Making meditation work for you: How to increase your spiritual abilities using meditation

When people are new to a spiritual path, one of the first recommendations you hear is "meditate". Everyone is resistant to this. What is meditation and why are we resistant to it? Why is meditation beneficial? Is it beneficial? Does everyone have to do it?

First let me say that there are no shoulds. I know amazing healers and mediums that meditate, and I know awesome ones who do not. I can really only speak of my own experience and how meditation opened the doorway for me. We are all pretty resistant to meditation because we are conditioned to be fully focused on our physical lives and tasks. We spend much, if not most, of our time doing things: working, driving, shopping, cleaning, taking care of people, watching TV, using our phones, etc. etc. In our culture, much emphasis and value is given to “being busy” and there is not much put on quieting the mind. For example, the invention of the smartphone completely caters to the nonstop drive of the mind that is constantly seeking distraction. In our culture we are taught to live fully in the mind: to consume as much information and fulfill every urge and desire our minds have. In reality, the mind is a tool meant to serve us, but most of the time we are serving it by indulging it’s every whim. When we open to Spirit, we need to quiet all the noise going on in our heads so we can perceive the subtle information Spirit is giving.

Meditation is time dedicated to opening your inner awareness, your heart, your Spirit and to letting your mind sit in the back seat. It is time you take to train yourself to let your Spirit come forward and talk to you. It is time to allow yourself to be who you really are: a multi-sensory Spiritual being that is fully connected to the Higher realms that exist around you all of the time. Meditation is about opening the inner doorway and finding the world that lies behind your eyes. This world is infinite, and you are an integral part of it all.

Meditation has opened the world of Spirit to me. Very soon after I began meditating, I began connecting with Spirits – Angels and Archangels were first, then came power animals, Spirit Guides, Deceased Loved Ones and fairies. At first, all spirits kind of felt the same to me, but soon I began to be able to discern the unique energy signatures of different groups: Angels have a high, loving, positive and radiant vibration while Spirit Guides feel more grounded. Power Animals are patient, generous and calm and Deceased Loved Ones have tons of personality. As you practice, your own awareness will increase and the sensations you experience when Spirit is present will change. At first you may experience all Spirit as a ringing or buzzing in your ears, or as an underwater feeling. Over time and as your vibration raises the physical sensations will clarify and separate. You will get used to how an Angel feels different from a Guide or Loved One. This only takes time and practice – trust your process!

Here are some practices you can try to get more out of your meditation time and heighten your spiritual abilities:

Fine-tune your energy awareness

Try holding different objects in your meditation. Over the course of a few days/sessions, try holding in your hand a crystal, then a flower and then an object of someone else’s, like a ring, necklace or keys. Try each of these in separate meditation sessions, then try focusing on each one in one meditation session. You will sense and discern the subtle differences between the life force energy of the crystal vs. the plant and how to describe the energy that is imbued in the personal object. These exercises help to heighten and sensitize your energy awareness as well as your ability to discern differences between different energies. The more you fine-tune this, the clearer and more detailed your communication with Spirit will be.

Surround yourself with your totems

Bring into your meditation space the sacred items you have collected. Do you collect any signs from your Angels or Guides like coins or feathers? Put them in a nice container and put it in your meditation space. Bring in your oracle/tarot cards, pictures of your power animals, flowers, crystals, incense, Deceased Loved Ones – anything and everything you are collecting as part of your spiritual altar.

Meditate in the same place every time

This accomplishes two things: First it cues your body and mind that it is time to tune into Spirit. Second, it increases the psychic energy of the space so each time you return there to meditate, the energy of meditation raises the vibration of the space. Try to also meditate at roughly the same time each day. Meditating in the same space at about the same time helps build routine and consistency as well as helps you to notice how things change in each meditation from day to day. I also recommend meditating in a small, enclosed room or even the bathroom. A small room keeps the energy confined and clear and I find it easier to sense the Spirit around me than in a larger space.

Stand up

I recommend this because it helps to identify all of the ways your body is responding to Spirit. For example, in my meditations my body will shift facings in response to different Spirits present and this has increased my ability to discern and identify Spirit.

Standing up really allows my entire body to be part of experience and it also keeps me alert and engaged!

Write it ALL down!

One of the things I recommend when meditating is to have a notebook handy to record the feelings, sensations and experiences you have in your meditations. Writing it down right after is important as often meditations and connecting with Spirit feels like a dream space: at the time it is super clear, but the memories fade fast! Writing it down will record your experiences so you can refer back and see your development, but also serves to bring into the physical world what you have experienced in the Spiritual. World. Writing it down anchors your experience and allows you to really digest it, absorb it and accept it as real, because it is.

Just do it

A regular consistent practice is key. Trust me, I know all about not “feeling like it”. But as a dancer I can attest to the truth that you are what you do. The more you spend time and prioritize your meditation, the more your Spirit (and your Spirits) will respond in kind!

All of my meditation experiences have shown me how infinite and loving the universe is and how much spiritual support we have with us. Meditation was my doorway to the Light: the more I let myself enter the world that lie behind my eyes, the more I was able to release fear and doubt, connect with Spirit and let my own Spirit take the driver's seat in my life. Everyone’s experience with meditation is uniquely different. The most important thing is to trust yourself and let your own Spirit show you the way. I hope your practice brings you much joy, excitement and awe.

I would love to hear about your meditation experiences! Please share them in comments below or on my Facebook page!

With love,

Ashley

The first experience I had with Spirituality was as the recipient of a Reiki distance healing. At the time, I was experiencing a tremendous amount of grief from the recent death of my brother due to a drug overdose. He was 38 years old and my younger brother. His death sent me into a downward spiral that I could not seem to get out of. I had always been a pretty optimistic person who was able to work through some difficult circumstances and grow and evolve both personally and professionally. But this experience was different. My brother’s death called into question the very nature of the purpose of my life and of my relationships. We had been so close, but over the years we had drifted apart and by the time he died, we were estranged. I felt completely at a loss as to how to move forward with seemingly no opportunity to ever heal or resolve the conflicts I had felt in my relationship with my brother. I was in a dark place.

After his death, I spoke frequently with my best friend and with my close relatives. Everyone was concerned about my mental and emotional state. Indeed, I was too. Just getting out of bed and through the day without a complete breakdown was difficult. It was hard for me to be a mom to my son. Everything suffered. My best friend finally confronted me. She told me she was concerned about me, that I was sinking further out of reach and she was worried that nothing she or anybody else said or did to try to help me climb out of my grief was helping. She even told me she was beginning to dread talking to me, as she felt so helpless and frustrated at how I was getting on. She told me she had bought me 6 distance Reiki sessions and basically begged me to try it.

Her words were difficult for me to hear. But I knew she was telling me the truth. At that point I knew had a decision to make - I could either shut her out or listen to her and try something different. Believe me, I wanted to just hang up the phone and add her to the list of things that were working against me. But I didn't. I listened and I took it in. I sat with her words for a couple days then I called her back and said I would try it. After all, I really had nothing to lose. I had never given any thought to Spiritual healing or energy work; in fact I had never even considered having a psychic reading or anything else of that nature. So, this was new for me.

I spoke with the healer briefly on the phone prior to our first session and I could feel her honest and open intention to connect with me on a deeper level and help me heal. She only asked me my birthday and my home address. She did not ask any questions at all about my history or issues. She told me she wanted to do the session when I was asleep, as that would be when I would be most likely the most receptive to the energy work. It made no difference to me, as I had no expectations. The morning after my first session, I could immediately feel a difference in myself. I felt that clouds had been lifted, that my chest was lighter, that the heaviness and darkness surrounding me was starting to lighten. I felt these changes both physically and emotionally. I am pretty well in tune with my body as a professional dancer and I am really used assessing my physical state in a detailed and deep way, so I was absolutely surprised, excited and intrigued with how profoundly I felt things had shifted within me after this first session.  I could not wait to hear what the healer had to say about the session.

We had a phone consultation that day and my healer went into great detail about the issues I was indeed experiencing in my life. She spoke to me about toxic relationships, baggage from the past and how my Spirit was in serious need of some attention. She went on to discuss how I needed psychic and spiritual protection because of my abilities. Then she began telling me about the "helpers" I had in Spirit and how "Archangel Michael" wanted to work with me. I had never heard of an Archangel before – these terms were completely new to me and I seriously had no idea what she was talking about. But I could feel that I was standing on the edge of something truly amazing. Her words rang true to me at a depth I was not aware that I had. My Spirit actually had been longing to have this healing experience and just hadn't realized it. In fact, Throughout my life I had always kind of secretly hoped someone, like a doctor or something, would be able to see past the surface of me and into who I really was, to my inner self. This Reiki treatment was that experience, but with a Spiritual healer instead of a medical one.

My healer began walking me through the basics of Spirituality. She gave me books to read and affirmations and exercises to do to release and cut cords, to clear myself of images, thought forms events and situations that I was still reliving in myself. I began a regular meditation practice. The more I released the past, the more clarity I began to find in myself. I began to understand more about soul growth and what the nature of my relationship with my brother truly is. Many things suddenly began to make sense in a way I didn’t expect.  I began to release the old images I had of myself as a victim, and in doing this I began to step into my true power.

When my 6 sessions were up, my healer encouraged me to find my own path and told me that I was ready. All I wanted was to figure out how I could do what she was doing. I wanted to be able to work energetically with people, to see their energy systems and help them identify and release what no longer served them.  I wanted to open my clairvoyance in order to see beyond the physical into the truth existing in the unseen Spiritual and energetic levels. So, I found a Reiki teacher in my area and got my first attunement. The ceremony was a sacred experience for me and I could literally feel my crown chakra open to receive the Divine energy flow. I began practicing regularly and went back for my Level II certification a couple of months later. It was after this that things really started to change for me.

I got a bad cold after my second attunement, which I could feel was actually my body adjusting to the new energetic vibration the attunement brought into my system. In my meditations, I began to notice my experiences with Spirit becoming clearer and more regular. I began connecting clearly with Angels, Archangels, Spirit Guides, Power animals and Loved Ones. I saw my brother in Spirit on a regular basis and I began receiving information from him and other Loved Ones. The information became more detailed and I had to take the leap and start sharing what came through. I kind of dipped my toe in and started testing it out. In one meditation, my brother came to me with very specific information about my Dad's house, which I have never seen. My brother gave me furniture placement, where his ashes were placed, what chair my dad liked to sit in while watching TV and where the bathroom was. I was nervous about sharing this with my dad, as I was afraid that somehow it wasn't real and I had made it all up. But I gathered my courage and told my Dad what my brother had shown me. It was all correct. Every detail. This was incredible validation for me, and it gave me confidence to expand and develop my mediumship. Soon, I began communicating with Spirit for others.

Reiki was the door opener for me on my Spiritual path. I feel the energy attunements were necessary steps in the path toward becoming a medium. This is how Spirit often works-it gives you one step at a time and it's up to you to follow the breadcrumbs. My path began with Reiki, but soon led me to a path in mediumship. This works differently for everyone. I believe that each person's Spirit will align the circumstances that will help each of us to open to our inner selves and begin to consciously engage in our spiritual journeys. In Spiritual growth, there is no one way, there is no right way. There is only your way. Trust it, follow it and know you are loved every step of the way.

With love,

Ashley

The biggest block to Spirit

What is the biggest block to connecting to Spirit-your own Spirit or other souls in Spirit such as your Guides, Angels and Loved Ones?

Fear.

That is the biggest obstacle. It is fear in its many myriad forms that confronts us at every turn of our Spiritual growth. Fear of the Spirits themselves. Fear of letting go of the ego's dominance. Fear of looking within our own hearts. Fear of actually hearing or knowing the truth about ourselves. What is this fear? Why do we have it and where does it come from?

We weren't always this way. I remember as a child feeling a striking clarity about the world around me. I recall viewing the adults in my life and thinking to myself that they made their lives so much more complicated than necessary. If they would only just listen to their hearts and know deeply that all is well - that no matter what happened, all is well, then they could release the petty difficulties that seemed to be dominating their lives. Why is this? How could a child have that kind of insight? It's because I had not "grown up" enough to be conditioned by the world to disconnect from my Spirit yet. I was still living from my heart and my Spirit. As a child I lacked the intellectual development that can so often serve to cloud the Spirit's clarity and that can drown out the gentle voice within. As children we are still connected to our Spirits. This is why many children can see their Angels, Guides and Loved Ones. This is why children can see straight through any fakeness or deceit. Children know instinctively when someone is not what they say they are. This is because they are living from their Spirits.

Think back to your childhood. What do you recall having crystal clear insights about? I bet there are somethings that you knew immediately about the adults around you, even if you did not have the words to articulate them at the time. I bet you knew all about the various adults in your life-who to trust, who was not who they appeared to be and who really loved you. This knowing came from your Spirit. I bet some of you even had "imaginary friends", who were in fact your Spirit friends and family. I am sure there are some of you who can recall hearing, seeing and/or feeling Spirits.

So, what happened? Why do we seem to lose this connection to ourselves? Why do we find ourselves at some much later point in our lives attempting to reconnect to the very thing that was so simple as a child?

The world happened. The physical world conditions us to operate from a place of fear. We are told in a multitude of ways, both explicit and subliminal, that we are not to trust those stirrings deep within. We are taught that we should focus instead on the exterior world; we are taught how to make things look right in comparison to others. We are taught to judge others in relation to ourselves. We separate on every level from our Spirits. Then we wonder why we are so unhappy. We reach a point where we look our lives and feel isolated, depressed and deeply dissatisfied. This happens, I believe, no matter what path you take in life.

So what is this fear that the entire world revolves around? What is this deeply set unarticulated fear at the base of every attempt to build our egos, separate from others and accumulate things as opposed to listen to our spirits?

The fear of death. This is at the root of all fear.

In my work with Spirit, one of the most profound things I hear from Deceased Loved Ones is how their own fear kept them from saying things, doing things and loving others in the way they most wanted to. Because our Deceased Loved Ones have crossed the ultimate divide they know that there is in fact no death. Our Spirits are immortal. We are Spiritual beings on a constant journey of experience that includes both physical lifetimes and time spent in the Spiritual dimensions. Our Deceased Loved Ones are now completely free of the one thing that keeps all of us from living as fully and as openly and as courageously as our Spirits want us to. This is the fear that we disappear when we die. In readings, your Loved Ones come with messages about things that they left unfulfilled and unexpressed during their physical lives. This unfinished business was because they were afraid-afraid to be themselves, to say what they felt, to take responsibility. Loved Ones often communicate that they feared to live their lives fully and as it is intended to be lived-which is free of the fear that death ends it all. Loved Ones encourage their loved ones here on earth to follow their hearts, to open to love in all of its forms and to forget what other people think of them.

How would you feel if you knew you were completely loved, safe and protected at all times? How would you feel to know that no matter what, who and what truly matters to you can never really be taken away? How would it change your daily life and decisions if you knew deeply that you cannot make a mistake-that everything you do is designed to bring you closer to your own Sprrit and to God? Try just opening to this idea. Does it change anything?

Opening to Spirit allows us to relinquish the fear of death as the end. Mediumship and connecting with Spirit shows us that death is just a transition from one energetic state to another. We are all on a soul journey, and this is just one part of it. Our Deceased Loved Ones, Guides and Angels offer us a great service-they show us the miracle that is eternal life. 

With love,

Ashley

Why can it be so difficult to hold your spiritual center and connection to Spirit around family and old friends?

So I had a really nice Thanksgiving this year. Some extended family came into town and we all went out to a restaurant. I enjoyed myself, but gradually I began to feel like something was off. Really off. At first I couldn’t really tell why I was feeling so stifled, anxious and irritable. But now, after a day or so to reflect and re-center, I get it.

Opening to a spiritual path changes everything about you. It changes you at a core fundamental level. Your very vibration changes as you open to receive more and more light into yourself. As you begin to accept that you are more than just a physical being, as you create that clear channel between yourself, your Guides, Angels and Deceased Loved Ones, everything about you shifts and rearranges. Old habits, activities and people that you once enjoyed fall away. Your priorities change, your tastes change – your personality and character change. As you open to Spirit you release the old habits and hurts and you make room for love, compassion and forgiveness. You open a channel to the Divine and you begin to see your life as part of an eternal flow. Everything about you shifts in a deep, powerful and beautiful way.

When you are with family and old friends, you are with people who know you a certain way. You have a long and established history and dynamic with these individuals and they understand you and see you in a particular light. Their perception of you exists in a framework that has been created over a long period of time. They feel that they know you, understand you, maybe even predict you. Most importantly, they know who they are in relation to who you are.

Now, even if you aren’t trumpeting your Spirituality about to everyone, or yelling from the rooftops or anything like that, others still feel the shift when you change your belief system.  These changes are felt even when you aren’t making a point of discussing your beliefs. Changes on this level are like the rumblings in the Earth as the plates begin to shift – it is deep and silent but the ground itself is moving and other can feel it too, even if they don’t know what it is they are feeling. When people sense change occurring in those they have come to see and understand in a certain way, it can be unsettling. They may question who you are now, and if you are different, where does that leave them? Your changes may shake their own foundations and make them feel uncomfortable on a conscious or unconscious level. They may feel a mix of confusion, rejection or fear that their status quo is suddenly in question.

So you are changing – you feel it and your family feels it, even if they aren’t saying it out loud. Now, because you are opening your awareness to energy and to Spirit, you sense your family’s unease. You can energetically feel other’s feelings towards you – their confusion, their rejection, and the walls they are putting up. The doubt, fear and anxiety you may be feeling in these situations are not always coming from you – you most likely are picking up on other’s emotions. Your family loves you and they are not (usually) intentionally trying to block you out, but to an empathic person it can feel that way. The important thing to remember is that this reaction is not personal – it is a form of self-defense for people who are afraid of the changes they sense in you because it implies change that they too may need to make. Change is scary for many people and they will do almost anything to avoid it.

In these situations when you sense yourself getting anxious, irritable or feeling like there is a big thick wall around you and you don’t quite know why, here’s what you do:

• Separate your energy. The fast and easy way to do this is to imagine yourself in a golden egg. Your egg can be as large or small as you want – as long as it completely surrounds you. Inside the egg is you and outside is everyone and everything else. Then, imagine a white force field around your egg that pushes away the energy that is pressing in on you.
• Detach. When you feel overwhelmed, separate. Take yourself to a different room and take some time to release your emotions.  Try to look at the whole scenario you are in as an outsider – like someone looking in through a window. This helps to pull yourself out of the emotions you feel and back into a higher perspective. Try to do this without judgment – just as an innocent bystander would pass by a window and see a group of people inside together. This helps to clarify the roles being played and can take the heat out of the situation for you.
• Clear. Take extra time to clear your energy. Ask Archangel Michael to clear any negative energies from within and around you. Take time to breathe white light in and circulate it in each energy center.

As you find yourself in the company of people you love but may not have much in common with, remember that you have nothing to prove and nothing to hide. You are who you are just as they are who they are. Your family is your soul group and there are important reasons you are together – perhaps one of them for you can be to learn how to be true yourself and stand your ground, in your own heart.

With love,

Ashley