org

Image

human instinct – Benevolence

SELF-ISOLATION/RECREATION, DAY 5

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going!”

(the wife will find plenty for me to do at home!)

interview of an old Canadian pioneer sahaja yogi

MEDITATE TO REGENERATE ☺️

Christmas Concert Vienna, 2019 — grand finale

😀

my birthday djembe!

😁

human angels and the new Dawn

Here in the twenty-first century, moving amongst us are personages of past renown marked now not by outstanding appearance or popular appreciation, but by the inner treasures they radiate: universal benevolence and the germinating power of enlightenment.
A Sunrise approaches that will reveal all the sublime glory of life — not on any media display, but in the hearts of human beings.
Look within. That precious hour is upon us.

~Edward Saugstad

“We are indeed larvae, eating our way through Earth’s resources in a mindless, caterpillar fashion, but I believe that the imago is already beginning to stir within. When the ‘climate’ is right, it will break out not as some sort of super computer but as an organic being [collective consciousness] that will embody all of the Supernature and look back on technology as a childhood toy.”

~Lyall Watson

the magnetic North Pole is moving to Mount Kailash!

our open house/studio!

.

drop by for a visit!

 

an Austrian-Italian wedding!

NON-

STOP

FUN!

sunshine, beauty and friends!

when the Italians get dancing!

Traun Lake!

the Canadian Ice Cream Inspector hard at work!

what we happened to get as the last available hotel room in the whole area – the one guarded by ancient asian angels!

the romantic Spitz Villa in Traunkirchen

homestead upgrades

New photovoltaic sun energy system:

https://www.facebook.com/edward.saugstad/media_set?set=a.10156583248401545&type=3

and, new larch steps to the creek:

https://www.facebook.com/edward.saugstad/media_set?set=a.10156583277136545&type=3

 

(Going up fast – looks like it’ll get above 2000 watts electricity production this morning! ⚡️Ω)

Sir Ed Word Designs Amazon t-shirts

In case you ever wondered if it would be possible to enjoy Brigitte Saugstad‘s beautiful statues wherever you go:
Now you can!
If you live in the USA or Europe, just visit one of the three following Amazon addresses that go to:

Sir Ed Word Designs

Pick your size and colour, and order away 😃

(new designs will be uploaded often!)

for U.K. and Europe:

DANCE AS THOUGH

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07P5ZJZ5K

I CAN DANCE

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07P16KS86

HUG ME

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07P7W7VXM

DANCE WITH ME

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07PG92H2S

DANCE DANCE WHEREVER YOU MAY BE

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07PM8YR9L

I LOVE SUMMERTIME

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07PPK2TQX

I LOVE MY CRAZY FRIENDS

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07PPXZX5W

ALL OF US HIDE A HERO INSIDE

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07PS6VDL2

(gold sitting Ganesha front/back)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07PR7M2P6

CHILL

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07PNZ2RWK

(red-white large sitting Ganesha)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07NRVQV4W

(white standing Hanuman)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07Q47QL8P

(white looking up dancing Ganesha)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07Q4GF693

for the U.S.A:

DANCE AS THOUGH

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P23LKL4

I CAN DANCE

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P9WBYJ1

HUG ME

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PB1L9FN

DANCE WITH ME

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P9DK54T

DANCE DANCE WHEREVER YOU MAY BE

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PGBPKTL

I LOVE SUMMERTIME

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PSVF8QM

I LOVE MY CRAZY FRIENDS

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PPXYH7J

ALL OF US HIDE A HERO INSIDE

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PR25RL1

(gold sitting Ganesha front/back)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PN1521L

CHILL

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PSF54HK

(red-white large sitting Ganesha)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NRVQLG2

(white standing Hanuman)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q6HCGY2

(white looking up dancing Ganesha)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q4FZF6W

for Germany and Austria

TANZ ALS OB

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07NX9CPF4

ICH KANN TANZEN

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07NYBJCHS

UMARME MICH

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07PSPVJTM

TANZ MIT MIR

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07PG91SXM

(DANCE DANCE -wordless)

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07PN78YS1

I LIEBE SOMMER

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07PSVT25L

I LIEBE MEINE LUSTIGEN FREUNDINNEN

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07PR2F43N

HELD

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07PMTMBQG

(gold sitting Ganesha front/back)

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07PN15SKY

CHILL

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07PR845BJ

(red-white large sitting Ganesha)

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07PZFB5BF

(white standing Hanuman)

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07Q47RQXY

(white looking up dancing Ganesha)

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07Q8VRCVF

 

Prime Minister Atkinson – 2019

.

Rowan, do us all an unforgettable favour and run for the office of prime minister of the UK
(and, for God’s sake, win — PLEASE WIN!)

Truth is stranger than fiction!:

We’re briefly interrupting global corruption for some good will and valuable comedy entertainment 😉

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48007487?fbclid=IwAR3mNyoPg_KklB-WIEQFmEjOIcUgcreithMqyERQ90_M6dNRztvloM4oq8M

.

.

“Happy Springtime 2019!”

http://www.brigittesaugstad.com

winter’s last rain

all things green sprout suddenly after the last winter rain, here on the threshold to Narnia …

40 Year Challenge

(on my birthday, today)

‘Sir Ed Word’ with his Self-realisation 2019

‘Ed the Head’ with his elf-realisation 1979

(I survived the ‘60s, the ’70s, the ‘80s, the ’90s, the ‘00s and — so far — the 2000-teens!)

the Art of Birthdaying!

Brigitte Saugstad exhibiting at the annual ArtInnsbruck art fair, 16-20 January 2019

MORE PHOTOS AT:

https://www.facebook.com/edward.saugstad/media_set?set=a.10156147997386545&type=3

 

inner-most-child

🌺 each of us has a happy baby elephant inside 🌺

(Everything Is Not About ME!)