Check out this reddit stream — here.

Watch the video — here.

A small Missouri town is looking for a man not suspected of a crime but, rather, a miracle.

“I think that this time I’ve actually witnessed a guardian angel at work,” Jeremiah See of the New London Fire Department told ABC News.

An unidentified allegedly drunken driver hit Katie Lentz, of Quincy, Mo., head on Aug. 4 while traveling on Route 19 near Center, Mo., pinning the 19-year-old in the front seat of her convertible. With her vital signs failing fast, she asked rescue crews to pray with her.

That’s when first responders say a man who looked like a Catholic priest seemed to appear out of nowhere, despite a 2-mile perimeter blocking the scene.”

He began to pray and use the anointing oil,” New London Fire Chief Raymond Reed said. “There was a calmness that, to me, seemed to come over the entire scene.”

But that’s not the only seemingly divine detail. Firefighters say their equipment kept failing until the mystery man showed up.

“The words were to remain calm, that our tools would now work,” Reed said. “Instantaneously, at that moment, our neighboring department arrived with fresh extrication tools.”

Lentz survived, but the man vanished before crews could thank him.

The young woman is recovering in the hospital with broken legs and ribs, but some say it could’ve been worse, if not for the mystery man on the highway.

“Whether it was just a priest as an angel, or an actual angel coming down,” Lentz’s friend Travis Wiseman said, “he was an angel to everyone and to Katie.”

Check out a link to a behavioral economics piece on the perception of art — here.

What are you going to have for lunch?

Easy decision.

Unless, you are being treated to a very expensive restaurant in a city you are unlikely to revisit.  Then, the decision takes on greater significance and is much harder to make.

This is because of what psychologists  call “Behavioral Economics.”  Behavioral Economics states that human beings experience loss at a higher level than they do gain.

Consider that you have a meter in your mind that measures satisfaction.  Right now the meter is pointing straight up at “0″ (zero).  If you find $20 on the ground, your satisfaction meter may swing to the right and measure a positive 10.

If, however, you LOSE $20, your satisfaction meter will swing to the left to, perhaps, a negative 20!

Gain of $20 moves your needle 10 points, whereas, loss of $20 moves your needle 20 points.

Human beings experience loss more than they do gain.  That is why we fear making decisions, we are afraid of making a decision that will cause us grief.  Truly successful people understand this fear and make decisions anyway.  They know that very few choices are irrevocable and unchangeable.  They know that life is a batting average and that sometimes they will swing and miss, perhaps even striking out.  Other times, they’ll swing and make contact. If you don’t swing, you’ll strike out anyway.

Trust your ability to make correct decisions.

More importantly, trust your ability to correct or even profit from incorrect decisions.

Via Will Bowen and Entheos.com 

“There was a time when I didn’t really think much of yoga. As a runner, I’m used to sweating it out, lots of intense movement, burning tons of energy, and actually going places. Yoga seemed like something for those who wanted to relax (never mind that I clearly needed to relax) and stretch. It didn’t seem like something I had time for. And I was sure I’d get bored with holding poses, standing still, breathing deeply.

But then I decided to test out a yoga class at my local gym. And it… was pretty intense. The next day I was sore, but felt relaxed and invigorated. And I could hardly wait to go back and give the Vinyasa class another try.

What I hadn’t realized before was that yoga encompasses a wide variety of styles and methods of practice, each of which is based on the foundation of breathing, balance, mindfulness, and spirituality. And depending on what the needs of your body and mind are – whether it be more meditative and restorative, or more physically demanding – there’s probably a method of yoga practice that is a good fit for you.

The tricky part is knowing which style that is. Here’s a quick yoga style guide to get you on the right track and to the right class.”

Click here to learn about ten  different styles of yoga.

Which style do practice?

Is what you’re practicing actually yoga lite? Maybe it’s actually Tantra.

Have you ever questioned whether or not you’re a real yogi? Can you call yourself a real yogi if you don’t meditate in a cave, wear a loincloth or orange robes, or know which mantra or mudra to use at exactly the right moment?

The fun thing about Tantra is that it embraces life. Whereas stereotypical ideas of yogis often include caves in the Himalayas, minimal wardrobes and renunciation of common everyday living, Tantra doesn’t go there.

At least, Tantra as I understand it today. I’ll admit I’m not what I’d call an expert; but lucky for me I’ve had some great teachers. Swami Maheshananda Saraswati. Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa. Gurushabd.

These teachers, and my own experience, have presented a version of yoga that embraces everyday living. Being in a relationship. Finding pleasure in small moments of joy, even chocolate. Travel. Friends from all walks of life. Abundance.

Don Latin, who writes about religion and spirituality in America, says that:
“The word “tantra” comes from a Sanskrit root that means to weave or extend. So one way to think of tantra is a philosophy and a spiritual discipline that uses ritual, meditation, and yoga to allow its practitioners to experience themselves and the world around them as an interwoven unity.”

In an article by Nora Isaacs for Yoga Journal, Pure Yoga founder Rod Stryker, teacher in the Tantric tradition of Sri Vidya, says this about Tantra: “In Tantra, the world is not something to escape from or overcome, but rather, even the mundane or seemingly negative events in day-to-day life are actually beautiful and auspicious. Rather than looking for samadhi, or liberation from the world, Tantra teaches that liberation is possible in the world.”

This is contrary to one of the common threads among the branches of Vedantic philosophy: that we need to escape our body and liberate ourselves from the cycle of reincarnation in order to experience samadhi. In other words, everything we experience, from pain to pleasure, is a manifestation of the divine and an opportunity to access our own divine nature.

In my own experience, my most divine moments of complete ananda (bliss)—and the closest I’ve come to samadhi—have been definitively in and of the world. Even though they felt like out of this world experiences, they happened during very tangible, material world moments.

7 Ways to Have Tantric Experiences

1. Recognize that everything is cosmic.
2. Don’t renounce anything.
3. Embrace the tough stuff.
4. Ask yourself: what is this here to teach me about my true nature?
5. Watch for signs and symbols.
6. Know that abundance is just as spiritual as renouncing money, if not more so.
7. Enjoy good, healthy sex.

Enjoy!
L

Via Lindsey Lewis and Daily Cup of Yoga

“Tigers are solitary. Cougars are solitary. No leopard wants to associate with a bunch of other leopards. The lion is the only feline that’s truly social, living in prides and coalitions, the size and dynamics of which are determined by an intricate balance of evolutionary costs and benefits.

Why has social behavior, lacking in other cats, become so important in this one? Is it a necessary adaptation for hunting large prey such as wildebeest? Does it facilitate the defense of young cubs? Has it arisen from the imperatives of competing for territory? As details of leonine sociality have emerged, mostly over the past 40 years, many of the key revelations have come from a continuous study of lions within a single ecosystem: the Serengeti.

Serengeti National Park encompasses 5,700 square miles of grassy plains and woodlands near the northern border of Tanzania. The park had its origin as a smaller game reserve under the British colonial government in the 1920s and was established formally in 1951. The greater ecosystem, within which vast herds of wildebeest, zebra, and gazelle migrate seasonally, following the rains to fresh grass, includes several game reserves (designated for hunting) along the park’s western edge, other lands under mixed management regimes (including the Ngorongoro Conservation Area) along the east, and a transboundary extension (the Masai Mara National Reserve) in Kenya. In addition to the migratory herds, there are populations of hartebeests, topi, reedbuck, waterbuck, eland, impalas, buffalo, warthogs, and other herbivores living less peripatetic lives. Nowhere else in Africa supports quite such a concentrated abundance of hoofed meat, amid such open landscape, and therefore the Serengeti is a glorious place for lions and an ideal site for lion researchers.”

Read more from ‘The Serengeti Lion’ on National Geographic’s website — here.