Light Your Way Through the Holy Days
Yogacharya O’Brian discusses how spiritual practices imbued with the symbols from the Christian tradition of Advent can be luminous tools to guide us through the dark days and nights of winter. Intentional, spiritual contemplation during Advent offers a remedy for the holidays’ overly materialistic focus that can leave us feeling empty im more ways than one. Instead, it gives us a soul-nourishing way to open our hearts and minds to the healing light within.
Yogacharya O’Brian is the founder of the Yoga Hour. She is a spiritual teacher, writer, poet, and the spiritual director of Center for Spiritual Enlightenment—a Kriya Yoga Meditation Center with headquarters in San Jose, California. She teaches and leads retreats nationally and internationally. Her work brings the timeless, universal wisdom of the Vedas from ancient India into the modern lifestyle of seekers of all faiths who yearn for a spiritually conscious life. Her newest book ‘Path of Wonder – A Meditators Guide to Advent’ is the book that is being discussed in this program.
WEBSITES: EllenGraceOBrian.com Center For Spiritual Enlightenment
THE YOGA HOUR TEAM COMMENTS: What a deep and enlightening Yoga Hour with Yogacharya O'Brian as she shared her thoughts about the importance of balancing our spiritual awakening with the busyness of this holiday season. Her insights about the benefits of exploring the symbolism of the Christmas story and our journey toward the birth of our own Christ Consciousness during this time of Advent was so uplifting. Yogacharya O' Brian encourages us each to take time to experience our own innate wholeness in order to transform our lives.
DR. TRUJILLO’S COMMENTS: Our discussion about moving beyond the secular approach to Christmas and diving deeper into the luminous symbols of this holy time was a very rich one for me. Yogacharya O’Brian quotes Paramahansa Yogananda in her book: “It is of utmost importance to all people, whatever their religion, that they experience within themselves the “birth” of the Universal Christ.” Holding the symbols of Christmas in this way will help me bring more light into this darkest time of the year. I appreciated the symbolism of “finding no room at the inn” as representing my consciousness at this time of year, full of to do lists and tasks, with the helpful encouragement to meditate as the antidote. A reminder about the mantra “Fear Not” was also quite welcome.