Your Story
Please send us an account of “Your Story” about a particularly uplifting or enlightening moment you have experienced. We’ll post it here.
by George Welsch, after teaching Centering Prayer in the Mystic Heart Program, week 4, 2009
Unity and oneness are more than concepts; they are experiences. Each morning during the Mystic Heart meditation I felt the oneness of hearts with many who come from different paths. It was a time of affirmation of our humanity and a call to beauty, truth and goodness. All week the speakers encouraged us to look into what we do and the morning encouraged us to be. The image of Oneness came in the common experience of our children and children's children. The basic core of goodness and unity were alive in all who chose to be present to one another and their God. The Mystic Heart touched all of our hearts.
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by Subagh Khalsa
I’ve told this story many times but it relates one of the more important moments in my life and I find it is helpful to others as well. Many years ago, after I had studied with my spiritual teacher, Yogi Bhajan, for a decade or so, I slid into a sort of depression. Nothing was inspiring me and even my yoga and meditation practice was listless. It happened that during that time I was in Los Angeles for a large gathering of Yogi Bhajan’s students. After a Sikh service several hundred of us had spilled out of the Gurudwara (temple) onto the sidewalk and street. I was a hundred feet or more from the door when Yogi Bhajan came out. Almost immediately I could see him turn towards me and move quickly in my direction, the crowd parting before him. He walked right up to me, fixed me with his piercing gaze and said, “ Subagh, how are you feeling?”
“Sir, I feel awful.” was the reply.
And he asked, “Are you tired of feeling awful?”
“Yes, Sir”
“Then elevate yourself!”
It seemed a brilliant idea. I straightened my slumped posture, smiled slightly and said, “Yes, Sir.”
He looked more deeply into me and boomed, “I said ‘elevate yourself’.“ At that I straightened still further, drew my most energetic, chest expanding breath, smiled more fully and said again, “YES, SIR.” But the master was still not satisfied. He took on a fierce look, and yelled the loudest yell I’ve ever heard, “I SAID, ‘ELEVATE YOURSELF!!!” “ Instantly, two or three hundred people wheeled around to see what was happening and an enormous rush of energy shot up my spine and into my head. In that moment I felt truly awakened. Yogi Bhajan, in the same huge voice yelled, “THANK YOU” and walked away.
It was an enlightening lesson. He drove me to it but I had elevated myself. I had made that simple but forceful effort that pulled me out of the funk I had labored under for weeks. I could do that anytime. We all have that power. Of course, there are medical conditions that can prevent such elevation, but the point was that I didn’t have to be the victim of my own negativity. It’s a lesson I come back to over and over.