Beloved Friends,

So much love and blessing to you. And thank you so much for being in our lives and joining us in this incredible time of global transformation.

This has been an intense time for me and my family since we last sent you out a newsletter. The biggest event for us was that my father died on January 26th, while Chameli and I were at the Transformational Leadership Council meeting in Mexico. I went back to London with my two sons, Abhi and Shuba, for my father’s funeral. Of course there is great sadness in the death of a parent: they have been a constant in one’s life since day one. (read more...)

An interview with Theresa Cordova, founder of the Power of Qs

Theresa: Hello Arjuna, If you would, I would like you start by describing the Dark Night and how it comes about.

Arjuna: Oneness is not a state to be obtained. Oneness is our natural state; it’s the state we’re born into when we’re small babies. And it’s a state that we spontaneously return to, as soon as the nervous system is given any kind of opportunity to relax and let go. Oneness is actually who we are. It’s what’s there when there’s nothing else interfering.

What happens during our lifetime is that all kinds of experiences come our way, which appear in one way or another to be overwhelming, too much. So it means either it could be too much in a negative sense or too much in a positive sense. But either way, it feels like too much; it feels indigestible. And when something happens like that, which feels indigestible, it feels like it’s necessary to push that down into the cells of the body.(read more...)

You can listen to a one hour tele-seminar on the blessing of the dark night of the soul here: http://www.instantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=1458858

There will be another tele-seminar on this topic on April 16th through the Power of Qs. Make sure you are subscribed to our mailing list to stay informed.

Finally, Arjuna’s latest book and CD set: Leap Before You Look is ready to order, and we will be shipping them both out shortly

Perhaps you’ve caught a glimpse of who you are beyond thought—your spiritual nature—but weren’t sure how to live it as a gift and blessing for all. What’s the solution? Practice. Leap Before You Look is a collection of simple exercises to help you on your way. Each takes just a few minutes to shift you "out of your mind" and into the infinite possibilities of the present moment. What’s more, the 72 "shortcuts" contained herein will allow you to deepen and embody this realization in your daily life, from one minute to the next, wherever you may be. So open to any chapter, and accept the book’s invitation to Leap Before You Look— into "the possibility of spiritual practice not as a means to a goal, but as an endlessly unfolding exploration of a life of beauty, fully worth living."

Retail price for the book is $14.95
Retail price for the CD set is $19.95
Total retail price is $34.90

You can get the book and CD set together on our website for 19.95 with free shipping. Use the Coupon Code "LUCKYYOU" during checkout.

Go there now

Have you visited livingessence.com in the last weeks? We have given the website a facelift, and many new features:

• Visit the photogallery to see pictures from all the recent courses and events. If you attended an event in 2007, you may find yourself in the gallery!
• Visit the forum with Arjuna and other friends about courses you may have attended, or any of the books or CDs you may have read or listened to.
• We have a news section, which keeps you up to date with the latest events, media coverage and also with articles by Arjuna.
• Our online store is conveniently divided into virtual shopping aisles. You can find books by Arjuna on one aisle over here, music on another aisle over there, and you can make an tax deductible donation on aisle 21, next to the breakfast cereals!
• You can see video clips from many events over the last years in our streaming video center.

Please visit the new site and send us your feedback!

Arjuna will be in silent retreat in India during the middle part of March, and he will reemerge for three very special events in Europe.

Brighton, England, March 26-27

London, England March 28-30

Munich, Germany April 4-6

Hamburg, Germany, April 10-13

He looks forward so much to meeting old and new friends in Europe during this time.

Arjuna will return to the Omega Institute in upstate New York, May 23-26, to offer the Awakening into Oneness Intensive. Last year he and Chameli were with the Omega Institute four times, and they came to love it more each time. Omega is a beautiful, organic, loving and blossoming community, which has been repeatedly very kind in hosting Arjuna’s work over many years. Course participants love the serene grounds nested deep in the trees in upstate New York, the magic of the healing center, and the extraordinary blend of relaxed hospitality and crisp organization. Omega is probably the world’s ideal facility for this kind of event.

If all that was not enough, for this event Arjuna will be joined by one of his favorite bands: October Project, whose latest album due out later this year has a song inspired by the Translucent Revolution. Register for the 3 day retreat here.

If you have read Awakening into Oneness, you probably remember reading about the Oneness Temple: 108 feet high, with 112,000 square feet on three floors, the highest of which has no internal pillars. Besides being an architectural modern Wonder of the World, this building is also a power house, a place where many people can gather and go deep into Oneness together. At the time the book came out, the temple was still under construction, and had been for several years. Visitors to India wondered if it would ever be finished, it was such an ambitious project. Well, it is done! There will be a huge ceremony at the Oneness University on and around April 22. Arjuna will be there, along with an expected crowd of 750,000 over several days.

If you have ever considered a trip to India, this event might be the time to go. You can find details on the Oneness University's website.

We are delighted to announce the return of the Living Essence Training in the US, which has been thoroughly revised and recreated.

Arjuna started teaching the Living Essence Training in 1995 at the Alive and Well! Institute in San Anselmo. The tools integrated in the training had come to Arjuna "like a fax out of nowhere" while he was staying in Katmandu, and they later were recorded in his first book Relaxing into Clear Seeing. Since that time, Arjuna and his co-teachers have trained more than 650 practitioners all over the world in those tools.
In the last years, Arjuna has been teaching much shorter and more portable tools: that can be used in just a few minutes to leap out of the mind and into the radiance of the present moment. His new book Leap Before You Look trains the reader in 72 such tools.
The new training will prepare you to facilitate awakened consciousness in yourself, as well as with friends, family and people with whom you work.

For more information and registration information, as well as a more detailed syllabus, please contact James Ernest or call him at (727) 403 2573.

If you have taken a weekend intensive with Arjuna, you get $300 off the regular tuition price of the training. If you have taken the Living Essence Training in its earlier incarnation, you get $600 off.

The first Level 1 training in this new format is from June 16-21, and the Gold Miners Inn Holiday Express in Grass Valley, CA

You can access the forum section of our site from the navigation bar on every page.  You can read all posts immediately.  If you would like to add a post or a new topic, you will need to register.  Click the link at the top of the page toward the right.  First you will be asked if you are over 13.  The you will go to the registration page.  Please fill out as much information as you can.  the Authorization code is 'translucent' : this prevents spam robots from filling the forum with porn.  After you have registered, you will not need to log in the next time you visit, so long as it is from the same computer.

You can use the forum:

• if you have participated in a course, and would like to share your experiences or ask questions with Arjuna or others who you met there
• if you have read any of Arjuna's books, and would like to ask or discuss with Arjuna or with other readers
• if you have questions or expereinces you would like to share about the Oneness Blessing
• if you have general questions and comments for Arjuna The forum has a moderator, who will answer your questions as best as he can. Arjuna will also regularly visit the forum and participate in discussions.

We are all totally excited about this incredible website, and this incredible concept. Do you ever get tired of hearing about the world’s problems, and feeling like you want to actually DO something to make a real difference. Then kiva.org is the site for you.

Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world. By choosing a loan on Kiva, you can "sponsor a business" and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the entrepreneur you've sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back. At the Living Essence Foundation, we are committed to making a difference in the world in this way. Please check out kiva.org today. You can get started with as little as $25.

If you just read the title, this might seem like a surprising book for us to be recommending. Aren’t we "spiritual types" supposed to be above wanting to "double our income?" But this book is really about true fulfillment: creating a life of meaning and purpose, a consciously created life. In the most practical way I have ever seen anyone do it, Raymond helps you systematically discover what you love, what your gifts are, and how to live that more and more each day. With exercises like "Annual Love Letters" and "Backwards Breakthrough Goals," this is really the lazy person’s guide to allowing life to flow.

This is one of the very few books I have read cover to cover in the last months, and I highly recommend you do the same. If you would like the power of your deepest realization to come forth into your day to day life in a way that makes a difference and cuts through procrastination, this book is the one to read next
~ Arjuna

Buy it here

Here is this month’s practice from Leap Before You Look

Have fun!

This is a practice to do with a group of friends.
If you form a practice group (described in practice 69),
It would be ideal to do together as a group.
Go to a public place together,
Like a restaurant, bar, or park.
Decide on a practice for one person at a time
(Which everyone must agree on, including the one doing it),
That will provide energy and entertainment
To the community at large.
One person might have the task to sing in a restaurant,
One might play with the children in a park,
One might do impersonations, or juggle.
Make sure that each assignment serves everyone involved:
The one doing the assignment, and everyone effected by it
(With no exceptions).
Ensure that everyone in your group has a turn.

The natural state of a human consciousness is to feel Oneness. The French developmental psychologist Jean Piaget demonstrated that small babies do not perceive any boundary where they end and the outside environment begins. A baby holds a toy and immediately feels at one with it. A baby looks at the mother and merges completely. There is no sense of a separate self. An awakened sage has the same experience of reality: no separate me, only that which is seen and that which is heard, with no-one hearing and no-one seeing. The essence of the disease of the human condition is the feeling of a me and a not me.

This simple practice is a powerful and challenging way to step out of yourself. This is not a gentle nudge, this is a dramatic leap beyond the comfort zone. For this reason it would be almost impossible to do alone, without the support of a group.

Do not announce to people that you have an assignment, or that you are doing a practice from some crazy book you found. Don’t pass the responsibility on to me! You will have to stand on your own feet here. Together with your support group, you will need to decide together on the right balance of stretch and comfort. If you stretch too much, you will just close down in fear and traumatize yourself. If you do not stretch enough, it will be too easy and it will not serve you. With the right degree of stretch, you feel energized, excited, and challenged, but you have fun with it. And the ultimate litmus test of this practice is that you shift the people around you, in the restaurant or the park or the mall, into greater aliveness, connection, and energy. If you can get people to participate with you, by singing, dancing, hugging or in any other way, you have made the world a more expansive place.

We send you all our love, and look forward to seeing you soon.

Arjuna Ardagh, and the Living Essence Foundation

The Living Essence Foundation is a 501(c)3 public charity. This newsletter is delivered via email and on our website. Visit us to learn more today.

To unsubscribe from this newsletter, please visit our unsubscribe page.