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Posted in alert mental silence, happiness, health, life, meditation, thoughtless awareness, well-being, yoga
Tagged hope, meditation, mental silence, peace, Sahaja Yoga Meditation, stress, well-being
Posted in alert mental silence, birthday, Christmas, drugs, enlightenment, freedom, friendship, fulfillment, grace, happiness, health, hope, humanity, I Ching, joy, life, meditation, peace, smile, spirituality, thoughtless awareness, well-being, yoga
Tagged 1982, birthday, Christmas, enlightenment, joy, mental silence, North Delta, self-realization, thoughtless awareness, Vancouver
Posted in freedom, gadzooks!, inspiration, life, music, random, smile, well-being
Posted in alert mental silence, enlightenment, humanity, Kundalini, life, synchronicity, well-being
Tagged cool candle, cool check, freedom, kundalini, peace, self-realization
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In Thailand, Buddhist monks have started taking to Sahaja Meditation to get spiritually deeper. The natural state of alert, mental silence that’s easily achieved with this method is proving useful in all walks of life. Here’s how it’s becoming popular in New York City high schools:
and with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder sufferers in Australia:
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Posted in enlightenment, health, Kundalini, life, meditation, mental silence, peace, school, smile, spirituality, Uncategorized, well-being
Tagged Buddhist monks, Sahaja Meditation, students, Thailand
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In a way, commercial slogans can be funny — even congenial. But in excess, bombarding our daily trains of thought and unconscious desires, they can be a handicapping burden.
That reminds me, look what I happened to find in a cave while out mountain hiking the other day!
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Posted in health, humanity, life, random, well-being
Tagged common sense, consumerism, slogans
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Posted in creativity, freedom, gadzooks!, inspiration, life, music, random, smile, Uncategorized, well-being
Tagged creativity, doodle, drum, music, Saugstad
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Posted in enlightenment, freedom, fulfillment, Kundalini, life, meditation, mental silence, peace, spirituality, Uncategorized, well-being, yoga
Tagged kundalini awakening, meditation, mental silence, peace
Had a blast on the weekend here in Vienna! Here’s my compilation of Ossi, Boris, Andreas, Michi, Deepak, and Petra’s video/photo material.
Hope to see you at the next event 🙂
a guaranteed stress-reliever~♥~
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Posted in art, creativity, genius, inspiration, life, meditation, mental silence, music, people, spirituality, well-being
Tagged art, culture, festival, music, Sahaja Meditation, Vienna
Why the modern, one-sided approach to medicine is not wholesome and healing.
‘The Art of Medicine’: Paying attention to the bipartite brain
“What I am going to say will appal many right-thinking scientists….”
“… We need both types of attention (left and right brain). But their relation is not symmetrical. Several different lines of argument converge to show that the right hemisphere is aware of, and understands, more than the left: but the left is more able to articulate and use what it knows. The right hemisphere grounds what then gets to be processed, at an intermediate level, by the left hemisphere, before returning to the right hemisphere for integration into the rest of what we know, in order to make sense of it….”
“… Medical education needs urgently to be brought back to the humanities out of
which it once arose. Doctors are likely to be effective in proportion to the degree that they are able to see the broader context in which the complaint brought before them lies—nothing less than the whole world of the patient in front of them. I remember with chagrin how, on “take”, the wards would fill with patients who had chest pain or abdominal pain, the majority sent home without a diagnosis. No-one thought of—possibly, it occurs to me now, no-one even knew how to—sit down with them and ask about their lives.”
“Don’t get me wrong: detailed scientific knowledge is hugely important. We rely on such minute information to inform the bigger picture. But it is a necessary, not sufficient, condition, of being a good physician. Without a way of understanding and interpreting it at a deeper level, more detailed knowledge will achieve precisely nothing, and will lead us ultimately to let our patients down. It will close our reality down into what we imagine to be certain, where an appropriate awareness of the limitations of our knowledge would have liberated us and our patients into a world much richer than we can suspect.”
~ Iain McGilchrist
for the whole two page article, see:
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Along life’s long road I’ve often philosophized about the significance of birthday celebrations. Rationally they sometimes seemed to be funny, superficial rituals done out of habit. After all, what’s so special about a particular day just because it marks a certain amount of time after the date of one’s birth?
It wasn’t until quite recently that I was able to see that, whatever else to the contrary we seem to be, human beings are vessels designed to hold and share tremendous amounts of the potent elixir known as love; and that, in an adult’s busy life (unlike that of most small children), we often need a special focus point in order to exude that pent up reservoir so that it, and our well-being, can be renewed.
A birth day is the celebration of a loved one’s very existence on Earth — the miracle of a unique being developing into that friend in your life. The urge to celebrate this moment is universally inherent; a natural, inbuilt spark that ignites the combustible element of love (at least once a year!)
Besides being a special moment for others, it suddenly brings to light our own living value. Just as the sun can’t know itself unless it sees its light gratefully received by all the flowers on Earth, we can’t know the reason for existing without the joyful kaleidoscope of reflected love in the hearts of those around us.
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I would like to thank the many friends all over the planet who thought of me with a smile today, including the hundreds who sent a few precious words of encouragement. I am once again reminded why I’m here.
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Posted in birthday, friendship, humanity, inspiration, joy, life, love, well-being
Tagged birthday, friendship, life, love
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Our world is in a rapid state of becoming, affected by each step and breath we take. What can we do to ensure that it evolves into something wonderful for generations to come?
As we enter a new year full of disappointments and encouraging surprises, here’s something important to bear in mind — and heart.
(CLICK on the image of meditation)
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Posted in enlightenment, freedom, friendship, fulfillment, grace, hope, humanity, joy, Kundalini, life, love, meditation, mental silence, peace, spirituality, synchronicity, well-being, yoga
Tagged collective consciousness, collectivity, enlightenment, hope, kundalini, life, mental silence, Sahaja Yoga Meditation, self-realization
Posted in children, hope, humanity, life, meditation, mental silence, school, smile, well-being
Tagged children, meditation, mental silence, Mongolia, New York, school, students
Howdy from Starbucks, Vienna! (where seldom is heard a discouraging word)
While waiting yesterday afternoon to pick up someone in centuries old ‘downtown’ Vienna, I decided to park and stroll around a bit. An unworthy but practical excuse (I needed to find a lavatory) brought me for the first time into the magnificent City Hall — surprising, as I’ve lived here for almost a quarter century. You’ll get an idea of how un-downtownish the heart of Vienna is by these photos I took spontaneously with my phone.
Back in my hometown in the Canadian (suburban) wilderness, you don’t normally come across such exquisite architecture. Vienna budding with eternal beauty for the eye and ear. But there are a lot of advantages we take for granted over in the New World, like the fact that our homeland has never been ravaged by World Wars. We don’t know what it’s like to hear bombs falling outside our bedroom windows onto Canadian soil. The collateral and subjective damage that caused children to grow up emotionally challenged can sometimes be seen in the eyes of the elderly over here. Let’s hope the new generations — East, West and in-between — pool all their energies into creating that which uplifts and preserves the soul.
You can spend hours and days discovering the aesthetic graces of Vienna. Most of the ancient beauty survived the cataclysmic aggressions of war, and the population is even getting friendlier as younger, more universal people take to the stage.
(And here’s a glimpse from my hotel room beside Woerthersee in Carinthia last weekend where I was attending an ancient Indian celebration … yeah, it actually does resemble a British Columbian lake)
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I started my day feeling a bit like this:
but after attaining the rejuvenating state of mental silence for a few minutes, I felt more like this:
Appearing on the same page, these incompatible images hardly give the impression that they emerged from the same hand, on the same morning. But my experience has shown me that just because I sometimes get into the mood of the fire-breathing dragon (drops new iPhone into toilet / hits thumb with hammer / spouse doesn’t listen properly), that doesn’t mean I have to wait for my rage to somehow fade on it’s own terms. When the attention is naturally turned inside by the spontaneous movement of the benevolent kundalini energy rising up the spine, the most unbearable beast can be tamed in the wink of an eye. By opening the hands, palms upward, and allowing the attention to rise up to the top of the head (where our connection to the all-pervading, creative Power opens) the many dormant, subtle heart functions blossom effortlessly, and we start feeling our self — our spirit — again; balancing our inner child (left sympathetic nervous system/right brain) and our inner adult (right sympathetic nervous system/left brain). A refreshing cool breeze rises from our hidden depths, lifting us to delightful heights. Who would’ve thought that we have everything ideally built in to get passed life’s brickwalls without having to smash our heads through them. The best part is, when we’re balanced and enjoying our true nature, the fun is contagious 😀
(The phone miraculously survived!)
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Posted in forgiveness, freedom, fulfillment, Kundalini, life, mental silence, peace, well-being
Tagged anger, dragon, forgiveness, kundalini
Posted in freedom, fulfillment, joy, life, smile, well-being
the next morning in my meditation, by implementing my enlightened imagination to take my baby-self out for joyful strolls in the nature; or, when he was a bit older, to go hand-in-hand through Disneyland where we had lots of carefree fun; or to simply be involved together in my daily creative work routines. In short, bridging that threatening gap of insecurity and helplessness, and allowing sweet healing to enter in. On the part of the young me, I feel joyful and fascinated to be part of the fulfilling grownup adventures; and on the part of my grownup me stepping in to comfort and uplift little me, I feel like a benevolent superhero — what a great team! Later, I was able to meditate on the oneness between that tiny, abstract part of me and my present self, realizing that little Eddie has miraculously made it to secure health and happiness, and never has to fear again. (A few nights ago, I found a little blonde boy wandering, crying for his mommy in the dark parking lot of a campground. I picked him up, cheerfully reassuring him that we would find her, which we did a few minutes later. I can still feel his sweet, cuddly form against my heart, and the mutual comfort of that.) Every successfully conquered challenge in us opens up new healing pathways for all.Posted in children, forgiveness, freedom, hope, innocence, life, love, meditation, well-being
Tagged childhood, fear, meditation, osteopathy, Sahaja Yoga Meditation, survivor, trauma
Posted in creativity, holiday, inspiration, life, nature, peace, well-being
Tagged Italy, life, peace, woodwork, working holiday
Click on the smiling child to learn how the actual state of meditation differs distinctly from relaxation techniques:
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Posted in children, hope, inspiration, Kundalini, life, meditation, mental silence, thoughtless awareness, Uncategorized, well-being
Tagged life, meditation, stress
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Hoping for the best,
Ed
(p.s.~ Her birthday is coming up soon)
Another friend, who sometimes called out about her distress with life’s unfairness, also recently left abruptly, but more definitely:
“I must have my ‘Invisible Cape’ on again….. no one sees me…no one hears me… yup, invisible…” (Last Facebook entry of L.P. before she died of a heart attack, age 50, on the 7th of May, 2010)
Love is a powerful river. You can’t stop its flowing.
It will always find its healing way to you … if you let it in.
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Posted in friendship, fulfillment, hope, life, love, peace, Uncategorized, well-being
Tagged friendship, hope, life and death
I couldn’t resist posting this video of a good friend over here in Vienna, recently sharing the experience of YOGA (inner connection) on TV with the studio audience, and thousands of people at home.
Try it, and see if you can also feel that ancient ‘cool breeze’ which is becoming familiar and life changing to millions in modern times.
… and here’s dear old Reinhold after sharing self-realization (yoga) with the Crown Prince of Ras Al Khaimah.
(ANYONE can give and receive this essential, natural inner-awakening!)
… and – while I’m at it – here are some friends (more sahaja yogis) with the newly re-elected President of Austria, last Sunday …
(HEY! There’s my sister-in-law, Eveline)
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Posted in enlightenment, gadzooks!, joy, Kundalini, life, meditation, smile, spirituality, thoughtless awareness, Uncategorized, well-being, yoga
Tagged Austria, meditation, Sahaja Yoga, TV, yoga
Posted in children, Christmas, enlightenment, forgiveness, fulfillment, grace, hope, innocence, joy, life, love, mother, peace, thoughtless awareness, Uncategorized, well-being
“Still crazy, after all these years.”
-Paul Simon
There lies, in the heart of every person, a seed of youthful enthusiasm. I experienced this at our mega-1970s neighbourhood reunion last weekend, where a couple hundred old friends all got together for the first time in over three decades. No matter how much time seems to glide by under the bridge, or how stiff and ‘mature’ we seem to become, all the heartfelt fun and optimism of our youth linger on inside us, camouflaged like a wide-eyed, baby doe on the edge of a shady forest.
The setting up of this event (and the ongoing Facebook reunion) has been a labour of love for the past eight months. More than an excellent hobby, it has proven to impact my life and those of life-long friends in a way that only reawakened friendships can. The human heart is a mysterious place, full of unexplored depths and heights. It is my belief, after almost thirty years of daily meditation and introspection, that, when enlightened, the heart can take us to our superhuman potential and the indescribable joy that inevitably accompanies that.
Getting together with old friends to reminisce and laugh may seem like a mundane function, but the relatively small waves of love that surface in our hearts are just the peaks of an infinite ocean – and if That can be awakened inside us, then the world will rapidly rise to a whole new level of enjoyment and harmony. There is a specific something in us that, when triggered, links our limited attention to the unlimited field of our spirit. It’s my intention to help beloved old friends, who were as dear to me as family long ago, to come within reach of this inner connection. I sincerely hope that many can feel that now, and will gradually discover all their buried treasure within.
Best wishes,
Ed Saugstad
http://70snorthdelta.wordpress.com/about/

Posted in freedom, friendship, fulfillment, humanity, joy, life, love, meditation, peace, people, well-being
Here’s my short film on the first annual Culture of the Spirit festival, where East meets West in a beautiful, rural river valley in Italy.
It’s been found that pure, absolute Spirit is in essence joy and love, that brings a rewarding sense of clarity to ones perception. This phenomena was felt by the hundreds of visitors and participants at this event, brought on by the subtle beauty and light of the performances and exhibitions, and intensified by the simultaneous collective experience.
A science presentation revealed that distant cells communicate with one another, and that this process may happen through the medium of light. If we are all ascending into a new, more transparent and joyful state of awareness, this may indicate that we are to be increasingly empowered to communicate by means of the light in and around us.
Could there be anything more beautiful and fulfilling than discovering whole new ways of sharing creative love on unlimited, powerful wavelengths, and perhaps to find our dormant brain functions spring to life with undreamed of comprehension of playful reality? We may have yet to discover what it actually means to be fully functional human beings. Even our genes, which are changed by mundane experiences and passed on to future generations, can now be constructively altered for our optimum spiritual growth by connecting ourselves to the deepest Vibrations, from which all life emerges.
This meditative weekend generated unique inspiration that brings the promise of great things to come.
Meet you next summer in the Borbera Valley, the ‘Ganges of Europe’!
Note: Hold your hands open, palms up, while watching this film, and see what you feel.
(Hint: A cool breeze would be ideal – to actually feel Light!)
(p.s.~ Some of the artworks seen are from my wife! … Ceramic sculptures …)
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Posted in art, creativity, enlightenment, humanity, India, innocence, life, meditation, nature, peace, spirituality, thoughtless awareness, well-being
Tagged Borbera, culture, festival, Italy, light, music, Sahaja Yoga
With the world sliding full speed into the gravest scenario since a meteor walloped it, wiping out all manner of species, we thank heaven for comedians (especially the Canadian variety). Only a highly evolved race can laugh at itself as it teeters on the edge of extinction. If we’ve taken ourselves too seriously at times, it’s only because we forgot to listen to the tiny Jim Carrey or Dan Aykroyd jesting inside. I mean, come on, did we really think we could defy all constructive perimeters of existence and get away with it indefinitely? We are indeed a laughable lot! Well, hopefully some eleventh-hour humble introspection and meditation will bring out the very best in each of us, and bring a rosy hue to the prospects for the coming generations.
My wife and I find ourselves constantly playing funny role improvisation (it’s probably out of survival instinct – the only way to survive if you both live and work under one roof!) We are living proof that only the body ages … the soul keeps getting younger and sillier. After I’ve had a particularly good morning meditation, I feel like a small kid in a universal Disney land, with creativity and mirth springing out of my every pore. We may think it would be highly irresponsible to let children run the world, but what about the children inside us, with the important advantage of all our years of practical experience and knowledge. Just add the wisdom, common-sense and benevolence of a child (okay, my two-year-old was also definitely not ‘benevolent’, but you know what I mean), and we could steer the ship of humanity into more peaceful waters.
As the desperate, tearful child said in a CNN interview this morning, after he and his mom lost their home to the Recession: “PEOPLE HAVE GOT TO START HELPING EACH OTHER!”
Where there’s the capacity and a heartfelt will, there’s a way.

Posted in children, enlightenment, freedom, fulfillment, hope, humanity, innocence, joy, life, love, meditation, peace, well-being
If the Armageddon really takes place, please, may all the musical mobflashers be spared!
Love it!
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Posted in creativity, friendship, humanity, joy, life, people, smile, synchronicity, well-being
We just came home from a beautiful ceremony celebrating the short life of a dear friend, Anna-Radhika, who passed away nine days ago after sudden complications in her lungs. In evidence of this fifteen-year-old’s open and loving personality, was the large variety of adorers who came to wish her well on her outward journey. Apart from the many relatives from two distinct cultures – Austrian and Indian – there was a multitude of friends, and friends of friends. A whole school bus of classmates were present with tears of affection, enthusiastic recollections of life with her, and dozens of colorful balloons that they let playfully fly up to heaven with her. There have been a few great souls in history who have earned the respect of the masses simply through their inherent state of deep generosity, and their unconditional giving to others that which is essential and beloved to all: love. But it seems that more and more of these great personages are being born among us, to help lift us on our glorious way.
Before this funeral service, I had big aspirations to write about some important lessons we all need to learn in life, but I suddenly find myself as small and ignorant in this great, mysterious universe as every other mortal. How can anyone else know all the factors that determine the plot of another soul’s story? How many of us leave behind our present role to pass onto another stage in fulfillment of higher destiny; and who leaves unnecessarily, at the wrong time, by accident? Are there such things as accidents when it comes to birth and death, and what can we, as parents, do to ensure the subtle nurturing of our children? Someone told me last week that he had suffered chronic bronchitis till the age of sixteen. He could suddenly breathe freely for the first time in his life, as soon as his father and grandfather made up and started speaking with each other after years of mutual hatred. I’ve discovered late in life that my many moments of urgent desire to die, to leave, to run away from a horrible world of pain and frustration, came from scary feelings in my childhood when my parents were drunk and fighting, or simply not there for me in my darkness. I realized at some point, that I could never take my life, because, even though I didn’t like myself very much, I could never mercilessly hurt all the people who love me – that, I could never do. And now I see that my role here is still unfolding. But some do depart, what seems to us to be too early, and for a myriad of reasons that we may never logically understand.
When an apparently happy, healthy person stops breathing, due to an otherwise manageable condition, we may well wonder if they were trying to tell us something. In such a dramatic exit there may be an ardent plea to the world: Never forget to live each breath with heartfelt enthusiasm! You too are special.

Anna-Radhika ~ 9 August 1993, to 23 April 2009
(Our condolences go out to the suffering heart that was one with her. No earthquake or hurricane can compare in ferocity to the grief of a mother that has just lost her only child.)
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Sitting beneath a shady coconut grove on an Indian beach, I chatted with a bank manager about the state of modern society. We agreed that it’s ironic that the deep wisdom of the East is now being sought by the West, while the Eastern root-civilization frantically tries to ‘catch up’ with the withering Western boughs. It’s time that both sides learn to imbibe, in balance, the lessons that the other has to offer. Can the East achieve prosperity without losing it’s countless treasures of wisdom; and can the West adopt those wisdoms in order to fortify its foundations for future generations?
At the heart of every ancient culture there pervaded an inkling of unseen Reality. Even modern science (quantum physics) begins to hint towards a wonderful Source that lies just beyond our handicapped awareness. With all the precision mechanics that make up our universe and our own beings, would it be at all surprising that a specific mechanism could be built in to each of us to eventually link us to our Source? It is there, and waits in the sacrum bone at the base of our spine to be awakened. And it’s not surprising to discover that this benevolent ‘mechanism’ can only sprout naturally, without force or concentration – when the heart is ripe.
This knowledge was once a ‘secret’ because we, as a race, were not mature enough to know it. It remains a secret only through our advanced complacency. A child-like curiosity would now be our most valuable asset; a natural interest in our inevitable link to enlightenment. It’s time to emerge from our self-created jungle of stress and disorientation by starting this inner process. Even better than a cooling coconut juice on a tropical seashore!


(public Sahaja Yoga Meditation workshop, Austria, March 2009)
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Posted in enlightenment, freedom, fulfillment, grace, hope, humanity, India, joy, Kundalini, life, meditation, spirituality, well-being
Tagged enlightenment, life
Today, on the 21st of March, as spring once again raises its smiling face, the 86th birthday is celebrated of someone I dearly love – a very special someone: Mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, outspoken advocate of individual and universal spiritual revolution, known fondly worldwide as Shri Mataji (beloved mother). This humble mention is to honor all that is highly promising in each of us, and all that she has done to reveal that, in order to create a better world for all.
Jai Shri Mataji!

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Posted in birthday, enlightenment, hope, humanity, joy, life, love, mother, spirituality, well-being

Many of us intuitively recognize the subtle connection that exists between all human beings, and with all of nature. This field of awareness has something to do with our minds, but much more to do with our hearts.
I recently chanced upon a subject of discussion with someone, that led to my meeting, for the first time in my life, with two sisters and a brother who I’d never had contact with (fifty years late, but maybe at the exact time it was meant to happen). This took place during a short visit to Canada. A few months later, I made a new friend while in Cyprus. During a lull in an after-dinner conversation, I suddenly started talking about my small ‘miracle’ in Canada to him. It turned out that this man also has a brother who he has never met, and who happens to live in my place of residence, Austria. By ‘chance’, I know the head of personnel at the company that his brother works for, which may lead to the healing meeting of these two separated siblings.
Yesterday, I connected with an old friend via Facebook, who I hadn’t seen in about thirty years. We exchanged a few sentences of enthusiastic, typed dialog in the tiny chat-box. Of all the things he chose to mention in these moments, was the fact that he lives near another old friend who I also hadn’t seen in years. I told him – amazed – that twenty-five minutes before I had just looked up that same person in a public internet search site, and phoned his home to say hi!
I have the feeling that this Power/Universe/Spirit manifests in our lives when we need to experience constructive inner growth and healing. In fact, judging by the many similar experiences I’ve lived and heard about in my travels, these compassionate nudges are becoming more and more frequent in people’s lives. Could we be entering a time when all the invisible beauty inside us shines out, when the collective consciousness of universal love unites us and puts an end to jealousy and aggression?
Things may get temporarily worse before the break-through, but there is no doubt in my mind – and heart – that a sunrise is coming that no generation will ever forget.
(Valentine’s Day, 2009)

Posted in enlightenment, freedom, friendship, fulfillment, grace, hope, humanity, life, love, people, spirituality, synchronicity, well-being
Tagged collective consciousness, life, synchronicity
There’s more to life than meets the eye –
Discover the very best about yourself. Life is just beginning:
~ click on the sleeping elephant ~
and have a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!
– Ed
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Posted in enlightenment, freedom, fulfillment, hope, joy, life, meditation, peace, spirituality, well-being
Tagged enlightenment, fulfillment, life
When I received the sad news this morning, I felt – believe it or not – a gentle lightening of the heart, an enthusiastic happiness that had nothing to do with my personal loss of the mother who raised and loved (loves) me. After a few seconds of meditation, I realized that I must be feeling what she is presently feeling: a dynamic, delightful freedom; a breathtaking view of life from high above life; a baby-like mood of spontaneous creativity and endless possibilities.
We weep in self-pity.
Congratulations Mom for all your achievements, and all those yet to come – enjoy the higher life for us, also!
(It’s just too bad that you can’t send postcards, but love has its own lines of communication)
With love, your son,
Ed
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E. May Saugstad
24 March, 1930 ~ 9 December, 2008
(Mother of Darlene, Cheryl, Rick, Ed, Glenn, David, Allan and Don)

Posted in freedom, fulfillment, grace, hope, innocence, life, love, mother, peace, spirituality, well-being
Every age has its greatest discovery. The greatest of all is inside of us.
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Posted in books, enlightenment, freedom, fulfillment, hope, humanity, joy, Kundalini, life, meditation, peace, people, spirituality, thoughtless awareness, well-being, yoga
Tagged Ed Saugstad, Gail Lynne Goodwin, Inspire Me Today, interview, life, public
When I woke up this morning, this new rhythm was vibrating through me. I would like to dedicate it to all unsung, lonely children and adults out there, waiting to someday be hugged. May the day come soon, when no human being feels unloved.
(The bass is my heel on the floor – heard best through a proper set of speakers – and the rest comes from my fingers on the desk)
with much (needed) love,
Ed

Posted in forgiveness, friendship, fulfillment, humanity, joy, life, love, people, smile, well-being
Tagged collectivity, comfort, drumming, life

After arriving back over in Vancouver for a summer holiday, many new amazing things started falling into place….
The fun started with a spontaneous boat ride to the beautiful island resort where I spent my childhood summers. With a couple of brothers and my wife and son, we visited Buccaneer Bay (its real name!) for my first time in thirty-five years. (Captain McTaggart, one of the Greenpeace pioneers, also spent holidays there with his family in their cottage. Celebrities parked their yachts in the bay on their cruises along the coast. The Canadian Prime Minister stopped in once, and we saw John Wayne and his family another time!) It was the first place that I experienced joy. It happened when I was about twelve while climbing the small mountain there, Spyglass Hill, and seeing the breath-taking view of forests, islands and heaven-blue ocean, skies and mountains stretching out to all horizons. I would often take my sleeping-bag down to the white, sandy beach at night and fall asleep in the peaceful solitude, watching the endless, timeless starry heavens. The place hadn’t changed. There were still the same cottages, trees (quite a bit bigger now!), mossy bluffs and fresh, salty breezes – and still no electricity or modern conveniences! We knocked on our old neighbour’s door and found that most of their family was there, including new grandchildren and great-grandchildren. As one of the Hendersons remarked, it was a ‘blast from the past’ meeting again after so long.
During our outing, I happened to mention something to one of my brothers about our childhood and the two sisters and the brother that we never met, as our father had left his first wife and kids to marry our mom, who then gave birth to us. To my great surprise, he told me that two of Dad’s first offspring had managed to contact him a few years back. After discovering the name and hometown of one, I wasted no time in contacting her. She was so thrilled to get a call from me, that she couldn’t sleep the whole night as she had waited her whole life to meet us. We had agreed to meet the following weekend. My wife, Brigitte, and I spent the night in the home of my lost sister and her husband (who is part native Canadian, the great-grandson of a First Nation chief). By the time we left the next day, it felt like a half century of healing had taken place, as the joy and vibrations were very strong. We also spoke on the phone to my other missing siblings, and we’ve planned to get together soon for a big reunion. (As it turns out, my other sister breeds horses, and one of them was in China recently participating in the Olympics!)
We then had a great time the following two days as guests of the local Hindu Temple, which held a festive open-house. A dear friend and professional singer from India, who recently settled in Victoria, was invited to sing. The audience loved him. We also presented a small introduction to Sahaja Yoga, which was also very much appreciated by all.
Along the merry way, I made a point of distributing copies of my new children’s books to families that we passed on planes, ferries and other public places (as well as among our old friends at Buccaneer Bay, feeling somehow that I was sending redeeming vibrations back into my sometimes scary and tragic childhood). The stories, full of loving vibes, are created to help lift the reader toward self-realization. Surprisingly, many adults have also reported getting special, uplifting feelings from these fictional adventures! I hope those hundred or so books – and the many more that may eventually make their ways into the lives and hearts of good souls everywhere – will help in some small way to water the roots of enlightenment in the coming generation.
(p.s. – Did you know that the largest octopuses in the world live in the waters between Vancouver and Victoria, and that you can see whales, dolphins and seals almost every day there? Did you know there are magnificent, natural guardians watching over Vancouver, two mountain peaks with the shapes of lions, as well as the huge rain-forest city park with the shape of an elephant’s – Ganesha’s? – head?)
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To enjoy a few of these magical moments, click on the cruise ship …
Posted in books, children, friendship, fulfillment, grace, hope, humanity, joy, life, love, nature, well-being
I don’t know if you’ve ever felt that amazing, soothing cool breeze that flows out of the hands and top of the head after self-realization, but it isn’t just another interesting thing. I’ve known people who’ve felt it clearly and been benefited immensely by the fact, and then somehow forgotten or ignored it.
If you ever get the lucky chance to feel this connection to your subtle self, INVESTIGATE! …
“Hey! Why can I feel a joy-giving coolness flowing from me? It’s obviously not someone doing something to me because I can feel it when I’m alone (and the air-conditioning’s not on). Is there a history behind this phenomena? What is it good for? Can it be increased?”
Our attention is normally sucked so intensely outwards and towards distracting thoughts, that we don’t even know how to watch and enjoy our Selves. Thanks to the revolutionary fact that any human being can now feel the subtlest, life-giving energy that exists everywhere (and no longer just a few enlightened souls), we are in an unprecedented position to manifest all the ideal qualities that can create an existence that truly – well – truly ROCKS!
After meditating this morning, I felt permeated with a sweet, baby-like softness that made my perception clear and my heart sing. The Vibrations were emitting like a seaside breeze. In this state, it’s possible to put the peaceful, steady attention on any problem and spontaneously recognize colorful, doable solutions.
Year after year, it gets better, like an irrigated desert where new life increasingly sprouts into form.
What to say.
Better check it out.

Unexpected internal coolness on a hot Lebanese day
~ self-realization in Raouche, July 2008 ~
Posted in enlightenment, freedom, fulfillment, grace, hope, humanity, Kundalini, life, meditation, peace, spirituality, thoughtless awareness, well-being
Tagged cool breeze, enlightenment, life
A little girl from my hometown spills her heart to the United Nations
Posted in children, hope, humanity, innocence, life, nature, Uncategorized, well-being
Tagged children, life, planet Earth

Oh, hi – so glad you could drop in!
I was just doing a bit of surfing and was overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of messages out there. Unfortunately, those trillions and zillions of statements don’t always steer a person in a constructive direction. The web of words can be our downfall, as our history has so clearly pointed out. If we can just climb up to a higher vantage point to get our bearings, then our life takes on a meaningful pattern and we can head out in the right direction.
As May 5th becomes a specially significant anniversary in the lives of more and more self-realized persons, I would like to offer my best wishes (pure desire) to you on this most illuminating of days. May you have the personal, golden opportunity to reach into the Source – into the Silence – where peace and clarity will recharge your worn batteries. Welcome to the soothing Sahasrara.
As-Salamu Alaykum

Posted in blogging, enlightenment, life, peace, spirituality, thoughtless awareness, Uncategorized, well-being, wisdom, yoga
Tagged Add new tag, enlightenment, life, peace
enthousiasmos, from enthous ‘to be one with a god; inspired’
I spent the first half of my life half alive. Looking back down from the high hillside of middle age, I begin to really appreciate the inner security that has come with years of daily meditation and introspection. Twenty-six years ago today I stepped out of a self-dug
grave and made my way steadily into that sunlight which shines deep inside each of us. There have been many milestones on this path; solid, comforting indications that inner progress has been made and maintained.
Like the nightmare I had recently – a real classic, subconscious horror-thriller. I was in a haunted house, actually descending into it’s bowels in a dark elevator with an unseen monster gripping my throat. (The result of a bit of undigested pizza, or the b-movie I watched before sleeping?) I don’t know about you, but when this sort of slide into the extreme left ballpark sometimes occurs, the inevitable result is always sheer panic and helplessness. Imagine my surprise when I heard myself casually remark, C’mon – gimme a break, will ya’? as the vicious creature whimpered away and the lights went on. Somehow, you just suddenly realize that a high percentage of your inferior attitudes (and ensuing aggressive frustration) is in fact just fog giving you a false impression about yourself. Through the peaks of clarity reached with regular meditation, and recurring indications of being established on ever higher levels of stability, your true, lucky state of being becomes obvious (outshining those occasional glitches that blur the inner widescreen, high-definition view of your self.)
It’s amazing to feel how quickly the enthusiasm
for living life to its fullest increases as soon as the troubling illusions of self-doubt vanish in the light of your true Self. Agreed, it takes some time to establish the stability of this clarity, but getting there is practically effortless – it just takes some patience and a turn of the key to get the process rolling; and then a keen inner eye to discern what’s real. The automatic, benevolent attitude is then your new Mercedes-Benz for traveling on to unexpected, inspiring landscapes.
(Sketches by Ziya Dikbas – inspired by my recent, inner-breakthroughs) 🙂
Posted in enlightenment, freedom, hope, life, meditation, peace, spirituality, well-being, yoga
Tagged life, meditation, well-being


On my way home today from my twenty-first pilgrimage in India,
I suddenly became aware of the renewed lightness of my body. Not that I had lost physical weight on the journey, but it was clear that I had left behind heavy, invisible waste which has been replaced with a light, soft breeze of Vibrations. It never fails to amaze me how that country, known by some as the Kundalini of the Earth, emits this subtle, enlightening Force. And it’s not just the refreshing change of pace that a vacation brings. I’ve traveled a great deal and found, as have many others, that this part of our planet, including the Himalayas,
is apparently the only place that has this divine quality to this intense degree.
Next time you want to really lighten up, take a trip to this magical, ancient land (avoiding the heavy tourist-ized and religious-ized locations). Spend some time attentively absorbing that which the super-charged natural elements there have to offer. You will learn something new and valuable about your Self.

Posted in enlightenment, fulfillment, India, innocence, joy, Kundalini, life, spirituality, well-being
Tagged enlightenment, joy, life

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, sun-lit 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

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Posted in enlightenment, freedom, fulfillment, hope, innocence, joy, life, love, spirituality, thoughtless awareness, well-being
We get a great variety of small birds here in our corner of the Vienna Woods, but this morning brought an eerie stillness. Just one tiny fellow made his way nervously through the garden,
grabbing a quick last meal before the storm hits.
As the ominous wind begins to rise, we’re once again reminded of the delicate balance that exists between us and our perishable environment. Throughout this day, as blasted trees sever human power lines, and roofs are torn from human homes, we can look ahead and worry; or we can look within and change.
My young son mentioned yesterday, how dramatically the world is splitting between the very positive and the very negative. On the one hand, people are religiously killing themselves, children, and even the Earth, as if life no longer has value – and the corrupt just keep getting more selfish and powerful; and on the other hand, universal cooperation, communication and understanding is at a record high. If we could just go a little bit deeper into the vast reservoir of wisdom inside ourselves, the benefits would spill out into this life that we know and love. We give our children presents on religious holidays and birthdays, but do we give them that basic requirement – the obvious – a safe future on an abundant planet?
Climate is a reflection of our collective, inner state. It’s time to tidy up in there.
Posted in children, freedom, hope, humanity, life, meditation, nature, synchronicity, well-being, wisdom, yoga

I remember in my early youth, asking an adult friend if the ego was a good or bad thing. She said I could ask her (hippy) husband because he enjoyed discussing things like that. What was then for me an impenetrably thick, peanutbutter-like layer of confusion over all things inner and intangible, later became, with the help of a subtle internal connection and some enlightening meditation, as clear as day to my once thick and sticky perception. My thirst for Truth has not diminished, but the obvious is no longer hidden from my understanding.
Take karma for example. It’s no longer a mystery whether or not past deeds and desires can influence our present life. Our psyche/conditionings/subconscious contains enough past goo to keep us repeating lots of wanted and unwanted patterns (even looking through the lens of astrology or genetic mutation, one can see that some influence stretches way back into our personal histories). The real question is, can we somehow be liberated from undesirable karma. The answer is a resounding inner YES. As physics sometimes hints at, we effect what we perceive, just by perceiving it. We live in an inevitable cycle of cause and effect. If there was only a way to rise above cause and escape the trampoline of life’s ups and downs. Well, there is …
It’s been discovered (and I’m also speaking from personal experience) that by raising the limited human awareness to a higher, thoughtless level, not only does physical health improve, but so does one’s good fortune. Although this is a golden, natural law – and easily attained – it is still proving awkward to maintain. That is to say, as human beings at a certain stage of our spiritual evolution, all the goodies of a complete and fulfilling life are becoming available to us, but we’re still quite rusty at getting all that extra
potential in us to light up. And that is to very simply say, that all the dogma and ritual and prayers and good wishes will not do any more than they have till now (very little on the whole) unless and until we are in that very clear, tangible and powerful state, the result of self-realization and meditation: thoughtless awareness. It takes very little regular practice to get the hang of it – then one notices the benefits (individual and collective) steadily increase.
(Sorry ego and conditionings, it’s been fun, but – hey – after all, we’ve just been fooling around, warming up for the super life 😉 )
Posted in enlightenment, freedom, life, meditation, spirituality, thoughtless awareness, well-being, yoga
Tagged freedom, joy, karma, thoughtless-awareness, truth
As mentioned at the beginning, the human heart is a veritable treasure chest of wonderful surprises, still lying buried under our layers of conditionings and projections. When the subtle key rises up the spine to unlock the gate at the top of the head, we start a new, enriched life full of the treasures of joy and spontaneity. Once released from it’s bonds, it will fly you on to beauty undreamed of. . . .

Posted in children, enlightenment, freedom, fulfillment, hope, humanity, innocence, joy, life, love, spirituality, well-being, yoga
Eight weeks after my fifteenth birthday I swallowed a massive dose of LSD and went temporarily insane. I still sharply recall the feeling of sheer terror when I realized that I was losing my mind. The demons moved in to possess my soul and I was plunged into a sadistic hell; my mind on fire and my heart torn to pieces in my chest – and then weeks of utter emotional darkness. Nine years later, hard drugs and alcohol had almost extinguished what remained of the small, comforting light somewhere inside me, but at one point a motherly hand reached down deep into the vacuum that was my life, and pulled me lovingly up into the fresh air and sunshine. When I see photos of myself as a teenager, I’m surprised to see how young and vulnerable I looked. I had thought that I was grown up and master of my world. How very sad to be so completely lost in the midst of a civilization that is supposed to be advanced.
I come from a broken home – not in the sense of bombs exploding and loved ones killed by war or hunger, like some children; but an almost mundane, commonplace sort of broken home: one cracked by Drunkenness and Divorce. My parents are lovely people; sensitive and kind. But sensitivity has not been a virtue cherished in our society. Escape into intoxication has rendered most of us numb to the terrible norms of our lives – child abuse, mockery, violence and the like.
I’ve been clean for almost twenty-six years now. In this time, I’ve reached peaks of joy and clarity that I didn’t believe were available to normal human beings like myself. When you feel the presence of that person beside you on the bus, or you hurriedly brush past your child or spouse, ask yourself what they might be feeling. Could they be in a desperate state of inner need? And should they require your loving attention, would you have the capacity to quench their burning thirst? It’s up to each of us to attain the beautiful Unlimited in us and share it as unconditionally as possible. It’s time to find out just how amazing we really are.
Posted in children, drugs, enlightenment, freedom, fulfillment, hope, humanity, joy, life, love, spirituality, Uncategorized, well-being

Posted in children, enlightenment, forgiveness, freedom, friendship, fulfillment, grace, hope, humanity, innocence, joy, life, love, mother, peace, poetry, spirituality, well-being, wisdom, yoga