When you see a photograph of yourself, or hear a recording of your voice, do you ever cringe because you look or sound like that? Well, getting an authentic picture of your spiritual self is even more difficult.
And with what’s headed our way this month, we can be certain of seeing ourselves as we really are.
This week begins the new month of Virgo (Elul). And if you are yourself or know of someone who is a Virgo, you know they have this uncanny ability to see everything that is wrong with a person or situation. They are what you’d call “detail-oriented.”
It’s like when you take your car to the car wash. It might have been really filthy and when you get it back it’s sparkling. But do you see that? No–you start looking for the one crumb that the guy missed. You look for what they didn’t do. Virgos are all about pointing out these crumbs.
This week and for the entire month of Elul, the energy of Virgo is everywhere.
This is a good thing.
I’ll explain. The purpose of seeing what’s wrong with your self is NOT about feeling bad. It’s about showing you what is blocking you from receiving so much more.
In the month of Libra, that follows, our universe will be bathed in the intensely positive energy of fulfillment Rosh Hashanah. Kabbalists teach us that Virgo is a gift—the more you “clean house” this month, the more room there will be to receive this recharging Light in the month of Libra.
So, let the crumb-spotting begin!
First, start taking stock of who you really are. Sure, you are a good person, you volunteer, you share, you use the tools of Kabbalah. But don’t believe your own press. There’s plenty of dirt under ALL of our rugs.
If we consciously, proactively take it upon ourselves to look within, we will have the spiritual support to see our garbage. The process of writing is an effective way to focus our thoughts on what we want to work on. Often, we get stuck in our head and our goals become muddied. Writing will bypass this.
Second, embrace the people who push your buttons.
What is your typical response when someone tells you something you don’t want to hear? Exactly. And why do you snap back or ignore the person? Ego.
This month, try allowing yourself “to take it on the chin” for once, to hear what people have to say without getting busy with nasty comebacks or calculating what is wrong with them.
The rule of thumb is: Listen, thank them for sharing, and let it sit for a few days. Ask the Light to show you whether or not they were right.
Also, be on the look-out for criticisms from people who don’t know you well. It is a spiritual truth that strangers can see your faults the clearest.
Don’t let yourself get depressed about seeing what you have to change. Keep reminding yourself how much more Light will be in your life if you just stick with it! Stay focused on what you want to achieve and know that every time your ego takes a hit, you are one step closer to achieving it.
All the best,
Yehuda
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Mother Gaia
Gaia or Gaea, known as Earth or Mother Earth (the Greek common noun for “land” is ge or ga). She was an early earth goddess and it is written that Gaia was born from Chaos, the great void of emptiness within the universe, and with her came Eros. She gave birth to Pontus (the Sea) and Uranus (the Sky). This was achieved parthenogenetically (without male intervention). Other versions say that Gaia had as siblings Tartarus (the lowest part of the earth, below Hades itself) and Eros, and without a mate, gave birth to Uranus (Sky), Ourea (Mountains) and Pontus (Sea).Gaia took as her husband Uranus, who was also her son, and their offspring included the Titans, six sons and six daughters. She gave birth to the Cyclopes and to three monsters that became known as the “Hecatonchires“. The spirits of punishment known as the Erinyes were also offspring of Gaia and Uranus. The Gigantes, finally, were conceived after Uranus had been castrated by his son Cronus, and his blood fell to earth from the open wound.
To protect her children from her husband, (the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires, as he was fearful of their great strength), Gaia hid them all within herself. One version says that Uranus was aghast at the sight of his offspring so he hid them away in Tartarus, which are the bowels of the earth. Gaia herself found her offspring uncomfortable and at times painful, when the discomfort became to much to bear she asked her youngest son Cronus to help her. She asked him to castrate Uranus, thus severing the union between the Earth and Sky, and also to prevent more monstrous offspring. To help Cronus achieve his goal Gaia produced an adamantine sickle to serve as the weapon. Cronus hid until Uranus came to lay with Gaia and as Uranus drew near, Cronus struck with the sickle, cutting the genitalia from Uranus. Blood fell from the severed genitals and came in contact with the earth and from that union was born the Erinyes (Furies), the Giants and the Meliae (Nymphs of the manna ash trees).
After the separation of the Earth from the Sky, Gaia gave birth to other offspring, these being fathered by Pontus. Their names were the sea-god Nereus, Thaumas,Phorcys, Ceto and Eurybia. In other versions Gaia had offspring to her brother Tartarus; they were Echidna and Typhon, the later being an enemy of Zeus. Apollokilled Typhon when he took control of the oracle at Delphi, which Gaia originally provided, and then the “Sibyl” sang the oracle in Gaia’s shrine.
It was Gaia who saved Zeus from being swallowed by Cronus, after Zeus had been born, Gaia helped Rhea to wrap a stone in swaddling clothes, this was to trick Cronus in to thinking it was Zeus, because Cronus had been informed that one of his children would depose him, and so to get rid of his children he had swallowed them, Gaia’s trick worked and Zeus was then taken to Crete.
Gaia being the primordial element from which all the gods originated was worshiped throughout Greece, but later she went into decline and was supplanted by other gods. In Roman mythology she was known as Tellus or Terra.
To protect her children from her husband, (the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires, as he was fearful of their great strength), Gaia hid them all within herself. One version says that Uranus was aghast at the sight of his offspring so he hid them away in Tartarus, which are the bowels of the earth. Gaia herself found her offspring uncomfortable and at times painful, when the discomfort became to much to bear she asked her youngest son Cronus to help her. She asked him to castrate Uranus, thus severing the union between the Earth and Sky, and also to prevent more monstrous offspring. To help Cronus achieve his goal Gaia produced an adamantine sickle to serve as the weapon. Cronus hid until Uranus came to lay with Gaia and as Uranus drew near, Cronus struck with the sickle, cutting the genitalia from Uranus. Blood fell from the severed genitals and came in contact with the earth and from that union was born the Erinyes (Furies), the Giants and the Meliae (Nymphs of the manna ash trees).
After the separation of the Earth from the Sky, Gaia gave birth to other offspring, these being fathered by Pontus. Their names were the sea-god Nereus, Thaumas,Phorcys, Ceto and Eurybia. In other versions Gaia had offspring to her brother Tartarus; they were Echidna and Typhon, the later being an enemy of Zeus. Apollokilled Typhon when he took control of the oracle at Delphi, which Gaia originally provided, and then the “Sibyl” sang the oracle in Gaia’s shrine.
It was Gaia who saved Zeus from being swallowed by Cronus, after Zeus had been born, Gaia helped Rhea to wrap a stone in swaddling clothes, this was to trick Cronus in to thinking it was Zeus, because Cronus had been informed that one of his children would depose him, and so to get rid of his children he had swallowed them, Gaia’s trick worked and Zeus was then taken to Crete.
Gaia being the primordial element from which all the gods originated was worshiped throughout Greece, but later she went into decline and was supplanted by other gods. In Roman mythology she was known as Tellus or Terra.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Right Relationship to Self! Dr Robert Anthony
What is the most important relationship in your life? Is it with
your spouse, your partner, your lover, your parents, your friends?
If you answered "yes" to any of these, I would suggest you look
further. The most important relationship in your life is your
relationship with the PRESENT MOMENT. More specifically, whatever
form the present moment takes, that is to say, what is happening or
"what is" right now.
If your relationship with the present moment is dysfunctional, that
dysfunction will be reflected in every relationship and every
situation you encounter. All problems that we experience in life
are simply a dysfunctional relationship with the present moment.
Once you have reached a certain level of awareness (and if you are
reading this, you almost certainly have) you are able to decide
what kind of relationship you want to have with the present moment.
Ask yourself, "Do I want the present moment to be my friend or my
enemy?" The present moment is inseparable from Life so what you are
really deciding is what kind of relationship you want to have with
Life. Once you have decided you want the present moment to be your
friend, it's up to you to make the first move. Become friendly
toward it and welcome it no matter what disguise it may have.
If you do this, you will soon see the results. Life becomes
friendly toward you, people become helpful, and circumstances
cooperate with you. This one decision can change your entire
reality. But you have to make that one decision again and again and
again- until it becomes a new way to live.
Today will bring you a new awareness, a lesson or a manifestation
that you are making progress - IF YOU LOOK FOR IT! No matter how
large or small, please record it in your Evidence Journal. It will
only take a few moments and will AUTOMATICALLY put you in the Flow.
Truly Caring for Your Success!
Dr. Robert Anthony
your spouse, your partner, your lover, your parents, your friends?
If you answered "yes" to any of these, I would suggest you look
further. The most important relationship in your life is your
relationship with the PRESENT MOMENT. More specifically, whatever
form the present moment takes, that is to say, what is happening or
"what is" right now.
If your relationship with the present moment is dysfunctional, that
dysfunction will be reflected in every relationship and every
situation you encounter. All problems that we experience in life
are simply a dysfunctional relationship with the present moment.
Once you have reached a certain level of awareness (and if you are
reading this, you almost certainly have) you are able to decide
what kind of relationship you want to have with the present moment.
Ask yourself, "Do I want the present moment to be my friend or my
enemy?" The present moment is inseparable from Life so what you are
really deciding is what kind of relationship you want to have with
Life. Once you have decided you want the present moment to be your
friend, it's up to you to make the first move. Become friendly
toward it and welcome it no matter what disguise it may have.
If you do this, you will soon see the results. Life becomes
friendly toward you, people become helpful, and circumstances
cooperate with you. This one decision can change your entire
reality. But you have to make that one decision again and again and
again- until it becomes a new way to live.
Today will bring you a new awareness, a lesson or a manifestation
that you are making progress - IF YOU LOOK FOR IT! No matter how
large or small, please record it in your Evidence Journal. It will
only take a few moments and will AUTOMATICALLY put you in the Flow.
Truly Caring for Your Success!
Dr. Robert Anthony
Monday, August 15, 2011
Lesson 40!
I am sustained by the Love of God.
Here is the answer to every problem that will confront you, today and tomorrow and throughout time. In this world, you believe you are sustained by everything but God. Your faith is placed in the most trivial and insane symbols; pills, money, "protective" clothing, influence, prestige, being liked, knowing the "right" people, and an endless list of forms of nothingness that you endow with magical powers.
All these things are your replacements for the Love of God. All these things are cherished to ensure a body identification. They are songs of praise to the ego. Do not put your faith in the worthless. It will not sustain you.
Only the Love of God will protect you in all circumstances. It will lift you out of every trial, and raise you high above all the perceived dangers of this world into a climate of perfect peace and safety. It will transport you into a state of mind that nothing can threaten, nothing can disturb, and where nothing can intrude upon the eternal calm of the Son of God.
Put not your faith in illusions. They will fail you. Put all your faith in the Love of God within you; eternal, changeless and forever unfailing. This is the answer to whatever confronts you today. Through the Love of God within you, you can resolve all seeming difficulties without effort and in sure confidence. Tell yourself this often today. It is a declaration of release from the belief in idols. It is your acknowledgment of the truth about yourself.
For ten minutes, twice today, morning and evening, let the idea for today sink deep into your consciousness. Repeat it, think about it, let related thoughts come to help you recognize its truth, and allow peace to flow over you like a blanket of protection and surety. Let no idle and foolish thoughts enter to disturb the holy mind of the Son of God. Such is the Kingdom of Heaven. Such is the resting place where your Father has placed you forever.
HOW TO DEAL WITH SLEEPINESS DURING MEDITATION
Many of my meditation experiences, especially if they are long, seem to put me almost to sleep. Sometimes I do go to sleep. If they are short, say 5-10 minutes, I don't go to sleep or even get drowsy.
But even if that 'nothing' space is there, I'm sure it is useful, because I used to be so inwardly anxious, and now after about 35 years of practicing various forms of meditating, it takes a great crisis to get me anxious, and even then, not all of me is anxious.
There is a very large part of me that is very calm, strong and stable. People around me can even feel it. Would you please comment on the sleepiness?” -- NDP
This is a great reason to meditate that you’ve expressed here, NDP: to develop that feeling of calmness, strength and stability that is communicated through your atmosphere as a sense of peace.
In this way, meditation can become much more than just a way of healing yourself, though it is a very powerful way of doing that.
There are a few reasons why one might get the feeling of sleepiness that you describe during meditation.
Let’s start with the most obvious: you might not be getting enough sleep. Try to move toward a regular schedule, stay away from caffeine after 2 pm, and move toward calmer activities as the evening progreses.
You may be not be breathing fully enough. When you breathe deeply and fully, but also slowly and silently, as we do in Heart Rhythm Meditation, the feeling of being sleepy evaporates very quickly. If you’re not sure if you’re breathing fully, you’re probably not. Breathing fully takes effort and focus. A good exercise to attain the ability to breathe fully is the Square Breath, described in Living from the Heart by Puran and Susanna Bair.
You may be having an experience that is so deep and profound that a part of your mind resists it, which produces a feeling of being sleepy. More breath is helpful here, too. But this kind of powerful experience doesn’t happen every time you sit down to meditate. So if you are getting this feeling quite often, I’d say look more toward (1) and (2).
Combining the full breath with what you have learned through your many years of practice will really take you to the next level, NDP.
One thing that can really help is the webcourse 101: Introduction to HRM. (Today is the last day to sign up at the early price, saving $50!)
Yours in the One Heart,
Asatar
P.S. I hope you can join us in Tucson for the Embarkation Celebration of the IAM University of the Heart Class of 2013! Click here to learn more.
You’re receiving this email because you signed up for the IAM Daily Inspirations email list. To adjust your preferences or unsubscribe, click here.
IAM heart • PO Box 86149 • Tucson, AZ • 85754
But even if that 'nothing' space is there, I'm sure it is useful, because I used to be so inwardly anxious, and now after about 35 years of practicing various forms of meditating, it takes a great crisis to get me anxious, and even then, not all of me is anxious.
There is a very large part of me that is very calm, strong and stable. People around me can even feel it. Would you please comment on the sleepiness?” -- NDP
This is a great reason to meditate that you’ve expressed here, NDP: to develop that feeling of calmness, strength and stability that is communicated through your atmosphere as a sense of peace.
In this way, meditation can become much more than just a way of healing yourself, though it is a very powerful way of doing that.
There are a few reasons why one might get the feeling of sleepiness that you describe during meditation.
Let’s start with the most obvious: you might not be getting enough sleep. Try to move toward a regular schedule, stay away from caffeine after 2 pm, and move toward calmer activities as the evening progreses.
You may be not be breathing fully enough. When you breathe deeply and fully, but also slowly and silently, as we do in Heart Rhythm Meditation, the feeling of being sleepy evaporates very quickly. If you’re not sure if you’re breathing fully, you’re probably not. Breathing fully takes effort and focus. A good exercise to attain the ability to breathe fully is the Square Breath, described in Living from the Heart by Puran and Susanna Bair.
You may be having an experience that is so deep and profound that a part of your mind resists it, which produces a feeling of being sleepy. More breath is helpful here, too. But this kind of powerful experience doesn’t happen every time you sit down to meditate. So if you are getting this feeling quite often, I’d say look more toward (1) and (2).
Combining the full breath with what you have learned through your many years of practice will really take you to the next level, NDP.
One thing that can really help is the webcourse 101: Introduction to HRM. (Today is the last day to sign up at the early price, saving $50!)
Yours in the One Heart,
Asatar
P.S. I hope you can join us in Tucson for the Embarkation Celebration of the IAM University of the Heart Class of 2013! Click here to learn more.
You’re receiving this email because you signed up for the IAM Daily Inspirations email list. To adjust your preferences or unsubscribe, click here.
IAM heart • PO Box 86149 • Tucson, AZ • 85754
Friday, August 12, 2011
The Cosmic Adjustment Bureau Entering the Fertile Void Messages from Giza and the Sphinx with The Star Elders through Aluna Joy
The following is the FINAL 12th and 13th message that we received in Egypt. You can find our other messages on our website at www.alunajoy.com under the "Articles for Personal and Planetary Transformation" link. It might be a good idea to read them in order as each message builds upon the previous one. We are sharing this message here with you just as we received it, in present time, with very little editing. We do this for a very important reason. We know the messages that we receive are not just for our groups, but are for others as well. The Immortals, Horus, the Hathors, and other Star Masters and the Star Elders assure me that the message and the corresponding energy will be transmitted to you. So as you read this, you might want to imagine that you are with us. Also, always view the photos on the web site that we share, as photos also hold some energy of the sites.
Inside the Kings chamber after about 1 hour of silence and meditation.
Group member and our Maya Guide Enrique shares an opening prayer . . . "Holy Gods and creator, we offer to you our prayers from our hearts, our best intentions, and we have come with honor and respect. I am very grateful for this privilege of being here. This is a great moment being in this sacred site, sharing these moments together. We come from the universe, and we left the seed stones. Moment by moment, we remain determined. We feel connected to you gods and goddesses of this great land. We are now in the core of this great Temple, and we can feel the energy that you offer to us. Thank you great lords and great ladies of this holy Temple for all the teachings, for all the energy and for all the love that you gave us on this pilgrimage, so we can take it to our lands to share with the people that haven't yet had the opportunity to come here. We respect the wisdom that you give to us as well as the abundance, the love and the heart. This is why we are here."
Aluna shares . . . When we arrived here, there were two giant Horus' on top of the pyramid. They were huge! They are holding space for us in this light. When we sat down in the darkness of this temple, I could see waves of light coming in. Waves of light and little sparkle lights. And I asked what this meant. They said they are cracking open the door to the next world. It starts here.
They said the work is done. We have done it. There is nothing else that needs to be done. We just have to live from the heart, moment to moment, and take steps forward. They say that the forward path has gained so much momentum now that there is nothing that can stop this shift. Just like it takes a little candle to light this whole temple, we are the candles of the new world.
Three years ago, when we were here, it felt like we were beginning something. Now, it feels like we are completing it. It is such an entirely different vibration than the last time that I was here. I know that some of you have been here before too, but it feels complete. It feels like we are ready, equipped and prepared. The next step is the leap. They are cracking open the door between this world and the next one. It is coming down from the top of the pyramid all the way down into this chamber. It is a celebratory energy. We are celebrating. We are celebrating Egypt. We are celebrating our own liberation from an old world into a new one.
I can feel Hathors coming in as a grand and loving send off, and it would be nice if we would send them a lot of gratitude, and give them thanks for this journey. They kept us safe, healthy and open to receive. They kept things flowing beautifully, and every site gave us so much that we can't even conceive how we are going to explain this to our friends and family when we get home. So we want to take this moment to thank all the guides, guardians and Angels in this very sacred moment. We want to thank all the Master and Gods that walked with us . . . The Hathors, Goddess Nut, Anubis, Horus . . . and Thoth is here also.
Also to Akhenaton who gave us beautiful energy at the museum yesterday. We thank him for holding the vision of unity in a land that didn't hold that concept. I feel that he has passed this unity baton along to us for us to hold unity for the world ; unity in diversity. I want to thank all the people that were behind the scenes that helped us keep this pilgrimage going so beautifully in such volatile time. And to all the ones that we don't know their names; those who took care of our rooms, our food, who drove our bus, helped us cross the street and all the beautiful people we met. Thanks to all the ones who are celebrating and waved to us when we passed Tahrir square. We are so happy to be here with them celebrating the liberation of humanity.
Also, thanks to the core of all that is, Father SUN and Mother EARTH, Pachamama, Pachakamaq, the Star Elders, the Ascended Masters, all the ones that have walked with us and have been with us in this life. We are so completely and totally grateful for this time, the wisdom and the enlightenment you have helped us obtain.
Now as we enter the door into the new world, it is a door that we have earned collectively. We will never take this time for granted. We cannot conceive what it would be like in the world not to have the wisdom that we carry within us, without the light and the love. We can never take for granted what is to come, because we know how precious it is and how hard we all worked to arrive at this place. We know how hard all the light beings on this planet have worked to get to this place. The Star Elders have been telling me for over 20 years that we will be successful. This is the first day that I have actually felt this happening in my heart. We have arrived. It is something that I knew in my head for years, but today I feel it growing my heart. It feels complete. We have earned our paradise.
So we are thankful, and we feel so much love for our experiences. Experiences we have had together, and experiences we had with each other in other ways. Even the beautiful times we have had in past lives. We know that the cornerstones of these beautiful experiences will come with us, and all that is not the vibration of the immerging new world will stay behind. I think that is why we are starting to feel this deep neutrality inside of us. This feeling that is beyond peace. It is a knowing that we are successful; that we have come to the end of the road, and the door is opening to a new one. What an honor it is to be alive at this time. What an incredible honor that we got to be in bodies at this time, and walked this Earth, and walked the sites again. We have touched them and felt their cornerstones. They are the seed stones . . . the heart of the heart. So, we just want to send our gratefulness to all the guardians at all the sacred sites that we have visited. So . . . I can see our gratefulness and our love going out across the world now. We are thankful.
Outside of this Temple, I am seeing other guardians collecting what we have offered here, and they are now spreading this energy out across the sites we have visited, and the ones yet to be discovered. The seed that we were given during this pilgrimage has copied itself. It has split like a fertile egg. This seed is traveling to all kinds of sacred places all over the Earth. In this chamber, there is nothing in here but us. It is the purest place we could be to split our seeds and send them to other places in the world. With these seeds goes our blessings, our love, our joy and our gratefulness with honor, respect and integrity, as well as all things that we hold dear in our heart. These ideals are going out to the world now.
We left the inner chamber and continued on to work between the paws of the Great Sphinx.
The Sphinx is a watcher. He watches the world. He watches what is going on in the world, and he keeps the record of its history. That is why when people come here, they feel that there is a Hall of Records here, because he has been storing up records for eons. He/she watches and has the eyes to see.
Remember when we kept asking "Just give us the next step, because we are blind, and we can't see what the next thing is because it is beyond our reach." When we walked in between the paws of the Sphinx, I felt this download of energy, and I felt us being called back in like we had already been here. He is a watcher. He is a seer. But the way he is downloaded is by the initiates who come here. And the initiates are uploaded with updates to the human condition and state of evolution. Do you get what I am saying? So what the Sphinx holds is us. We are the energy of the Sphinx. We are the ones that have come here over the eons and offered our memories of what we had experienced and learned. We would download here, so we could keep a complete record of what was going on. Why would we need to do this? When we know what has taken place in the past, and we know where we are now, we can literally project forward to see where we are heading. Then we can make course corrections. Initiates, Masters and I expect even ETs, would come here and make course corrections in Earth's evolution. It is much like the movie "The Adjustment Bureau".
So the Sphinx would collect information we would offer it, and then readjustments to the collective consciousness and evolutionary path would be made. These adjustments would go straight to source, the main 3 pyramids and to the creator of this site, which was not a human being like we are human, and course corrections would be made for the betterment of humanity. This would be done to keep humanity on a healthy course, while at the same time not impinge on anybody's free will. These adjustments were made on deep and subtle level of energetics and frequency; not physicality. They would just adjust the frequency, and then allow humanity to choose if they wanted to work with at frequency or not. So why is the world in such turmoil right now? The world is in such disarray, because, for a time, the initiates forgot to come here and offer their energy and insights. But you can see that this has been changing over that last couple of decades. We are turning this world around. It will take time, but the tides are turning.
So we are the ones that deposited the Hall of Records here. I am sure that you all felt it when you walked in between the paws that there was a definite shift in frequency. It is definitely anchored here, but it was brought here by initiates over many, many ages. And this is a lot older than they could even guess. The Star Elders are saying "The Sphinx has had many facelifts", because it is really, really old.
Group member Neil: Yes, so the information is this going back and forth. What I got was that I was seeing the Sun, and they were taking me into the Sun where it was all about creation. There I saw those four figures at Abu Simbel. You know the creators for the four direction. So today I feel it has come full circle.
Group member Trish: So do you feel Thoth here?
Aluna: I am not getting a name. I am just feeling the presence of the Sphinx itself which is more of a collective of who we are, and it has been built up over time. But there is an actual Sphinx entity that is here, and he/she is watching us now. Also, a strange thing is I feel that there was another Sphinx; a mirror image of this one somewhere in the world.
Group member Trish: There is a blue Sphinx somewhere in the Americas. I don't know where.
Group member Howard: I heard that this is the template that we are making. They said . . . "This is for you to make. I am giving you the template. But it is up to us to create from concentric rings outward. From this center, we are the Bindu point. (In yoga, the word Bindu refers to the stage in meditation where all experiences converge into a point and expand into pure awareness.)
Aluna: That is where the adjustments, that they are talking about, take place. The adjustments are in pure energy. These are adjustments in frequency that we (light workers of the world) are here to make.
When we were in the King's Chamber it was very different . . . Even audibly, it was different. I noticed it immediately when we walked in. Because the first time I was there, any little sound that we made echoed so bad we could not hear it. That was until we sang, and then it became melodious and harmonious. This time I expected the same effect, but it was very different. We could talk to each other. We could HEAR! I thought "Why is this different? Nothing in this chamber has changed." And then I realized that WE have changed. We have come more in harmony with the frequency that is in that chamber, so we can interact with each other and work together.
So when we were told we had arrived, the outer proof of this was that we could talk to each other, and it didn't go into this discordant energy. We have evolved and can now actually merge and work with this chamber by sharing back and forth without the energy going crazy. This is why we feel so complete. I think that we have completed a very big task, and now a new job is ahead of us. We have made some adjustments to the frequency just by being who we are.
So it was perfect that came here immediately after the King's Chamber, so we could anchor the adjustments here. Then the Sphinx sends all the adjustments out into the world and to the other mirror Sphinx.
Group member Kerrie: I received a symbol. This symbol started with a circle, and it moved to the infinity sign, and the circle became an eye. They eye was in the center of the infinity symbol.
Aluna: Oh . . . Thank you Kerrie. You triggered something. The Sphinx has one thing, he would like to do with us, and that is to anchor an infinity symbol inside of us. It is in multiple layers and works like a gyroscope. This will exist between us and the Sphinx from now on. If you are okay with this idea, we can link this. This will also link us to the mirror image Sphinx in South America; or maybe in the Maya lands. I feel it is in some jungle somewhere completely covered up. But we will also become a mirror image Sphinx for this Sphinx in the outside world. We are going to anchor this so we can continue to made adjustments as the world evolves and changes. We will be his eyes to see. We are going to be a part of the Sphinx on the outside. So no matter where we go, we will be able to download things back to here, and receive what has been anchored here back to us.
So if it is Okay with you, they would like to anchor this cosmic infinity inside our seed. The Star Elders popped in and said that it is like a cosmic super highway of information between us and the Sphinx. It is a cosmic high speed internet. We are going to ask that this cosmic infinity circuit be anchored within us, through all time, space, dimension, past, present, future, body, mind, spirit, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, until we decide that we no longer need this connection. We can break it at any time. It is yours to do with as you wish. It has been given to you, because you have the quality of heart and pure intent for creating a new and better world. So when we leave here today, we won't lose our connection to the Sphinx or the King's Chamber.
I am seeing some moving geometry that I can't explain, because it doesn't come from this dimension. It links the Sphinx to the Kings Chamber, and the other pyramids too. It is wired in a way that we don't understand yet. But we will. In the meantime, they are going to keep us connected, so when we go back to the 3D world, we will have this place inside of us. So anytime you want to understand something, or need deeper wisdom about a situation or option, you can come back here. (Aluna points to her heart.)
The wisdom of all the ancients, of all the seers and of all the enlightened ones anchored their energy here along with us. It is a huge library that is not anchored in technology but experience. It will help us be discerning and choose the right decisions. In this new energy, a lot of things will come up that we won't understand, because it is brand new. We will have to pull on wisdom of the collective and the ancients to be able to understand what choices to make. The odd thing is that the information that is here won't tell us what to do. But it will be a frequency that will get us clear, so we will know what to do next. What we are doing next is up to us. What the ancients did is the way they did it. The way we do it now will be different. But the frequency, and the way things are stored here, will help us trigger an understanding of how to operate now, so we don't just repeat what we did in the past. Does that make sense?
So this knowledge is not like a book or something you read. It is a frequency that comes from the hearts of all those that have worked with this place, and it will help trigger a knowingness in us in which we will understand how to work in the present moment. The past is the past, and old rules and laws are changing right before our eyes. Some of the laws of nature that hold this dimension together have begun to shift. So we will run into situations where we will have to pull from a higher place inside of us in order to know how to react to situations. We won't be able to react anymore like we had in the past. Have you noticed how neutral we have become? It almost feels detached. We will have to BE in this space so we don't react. It is a new form of Response-Ability. We need to act, not re-act, in appropriate ways based on the new energies. Just by the mere fact that we came here during a liberation/revolution is a big clue that thing are changing. We had to pass a test before we could take this next step. We passed the test by listening to our hearts, and not our fear. This is why this Sphinx is allowing us to connect in this way . . . and others that follow us that come from the heart . . . and the ones that were here before us. So now we are official members of a cosmic and ancient Adjustment Bureau.
ALUNA JOY YAXK'IN is an internationally known author, spiritual life coach, sacred site guide, alternative historian, ordained minister and modern mystic. She inspires and encourages others to recognize and accept their own authentic divinity and connection to God. Copyright © 2011 - Permission is granted to copy and redistribute this article on the condition that the content remains complete, full credit is given to the author(s), and that it is distributed freely. Aluna Joy Yaxk'in, PO Box 1988 Sedona, AZ 86339 USA Web:www.AlunaJoy.com Email:aluna@alunajoy.com.
Inside the Kings chamber after about 1 hour of silence and meditation.
Group member and our Maya Guide Enrique shares an opening prayer . . . "Holy Gods and creator, we offer to you our prayers from our hearts, our best intentions, and we have come with honor and respect. I am very grateful for this privilege of being here. This is a great moment being in this sacred site, sharing these moments together. We come from the universe, and we left the seed stones. Moment by moment, we remain determined. We feel connected to you gods and goddesses of this great land. We are now in the core of this great Temple, and we can feel the energy that you offer to us. Thank you great lords and great ladies of this holy Temple for all the teachings, for all the energy and for all the love that you gave us on this pilgrimage, so we can take it to our lands to share with the people that haven't yet had the opportunity to come here. We respect the wisdom that you give to us as well as the abundance, the love and the heart. This is why we are here."
Aluna shares . . . When we arrived here, there were two giant Horus' on top of the pyramid. They were huge! They are holding space for us in this light. When we sat down in the darkness of this temple, I could see waves of light coming in. Waves of light and little sparkle lights. And I asked what this meant. They said they are cracking open the door to the next world. It starts here.
They said the work is done. We have done it. There is nothing else that needs to be done. We just have to live from the heart, moment to moment, and take steps forward. They say that the forward path has gained so much momentum now that there is nothing that can stop this shift. Just like it takes a little candle to light this whole temple, we are the candles of the new world.
Three years ago, when we were here, it felt like we were beginning something. Now, it feels like we are completing it. It is such an entirely different vibration than the last time that I was here. I know that some of you have been here before too, but it feels complete. It feels like we are ready, equipped and prepared. The next step is the leap. They are cracking open the door between this world and the next one. It is coming down from the top of the pyramid all the way down into this chamber. It is a celebratory energy. We are celebrating. We are celebrating Egypt. We are celebrating our own liberation from an old world into a new one.
I can feel Hathors coming in as a grand and loving send off, and it would be nice if we would send them a lot of gratitude, and give them thanks for this journey. They kept us safe, healthy and open to receive. They kept things flowing beautifully, and every site gave us so much that we can't even conceive how we are going to explain this to our friends and family when we get home. So we want to take this moment to thank all the guides, guardians and Angels in this very sacred moment. We want to thank all the Master and Gods that walked with us . . . The Hathors, Goddess Nut, Anubis, Horus . . . and Thoth is here also.
Also to Akhenaton who gave us beautiful energy at the museum yesterday. We thank him for holding the vision of unity in a land that didn't hold that concept. I feel that he has passed this unity baton along to us for us to hold unity for the world ; unity in diversity. I want to thank all the people that were behind the scenes that helped us keep this pilgrimage going so beautifully in such volatile time. And to all the ones that we don't know their names; those who took care of our rooms, our food, who drove our bus, helped us cross the street and all the beautiful people we met. Thanks to all the ones who are celebrating and waved to us when we passed Tahrir square. We are so happy to be here with them celebrating the liberation of humanity.
Also, thanks to the core of all that is, Father SUN and Mother EARTH, Pachamama, Pachakamaq, the Star Elders, the Ascended Masters, all the ones that have walked with us and have been with us in this life. We are so completely and totally grateful for this time, the wisdom and the enlightenment you have helped us obtain.
Now as we enter the door into the new world, it is a door that we have earned collectively. We will never take this time for granted. We cannot conceive what it would be like in the world not to have the wisdom that we carry within us, without the light and the love. We can never take for granted what is to come, because we know how precious it is and how hard we all worked to arrive at this place. We know how hard all the light beings on this planet have worked to get to this place. The Star Elders have been telling me for over 20 years that we will be successful. This is the first day that I have actually felt this happening in my heart. We have arrived. It is something that I knew in my head for years, but today I feel it growing my heart. It feels complete. We have earned our paradise.
So we are thankful, and we feel so much love for our experiences. Experiences we have had together, and experiences we had with each other in other ways. Even the beautiful times we have had in past lives. We know that the cornerstones of these beautiful experiences will come with us, and all that is not the vibration of the immerging new world will stay behind. I think that is why we are starting to feel this deep neutrality inside of us. This feeling that is beyond peace. It is a knowing that we are successful; that we have come to the end of the road, and the door is opening to a new one. What an honor it is to be alive at this time. What an incredible honor that we got to be in bodies at this time, and walked this Earth, and walked the sites again. We have touched them and felt their cornerstones. They are the seed stones . . . the heart of the heart. So, we just want to send our gratefulness to all the guardians at all the sacred sites that we have visited. So . . . I can see our gratefulness and our love going out across the world now. We are thankful.
Outside of this Temple, I am seeing other guardians collecting what we have offered here, and they are now spreading this energy out across the sites we have visited, and the ones yet to be discovered. The seed that we were given during this pilgrimage has copied itself. It has split like a fertile egg. This seed is traveling to all kinds of sacred places all over the Earth. In this chamber, there is nothing in here but us. It is the purest place we could be to split our seeds and send them to other places in the world. With these seeds goes our blessings, our love, our joy and our gratefulness with honor, respect and integrity, as well as all things that we hold dear in our heart. These ideals are going out to the world now.
We left the inner chamber and continued on to work between the paws of the Great Sphinx.
The Sphinx is a watcher. He watches the world. He watches what is going on in the world, and he keeps the record of its history. That is why when people come here, they feel that there is a Hall of Records here, because he has been storing up records for eons. He/she watches and has the eyes to see.
Remember when we kept asking "Just give us the next step, because we are blind, and we can't see what the next thing is because it is beyond our reach." When we walked in between the paws of the Sphinx, I felt this download of energy, and I felt us being called back in like we had already been here. He is a watcher. He is a seer. But the way he is downloaded is by the initiates who come here. And the initiates are uploaded with updates to the human condition and state of evolution. Do you get what I am saying? So what the Sphinx holds is us. We are the energy of the Sphinx. We are the ones that have come here over the eons and offered our memories of what we had experienced and learned. We would download here, so we could keep a complete record of what was going on. Why would we need to do this? When we know what has taken place in the past, and we know where we are now, we can literally project forward to see where we are heading. Then we can make course corrections. Initiates, Masters and I expect even ETs, would come here and make course corrections in Earth's evolution. It is much like the movie "The Adjustment Bureau".
So the Sphinx would collect information we would offer it, and then readjustments to the collective consciousness and evolutionary path would be made. These adjustments would go straight to source, the main 3 pyramids and to the creator of this site, which was not a human being like we are human, and course corrections would be made for the betterment of humanity. This would be done to keep humanity on a healthy course, while at the same time not impinge on anybody's free will. These adjustments were made on deep and subtle level of energetics and frequency; not physicality. They would just adjust the frequency, and then allow humanity to choose if they wanted to work with at frequency or not. So why is the world in such turmoil right now? The world is in such disarray, because, for a time, the initiates forgot to come here and offer their energy and insights. But you can see that this has been changing over that last couple of decades. We are turning this world around. It will take time, but the tides are turning.
So we are the ones that deposited the Hall of Records here. I am sure that you all felt it when you walked in between the paws that there was a definite shift in frequency. It is definitely anchored here, but it was brought here by initiates over many, many ages. And this is a lot older than they could even guess. The Star Elders are saying "The Sphinx has had many facelifts", because it is really, really old.
Group member Neil: Yes, so the information is this going back and forth. What I got was that I was seeing the Sun, and they were taking me into the Sun where it was all about creation. There I saw those four figures at Abu Simbel. You know the creators for the four direction. So today I feel it has come full circle.
Group member Trish: So do you feel Thoth here?
Aluna: I am not getting a name. I am just feeling the presence of the Sphinx itself which is more of a collective of who we are, and it has been built up over time. But there is an actual Sphinx entity that is here, and he/she is watching us now. Also, a strange thing is I feel that there was another Sphinx; a mirror image of this one somewhere in the world.
Group member Trish: There is a blue Sphinx somewhere in the Americas. I don't know where.
Group member Howard: I heard that this is the template that we are making. They said . . . "This is for you to make. I am giving you the template. But it is up to us to create from concentric rings outward. From this center, we are the Bindu point. (In yoga, the word Bindu refers to the stage in meditation where all experiences converge into a point and expand into pure awareness.)
Aluna: That is where the adjustments, that they are talking about, take place. The adjustments are in pure energy. These are adjustments in frequency that we (light workers of the world) are here to make.
When we were in the King's Chamber it was very different . . . Even audibly, it was different. I noticed it immediately when we walked in. Because the first time I was there, any little sound that we made echoed so bad we could not hear it. That was until we sang, and then it became melodious and harmonious. This time I expected the same effect, but it was very different. We could talk to each other. We could HEAR! I thought "Why is this different? Nothing in this chamber has changed." And then I realized that WE have changed. We have come more in harmony with the frequency that is in that chamber, so we can interact with each other and work together.
So when we were told we had arrived, the outer proof of this was that we could talk to each other, and it didn't go into this discordant energy. We have evolved and can now actually merge and work with this chamber by sharing back and forth without the energy going crazy. This is why we feel so complete. I think that we have completed a very big task, and now a new job is ahead of us. We have made some adjustments to the frequency just by being who we are.
So it was perfect that came here immediately after the King's Chamber, so we could anchor the adjustments here. Then the Sphinx sends all the adjustments out into the world and to the other mirror Sphinx.
Group member Kerrie: I received a symbol. This symbol started with a circle, and it moved to the infinity sign, and the circle became an eye. They eye was in the center of the infinity symbol.
Aluna: Oh . . . Thank you Kerrie. You triggered something. The Sphinx has one thing, he would like to do with us, and that is to anchor an infinity symbol inside of us. It is in multiple layers and works like a gyroscope. This will exist between us and the Sphinx from now on. If you are okay with this idea, we can link this. This will also link us to the mirror image Sphinx in South America; or maybe in the Maya lands. I feel it is in some jungle somewhere completely covered up. But we will also become a mirror image Sphinx for this Sphinx in the outside world. We are going to anchor this so we can continue to made adjustments as the world evolves and changes. We will be his eyes to see. We are going to be a part of the Sphinx on the outside. So no matter where we go, we will be able to download things back to here, and receive what has been anchored here back to us.
So if it is Okay with you, they would like to anchor this cosmic infinity inside our seed. The Star Elders popped in and said that it is like a cosmic super highway of information between us and the Sphinx. It is a cosmic high speed internet. We are going to ask that this cosmic infinity circuit be anchored within us, through all time, space, dimension, past, present, future, body, mind, spirit, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, until we decide that we no longer need this connection. We can break it at any time. It is yours to do with as you wish. It has been given to you, because you have the quality of heart and pure intent for creating a new and better world. So when we leave here today, we won't lose our connection to the Sphinx or the King's Chamber.
I am seeing some moving geometry that I can't explain, because it doesn't come from this dimension. It links the Sphinx to the Kings Chamber, and the other pyramids too. It is wired in a way that we don't understand yet. But we will. In the meantime, they are going to keep us connected, so when we go back to the 3D world, we will have this place inside of us. So anytime you want to understand something, or need deeper wisdom about a situation or option, you can come back here. (Aluna points to her heart.)
The wisdom of all the ancients, of all the seers and of all the enlightened ones anchored their energy here along with us. It is a huge library that is not anchored in technology but experience. It will help us be discerning and choose the right decisions. In this new energy, a lot of things will come up that we won't understand, because it is brand new. We will have to pull on wisdom of the collective and the ancients to be able to understand what choices to make. The odd thing is that the information that is here won't tell us what to do. But it will be a frequency that will get us clear, so we will know what to do next. What we are doing next is up to us. What the ancients did is the way they did it. The way we do it now will be different. But the frequency, and the way things are stored here, will help us trigger an understanding of how to operate now, so we don't just repeat what we did in the past. Does that make sense?
So this knowledge is not like a book or something you read. It is a frequency that comes from the hearts of all those that have worked with this place, and it will help trigger a knowingness in us in which we will understand how to work in the present moment. The past is the past, and old rules and laws are changing right before our eyes. Some of the laws of nature that hold this dimension together have begun to shift. So we will run into situations where we will have to pull from a higher place inside of us in order to know how to react to situations. We won't be able to react anymore like we had in the past. Have you noticed how neutral we have become? It almost feels detached. We will have to BE in this space so we don't react. It is a new form of Response-Ability. We need to act, not re-act, in appropriate ways based on the new energies. Just by the mere fact that we came here during a liberation/revolution is a big clue that thing are changing. We had to pass a test before we could take this next step. We passed the test by listening to our hearts, and not our fear. This is why this Sphinx is allowing us to connect in this way . . . and others that follow us that come from the heart . . . and the ones that were here before us. So now we are official members of a cosmic and ancient Adjustment Bureau.
ALUNA JOY YAXK'IN is an internationally known author, spiritual life coach, sacred site guide, alternative historian, ordained minister and modern mystic. She inspires and encourages others to recognize and accept their own authentic divinity and connection to God. Copyright © 2011 - Permission is granted to copy and redistribute this article on the condition that the content remains complete, full credit is given to the author(s), and that it is distributed freely. Aluna Joy Yaxk'in, PO Box 1988 Sedona, AZ 86339 USA Web:www.AlunaJoy.com Email:aluna@alunajoy.com.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Physical Earthly Body Training with David.
Water Retention
Keeping you from Looking Ripped?
I hear it all the time... "I do so much cardio, and my diet and training are so on point, yet I still have this layer of fat covering my abs! What's the matter with me?" Well... that layer of "muscle-masking mess" that you might assume to be fat, could in fact be primarily "subcutaneous fluid", otherwise known as "water weight".
The body has a natural mechanism for storing water and ions in the body, just as it does for storing excess calories as fat. Ions are basically charged particles which float around in your body, having various functions. You may have heard the term "electrolyte" before. An electrolyte is basically a molecule with a certain electric "charge" in your body, such as potassium (K+), or sodium (Na+), for example.
Take this test: See that skin covering your lower abdominal area? Give it a pinch, pull it, and let it go. If it shakes with a sort of quick "rippled" motion, you are probably carrying a lot of fluid which you were assuming to be fat.
A lot of bodybuilders get very lean, and achieve vascularity in areas such as their arms and legs, yet still cannot get their lower abdominal muscles to appear. This is usually due, not to fat, but to fluid and excess sodium ions being deposited in the lower abdominal region, thereby masking the well-sculpted muscle that lies underneath.
This is why you hear a lot of people saying things such as "I'll never get this thick skin to go away"; when in fact they are misunderstanding a major concept that underlies achieving a truly striated and well-defined look: flushing subcutaneous fluid and excess sodium from underneath the skin.
"But how do I get rid of that excess fluid?" you might ask. I'm going to outline the steps I follow when I have a little extra fluid to lose, so that you also can get rid of that stubborn water weight, and achieve the thin skin, and truly striated look of competitive bodybuilders and fitness models. Before you start to drop water weight though, it is wise to know if you are lean enough to even begin considering it.
If you are above 7 or 8% body fat and you're looking to get extremely lean from water loss, it probably won't happen. But if you can already pretty much see your abdominal muscles, but have thick skin overlying them, and want to thin it out a bit, then these steps should be what you need to achieve the look you desire. Stick with it for a prolonged period of time, and give it a dedicated try. Nothing works overnight.
1) DRINK MORE WATER.
That's right. You've probably heard this one before, and it is definitely true. This is the most important advice I can give, and I cannot stress its importance. Besides flushing out your kidneys and entire digestive system, hydrating your body, and brain, thereby allowing your metabolism to function more effectively, and just making for a nicer skin tone and appearance, drinking more water causes you to release more water through excretion, thereby dropping "water retention".
Aim for 1-2 gallons of water a day, but be sure to take a complete multi-vitamin, as drinking a lot of water causes you to excrete many ions which may result in a deficiency of certain vitamins.
2) SWEAT, SWEAT, SWEAT...
Sweating is a way of "evaporative cooling", a mechanism by which the body regulates its temperature. If you are sweating, it means your metabolism is probably in high gear, since a higher metabolism equals a higher resting body temperature for the most part. Also, water retention is not simply "water", but sodium ions trapped underneath the skin. This is why your sweat tastes salty. A trick I use is to sit in the sauna, and keep drinking water. In the beginning, your sweat will taste salty, telling you that you are retaining sodium.
After a while, your sweat will begin to taste like water. This tells you that you have sweat most of the sodium out that was being retained underneath your skin, which means you have lost a good portion of muscle-masking fluid. Once again, whenever sitting in a sauna, be sure to have water handy, and be sure to supplement with a vitamin, as you sweat out many of your essential vitamins.
3) POSE, POSE, POSE...
A lot of people don't like to sit in front of the mirror and squeeze their muscles, but I have found this to be one of the most important factors in truly achieving great detail deep within the muscle bellies. Besides causing you to sweat out subcutaneous fluid, posing allows you to gain greater control of your muscles. Try to flex just your posterior deltoid muscle, or just one muscle of your quadriceps.
It is a good method of practice for establishing a mind-muscle connection which will both enhance definition while posing, and allow you to better control your muscles during resistance training. The more you pose, and keep your sodium and water level low, the more cuts you will begin to see in your muscles over time, providing that your diet is on point as well.
4) DON'T GORGE ON THE SALT!
That's correct, eating foods such as french fries, potato chips, and various other foods loaded with unnecessary amounts of sodium, will cause you to retain water. The body only needs between 2000-2500mg of sodium a day to complete its metabolic functions.
If you go way over that mark, you are indulging in a mineral which the American population has been using in excess for quite some time now, creating many health problems and concerns. Keep your sodium moderate, and replace excess salt with spices such as garlic, ginger, fresh vegetables, black pepper, chives, cilantro, Ms. Dash, hot sauce, or anything else your taste buds desire.
5) FIBER, FIBER, FIBER...
Most Americans, and even more surprisingly, most "bodybuilders", do not consume adequate amounts of fiber in their diet. Similar to water, which cleanses the urinary tract and kidneys, fiber cleanses the colon/intestinal tract, keeping things moving smoothly, and mores, aiding in the removal of excess fluid. In the morning, if I find that I need to drop some fluid, I will take 2 tablespoons of Psyllium Husk Orange Natural Colon Cleanser, mixed with water.
During my meals, I include fresh vegetables, and I steam the ones I cook very lightly or eat them raw with Balsamic Vinegar and/or garlic powder to make sure I don't boil out all of their nutrients. I also include fresh fruits such as blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries, all of which have plenty of fiber and many antioxidants which help prevent against cancer and other ailments. When in doubt, berries are a great way to go.
6) DANDELION ROOT & BLACK COFFEE OR TEA!
I have found the natural herb dandelion root to be a good naturally occurring diuretic, when taken in conjunction with the previous methods I have outlined. Always make sure to drink PLENTY of water and watch your sodium levels, otherwise you will be wasting your time. Coffee and tea are naturally occurring diuretics as well, although some people might not like the jittery feeling caused by stimulants.
7) TAN, TAN, TAN...
Tanning helps to tighten up the skin, and drop excess fluid through sweating as well. Always use some sort of SPF level, and make sure to consume antioxidants (such as berries), on a frequent basis to fight off free radicals which can be carcinogenic (cancer causing).
8) GIVE PREPARATION-H A TRY!
If you've followed all of my previous steps, but still find that you are retaining a little more fluid than you'd like, I've found that rubbing preparation-H on my stomach before doing cardio, and/or tanning helps me to drop excess fluid from stubborn areas.
Once again, this won't work if you aren't already lean, or if you are slacking on your diet and/or consuming too much sodium. But if all of the above are in control, then this might just be the little spark to ignite the rest of that water releasing fire. Think about it...this stuff is used to shrink fluid out of swollen hemorrhoidal tissue. It's worked for me, but once again it takes time.
So these are the steps you should take in order to achieve the ripped look you desire, minus the water-retention. As always, the first step to achieving that balanced physique is a proper nutritional and training regimen. If those are in check, and you find that you are 1 or 2 steps away from dropping that last bit of water, then this should be all you need to get to where you desire.
Here's to perfection!
Get pumped!
David Andrews
Keeping you from Looking Ripped?
I hear it all the time... "I do so much cardio, and my diet and training are so on point, yet I still have this layer of fat covering my abs! What's the matter with me?" Well... that layer of "muscle-masking mess" that you might assume to be fat, could in fact be primarily "subcutaneous fluid", otherwise known as "water weight".
The body has a natural mechanism for storing water and ions in the body, just as it does for storing excess calories as fat. Ions are basically charged particles which float around in your body, having various functions. You may have heard the term "electrolyte" before. An electrolyte is basically a molecule with a certain electric "charge" in your body, such as potassium (K+), or sodium (Na+), for example.
Take this test: See that skin covering your lower abdominal area? Give it a pinch, pull it, and let it go. If it shakes with a sort of quick "rippled" motion, you are probably carrying a lot of fluid which you were assuming to be fat.
A lot of bodybuilders get very lean, and achieve vascularity in areas such as their arms and legs, yet still cannot get their lower abdominal muscles to appear. This is usually due, not to fat, but to fluid and excess sodium ions being deposited in the lower abdominal region, thereby masking the well-sculpted muscle that lies underneath.
This is why you hear a lot of people saying things such as "I'll never get this thick skin to go away"; when in fact they are misunderstanding a major concept that underlies achieving a truly striated and well-defined look: flushing subcutaneous fluid and excess sodium from underneath the skin.
"But how do I get rid of that excess fluid?" you might ask. I'm going to outline the steps I follow when I have a little extra fluid to lose, so that you also can get rid of that stubborn water weight, and achieve the thin skin, and truly striated look of competitive bodybuilders and fitness models. Before you start to drop water weight though, it is wise to know if you are lean enough to even begin considering it.
If you are above 7 or 8% body fat and you're looking to get extremely lean from water loss, it probably won't happen. But if you can already pretty much see your abdominal muscles, but have thick skin overlying them, and want to thin it out a bit, then these steps should be what you need to achieve the look you desire. Stick with it for a prolonged period of time, and give it a dedicated try. Nothing works overnight.
1) DRINK MORE WATER.
That's right. You've probably heard this one before, and it is definitely true. This is the most important advice I can give, and I cannot stress its importance. Besides flushing out your kidneys and entire digestive system, hydrating your body, and brain, thereby allowing your metabolism to function more effectively, and just making for a nicer skin tone and appearance, drinking more water causes you to release more water through excretion, thereby dropping "water retention".
Aim for 1-2 gallons of water a day, but be sure to take a complete multi-vitamin, as drinking a lot of water causes you to excrete many ions which may result in a deficiency of certain vitamins.
2) SWEAT, SWEAT, SWEAT...
Sweating is a way of "evaporative cooling", a mechanism by which the body regulates its temperature. If you are sweating, it means your metabolism is probably in high gear, since a higher metabolism equals a higher resting body temperature for the most part. Also, water retention is not simply "water", but sodium ions trapped underneath the skin. This is why your sweat tastes salty. A trick I use is to sit in the sauna, and keep drinking water. In the beginning, your sweat will taste salty, telling you that you are retaining sodium.
After a while, your sweat will begin to taste like water. This tells you that you have sweat most of the sodium out that was being retained underneath your skin, which means you have lost a good portion of muscle-masking fluid. Once again, whenever sitting in a sauna, be sure to have water handy, and be sure to supplement with a vitamin, as you sweat out many of your essential vitamins.
3) POSE, POSE, POSE...
A lot of people don't like to sit in front of the mirror and squeeze their muscles, but I have found this to be one of the most important factors in truly achieving great detail deep within the muscle bellies. Besides causing you to sweat out subcutaneous fluid, posing allows you to gain greater control of your muscles. Try to flex just your posterior deltoid muscle, or just one muscle of your quadriceps.
It is a good method of practice for establishing a mind-muscle connection which will both enhance definition while posing, and allow you to better control your muscles during resistance training. The more you pose, and keep your sodium and water level low, the more cuts you will begin to see in your muscles over time, providing that your diet is on point as well.
4) DON'T GORGE ON THE SALT!
That's correct, eating foods such as french fries, potato chips, and various other foods loaded with unnecessary amounts of sodium, will cause you to retain water. The body only needs between 2000-2500mg of sodium a day to complete its metabolic functions.
If you go way over that mark, you are indulging in a mineral which the American population has been using in excess for quite some time now, creating many health problems and concerns. Keep your sodium moderate, and replace excess salt with spices such as garlic, ginger, fresh vegetables, black pepper, chives, cilantro, Ms. Dash, hot sauce, or anything else your taste buds desire.
5) FIBER, FIBER, FIBER...
Most Americans, and even more surprisingly, most "bodybuilders", do not consume adequate amounts of fiber in their diet. Similar to water, which cleanses the urinary tract and kidneys, fiber cleanses the colon/intestinal tract, keeping things moving smoothly, and mores, aiding in the removal of excess fluid. In the morning, if I find that I need to drop some fluid, I will take 2 tablespoons of Psyllium Husk Orange Natural Colon Cleanser, mixed with water.
During my meals, I include fresh vegetables, and I steam the ones I cook very lightly or eat them raw with Balsamic Vinegar and/or garlic powder to make sure I don't boil out all of their nutrients. I also include fresh fruits such as blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries, all of which have plenty of fiber and many antioxidants which help prevent against cancer and other ailments. When in doubt, berries are a great way to go.
6) DANDELION ROOT & BLACK COFFEE OR TEA!
I have found the natural herb dandelion root to be a good naturally occurring diuretic, when taken in conjunction with the previous methods I have outlined. Always make sure to drink PLENTY of water and watch your sodium levels, otherwise you will be wasting your time. Coffee and tea are naturally occurring diuretics as well, although some people might not like the jittery feeling caused by stimulants.
7) TAN, TAN, TAN...
Tanning helps to tighten up the skin, and drop excess fluid through sweating as well. Always use some sort of SPF level, and make sure to consume antioxidants (such as berries), on a frequent basis to fight off free radicals which can be carcinogenic (cancer causing).
8) GIVE PREPARATION-H A TRY!
If you've followed all of my previous steps, but still find that you are retaining a little more fluid than you'd like, I've found that rubbing preparation-H on my stomach before doing cardio, and/or tanning helps me to drop excess fluid from stubborn areas.
Once again, this won't work if you aren't already lean, or if you are slacking on your diet and/or consuming too much sodium. But if all of the above are in control, then this might just be the little spark to ignite the rest of that water releasing fire. Think about it...this stuff is used to shrink fluid out of swollen hemorrhoidal tissue. It's worked for me, but once again it takes time.
So these are the steps you should take in order to achieve the ripped look you desire, minus the water-retention. As always, the first step to achieving that balanced physique is a proper nutritional and training regimen. If those are in check, and you find that you are 1 or 2 steps away from dropping that last bit of water, then this should be all you need to get to where you desire.
Here's to perfection!
Get pumped!
David Andrews
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