Making Angels

Goddess Aizen

(C) Mayumi Oda

  I have many aliases: my Russian names, surnames, my father's, husband's name, etc. And all these names were all over my papers and none of them fit me very well, so finally I decided to change it into one coherent name. In Russia, middle name of men and women is the first name of their father. So my middle name was "Vladimir", which is quite strange for americans, so I decided to get myself a new, more feminine middle name. And my husband helped me to find it. He gave me a present, a book by Mayumi Oda "GODDESSES". I thought, I am sure I'll find my name here! Slowly I was reading the book. It's is Mayumi Oda's story and besides that there're beautiful illustrations - "woodblocks of treasure". She writes, that in Japanese Buddhist tradition there are so few female images of deities, and that she was wondering what they would look like? Being a great artist, know as "Matisse of Japan", she started to explore, and created 33 Goddesses. I would look at every illustration and see what, or rather who, fits me? Toward the end of the book I was almost desperate, but when I turned to the last page and saw a beautiful red goddess, I immediately knew. The description said:

Goddess of Love

Aizen Myoo, Rangaraja, is a God of penetrating love, and is always depicted as an angry figure. His anger reminds us of the power to transform desire and passion into compassion. My Goddess of Love is the inspiration of love itself.

I studied Buddhism and I know a little about symbolism, but I needed to know more about the stuff Aizen is holding, so I looked through Robert Beer "Tibetan Buddhist Symbols Knowledge Cards. I Learned a lot (and re-wrote a little ;)):

The Lotus (Sanskrit padma, kamala, utpala). It' is a major Buddhist symbol of purity and Divine Birth. It represents the blossoming of all virtuous activities, and freedom from karma (cyclic existence). "The lotus seats upon which deities sit or stand symbolizes their Divine Origin an innate perfection of their body, speech and mind. There are different color lotuses and they have different meanings.

The Vajra (Tibetan dorje) and The Bell. "The vajra represents the male aspect of method of skillful means, the bell the female aspect of Wisdom and Awareness. Together they embody the perfect union of Compassion and Wisdom. 

The Flower Bow (Sanskrit pushpadhanus) and Flower Arrow (Sanskrit pushpasara). Arrows fashioned from white lotus, red ashoka (Divine herb for removing grief), mango flowers, white jasmine and blue lotus flowers. The Bow is made from nectar-laden red utpala lotus flowers and leaves. Together they mean awareness and wisdom.

There is one more symbol - an apple, the description of which I couldn't find in Buddhist sources. I am from the East, from Blessed Kazakhstan, the place where apples originated, so I thought, I should know. The apple is a symbol of Teaching and Learning.

I like my name. And I a very thankful to Mayumi Oda.

Benefits of Salt Therapy

Salt therapy is an old therapy. In earlier days, people were sent to a seashore or a salt cave to breathe the salt air. Today you do not need to climb down to a salt cave, and if you live far from the ocean, you can come to a salt room. We at Aizen Organic Spa installed a salt room last summer. I'll explain how our salt room looks and operates. It's an isolated room. On a floor there is a layer of Himalayan salt. In a wall of the room there's a special generator that gets filled with pharmaceutical salt. The generator crushes the salt into very small particles at high speed and blows it into the room. There's a fan in the ceiling which helps air to move around, and very quickly the room gets filled with the curative aerosol. There are 2 special chairs, called zero-gravity chairs, you can almost lie down in them and get in a very comfortable position, so the back is totally relaxed and the lungs are open to receive salt air. The session is 1 hour long, you can read, listen to music, meditate or sleep.
This therapy has many benefits. The action is twofold, the salt has anti-viral, antibacterial and antinflamatory qualities. Besides that, during the process of breaking salt into a small particles negative ions are created. Once in the blood, negative ions increase good mood chemicals and the flow of oxygen to the brain, boosting energy and relieving stress. Negative ions, as well as salt remove pollutants, allergens and bacteria. So it all makes salt therapy excellent treatment for many things and this therapy doesn't have side effects.
Salt therapy is an excellent prevention for colds and flu. Salt is antibacterial and antiviral, and it works by dehydrating and thus killing the pathogens cells. Breathing salt air for an hour will clean the respiratory tract.
For people with respiratory issues such as asthma, allergies, bronchitis , etc, salt therapy will help by clearing lungs and sinuses of pathogens and widening the airway by reducing inflammation by removing excess liquid out of the tissues. After a couple of sessions people with asthma start to breathe much easier and may talk to their doctor about reducing the amount of medication they are taking.
This therapy also helps to relieve skin conditions such as acne, psoriasis, eczema. In Traditional Chinese medicine the lung meridian is associated with skin. Through lungs and skin we connect to the outside world and these two organs filter the stuff which comes in. So, if the lungs are overwhelmed, the skin does a double job of eliminating the toxins. Salt air cleanses the lungs, negative ions help with stress reduction, and the body system returns to balance.
Salt therapy also is recommended for people with depression and seasonal affective disorder. Columbia University researchers have found that negative ion therapy works very well in these cases by boosting the mood naturally.

Visit to the Salt Room will also clear and charge a person's auric field. Barbara Ann Brennan, healer, teacher, and author of "Hands of Light," believes that illness begins with a weakness in the auric field. Salt Therapy can be an excellent preventative tool for many diseases as salt air charges the auric field and helps clear it of vibratory frequencies that are too low to sustain life. Negative ions in the air also excite and charge the auric field, creating a more efficient flow of energy.

When a person's inner desire to suffer dissolves, i.e. when one realizes this desire in himself and makes a firm decision to no longer suffer, suffering in the form of unpleasant circumstances and people immediately disappear.

Twenty-three of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama's high-ranking monks from the Namgyal Monastery in India are chanting and singing Prayers for World Peace.

Best way to do yoga.

As a massage therapist I have noticed that people who practice yoga on a regular basis are calm, healthy and look younger. Yoga is truly a gift from the gods to us humans and I myself enjoy it a lot. I used to attend group yoga classes and then I found the best, cheapest and most individualized way to do yoga everyday -- using yoga cards. (I use "The Yoga Deck: 50 Poses & Meditations for Body, Mind, & Spirit" by Olivia Miller, I bought them on Amazon for $8.) There are 3 types of cards in the deck: body poses, breathing exercises and meditations. Cards have an illustration of a specific pose on one side, step by step instructions, mantra and health benefits on the other. Every morning I set an intention to pull out those cards which will benefit me the most today. And I pull the exact cards my body, mind and spirits needs! Depending on my time and wish I can pull out 1, 3, 5, 12, or any number of cards, so I can have shorter or longer session. I found that these cards help me to have a dialogue with my body. It's fun to do yoga in a group, but if you cannot find the time, I highly recommend these cards. Give yourself this present and hear your body say "thank you."

Love=Truth

"Use Love on daily basis. It doesn't matter if you give it or receive it, as long as it streams through you. Love is Truth. Deep in your heart you know this. That's why people seek Love, because they seek Truth." Archangel Raziel