The Lotus Temple In Yogaville: A place for Christian Meditation?

In our multicultural counseling class we had to do a group project immersing ourselves in another culture. Our group chose the Jewish culture, and after interviewing a Jewish woman, I heard about the small town of Yogaville, VA.

This woman shared in her testimony how she lived in Yogaville for years trying to connect to her inner voice before coming to Christ. After spending time during the semester hearing her amazing story, some of our group decided we would take her offer and go with her to Yogaville, to visit her mother.

At first I was hesitant to consider even going there, due to the different teachings of Hindu and Yoga, especially since I had heard many negative things about Yoga. I did not want to expose myself to things that were not of the Lord, so I originally did not want to go. But, after looking through the website called "Satchidananda Ashram Yogaville" I started to wonder if this place could actually help those people who struggle with anxiety. The website encourages people to go and experience a spiritual community, get a little rest and relaxation, and take part in daily meditation and vegetarian meals.

In the book The Anxiety Cure there is a chapter on mastering Christian meditation where it explains the different forms of meditation such as prayer, study of Scripture, as well as worship. New age meditation, such as yoga and transcendental meditation (TM), has put such fear into Christians, that Dr. Hart's response is that "this is a pity... and Christians need to rediscover the value of meditation by putting Christ at the center of it" (Hart, 1999, p. 238).

A daily activity in Yogaville is spending time in the "Lotus Temple" (inside of the temple, picture on right). This temple is open to people of all faiths and is the only shrine ever built to house altars for every major faiths, and also faiths less well known.

Could it be possible for Christians who struggle with anxiety to be open minded to actually going to a place like Yogaville and spending time in the temple meditating on Scripture, praying, or worshiping? Psalm 1:1-2 says, "Blessed is the man... (whose) delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night" (NIV). We are called to be in the world, but not of the world. Can this include going to the temple and meditating on Christ? I agree as the book states that meditation is "powerful and natural anxiety reliever... and as a spiritual discipline, which also has eternal benefits" (Hart, 1999, p. 239).


I will be going with some of my group members, to visit the mother of the Jewish lady we interviewed, and I look forward to asking the Lord whether I should be using the many forms of Christian meditation and spending time in the Lotus temple.

Daily Affirmation

In this popular Youtube video called "Jessica's Daily Affirmation," you see a little girl's interaction in front of the mirror that makes you smile. Little Jessica begins to tell herself all the things that she likes, including her school, family, hair, pajamas, and her whole house. You can not help, but want to be a little kid again and have that perspective on life.

Watching this you tube video convicted me of how often I stand in front of the mirror and instead of telling myself things that are true, I devalue myself. In the book Telling Yourself the Truth we are challenged to evaluate the words we tell ourselves. Are these words similar to Jessica's words? Or do we constantly look in the mirror and tell ourselves things such as: I am too fat, I have too many pimples, I am not loved, I am dumb and stupid, I hate my family, or I am so insecure? If these are some of the things we tell ourselves, the book challenges us to ask what we are measuring ourselves against? Are we comparing our lives with others who seem better off in some way? Or are we interpreting our lives through the light of God's word? (Backus & Chapian, 2000)

When looking for Jessica's video, I came across another video that reenacts Jessica's self talk at different stages of her life. In this video called "Jessica's Daily Affirmation: I Like Everything Girl Grows Up," you see Jessica's self talk again at age 4, but then you see what Jessica would say at ages 15, 40, and 60. Although this may seem funny, the reality is that as we begin to grow, our self-perceptions changes tremendously.

In the book The Anxiety Cure artificial tranquilizers are explained as being "effective in ameliorating anxiety symptoms in the short term, but they don't cure the anxiety permanently" (Hart, 1999, p. vii). These tranquilizers, as seen in the video of Jessica at age 60, can be very addictive and this dependency can cause "all hell to break loose in your brain" (Hart, 1999, p.vii). Initially, I thought the different stages were hilarious. But, a coworker pointed out that this might be a constant struggle for many, including those who battle this personally or watching someone they love go through it.

My challenge to you as you watch these videos is to take time to evaluate your self talk and apply what was taught in the book Telling Yourself the Truth. Begin the process of locating and identifying your misbeliefs, removing them, and replacing them with the truth, especially God's truth. Remember, "What you think and believe, determines how you feel and what you do" (Backus & Chapian, p. 22).

Dirty Soccer Player...

In this video you see the dirty play of a women's soccer player from New Mexico, number 15, Elizabeth Lambert. There are punches, undercuts, and she even pulls her opponent's hair.


At first it seemed funny, but as I watched it again, I was reminded of our books in class Hurt People Hurt People and Connecting. Sandra D. Wilson (2001) explains how victims of abuse become victimizers. She writes:
If I overpower, dominate, and abuse you today, it temporarily numbs the
pain I still have because I was overpowered, dominated, and abused
yesterday. Apparently victims gain a sense of inner strength and personal
mastery by dominating someone even more powerless than themselves
(p.33).
Now I am not assuming that this soccer player was abused, I am simply acknowledging the fact that sometimes we react and response in ways that hurt others emotionally, and in this case physically, in order to numb the pain in us. Is the reason why this player reacted this way due to being hurt herself, or could it be the problem of being disconnected as Larry Crabb puts it?


According to Wilson, the results of the problems our parents struggle with are the same for the children: "Fear, confusion, distrust, anger, insecurity, and the list goes on." I wonder what Elizabeth Lambert's story really is. Who, what, and when are the people who have hurt her so bad that she reacted this way? Was it her parents? Was it abuse, neglect, or a lie that she believed where winning should be at all costs? Whatever the case, we all need to be reminded of the truth that "when we hide from painful truths, we deprive ourselves of discovering that Jesus, the Great Physician, is as able to heal our unseen wounds as He is to forgive our sins" (p. 23).


For me, I was blessed to have connected with my counselor in such a way that I felt safe and loved, in order to deal with the hurts and wounds that were inside me. Through connecting with her, and understanding the concept of hurt people hurt people, I was able to begin the process of forgiving those people that hurt me, including my family, as well as forgiving myself. Maybe someday, I can help people like Elizabeth Lambert learn and understand these same lessons.

The NCAA Tournament

As exciting as the NCAA tournament is, I couldn’t help but notice the constant lies that will define most of these athletes as they are eliminated out of the tournament. There are 64 teams that begin the NCAA basketball tournament for both the women and men. At the end of these three to four weeks, only four teams will remain who will accomplish what they have waited, and physically trained for; the chance to be in the NCAA National Championship game. All the other players and teams will have their goals shattered. What happens in the self-talk of all these athletes? They leave their college career telling themselves and the world things such as: "It was the dumbest mistake of my life", "I take the blame for the loss", "I've been playing basketball my whole life and I know I shouldn't have done that."

One of the biggest upsets so far in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament was Butler vs. No. 1 Pitt. It was one of the most dramatic endings yet. With 2.2 seconds left, Butler leads by one point 70-69. As Pitt inbounds the ball, a crazy long pass to half court results in Butler's Shelvin Mac, fouling with 1.4 seconds left. Both teams are stunned at how the game is finishing up, but it does not end there. After Pitt makes their first free throw, and the ball game is tied up, the second foul shot is missed. It is at that moment that Butler's Matt Howard grabs the rebound, and is immediately fouled by Pitt's Nasir Robinson- "a foul even more unnecessary than the one that preceded it." Matt Howard made one free throw with 0.8 seconds left to upset the No. 1 Pittsburgh team 71-70. The ending of this game is just one example of many, where a last minute play will effect and impact a player forever.

The book Telling Yourself the Truth discusses three misbeliefs known as the Depressive Triad. A person first devalues self, second the situation, and third devalues his prospects for future. Reading the comments of the Pitt player, Nasir Robinson, you can sense the guilt, shame, and devastation of his last second decision, that resulted in a loss for his team. My heart went out to him as i watched, and heard commentators explain the dumb mistake he made. It seems like when it comes to sports, athletes are never allowed to make a mistake without always having someone remind them of what they did. Most of these athlete's identity becomes the sport they play, and are forever defined by the plays that either won or lost the game, lead them to the tournament, made it to the final four, or kept them from dancing in March (an expression used in college basketball as those teams that are still playing in March… aka March Madness).

My prayer is that Nasir Robinson and other athletes can quickly learn to examine their self-talk, and identify the lies they are believing about themselves, as a result of their performance. The book says it best, "we must systematically discover, analyze, argue against and replace with truth the misbeliefs in our lives."

Can Humans Change the Structure of Water?

Dr. Masaru Emoto has become famous by freezing water and taking photograph of the frozen water crystals. He recognized that just like no two snowflakes have the same shape, individual water drops when frozen, created unique crystals. After noticing that a frozen drop could tell you the nature of water, he wondered if human beings, could change the shape and molecular structure of water. He created an experiment where he learned that playing beautiful music, labeling, and speaking to the water would result in different frozen structures. When speaking words such as, "thank you," and "I love you," the frozen water created beautiful, shiny, diamond- like crystals. But, when speaking words such as "you are a fool", or "you make me sick," resulted in ugly, distorted, collapsed structures with black holes, and yellow tinted edges.

Now I recognize that this Dr. is an alternative healer, meaning he is probably not a Christian, but as we learn in class, as believers we are challenged to stop and listen to others, as it may teach us more about God and His truth. After looking over Dr. Masaru Emoto's website, called Positive Thinking Principles, I was reminded of Larry Crabb's book Connecting. When explaining how God handles things, Crabb writes that the "absolute center of what He does to help us change is to reveal Himself to us, to give us a taste of what He's really like, and to pour His life into us." If this powerful experience of God comes through others, then "connecting plays a vital, indispensable, powerful role in effectively addressing the core issues of our souls, the issues that lie beneath all our personal, emotional, and psychological problems."

The book connecting was encouraging in that we as believers, can become people with the capability to care for souls. Author Larry Crabb says, "If soul care involves pouring something good out of one person into another, if releasing what is good is more central to healing than requiring what is right or repairing what is wrong, then the helper must have something good to pour out." But what good can we pour out to others when all we do is talk bad about ourselves? We say things like: "I am too fat, ugly, stupid, I am broke, I hate my..., I can't..." etc, and still expect to love and connect with others. Matthew 22:37-39 commands us to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: "Love your neighbor as yourself." It is imperative then as Christians, to first begin to connect with ourselves, and allow God's truth to change our perception of who we are. The love of Christ has to penetrate deep within our heart so that we can begin to believe, feel, and experience this love, instead of just knowing about it. The greatest distance in the world is the 18 inches between the head and the heart. When we learn the power that our words and thoughts have, not only on the structure of water, but in our soul, spirit, heart, mind, and conscious, then we will be more ready to be used as vessels of God's healing power. As a result, this will allow us to connect with others, and bring lasting soul care.

Toxic Thoughts

Dr. Caroline Leaf is a brain and learning specialist from South Africa who travels all over the world lecturing to both Christian and secular audiences. She focuses on the untapped potential of the human brain, and believes that, "87% to 95% of the illnesses that plague us today, are a direct result of our thought life. What we think about affects us physically and emotionally. It's an epidemic of toxic emotions."

In Dr. Leaf's website, Switch On Your Brain, she explains the importance of consciously controlling your thought life to detoxify your brain. "It allows you to get rid of those toxic thoughts and emotions that can consume and control your mind." But, how do you go about detoxing your brain and consciously controlling your thoughts? After considering some mental processes, she believes there are four simple techniques involved in the process of "bringing all thoughts into captivity."

First, you must understand that thoughts are real and have an actual anatomy. Second, you increase the conscious awareness of your thoughts and how you are feeling. Third, you do something once you have analyzed the thought, meaning you make a conscious decision to actively accept the thought (if it is good for you), or reject it (if it is bad for you). The last technique is to build new memories over the old. You create a structural representation of what you have chosen to accept, and converts what you have chosen to reject into hot air.

Last week in class, the mind was discussed as being one of the five basic aspects of the immaterial man that is uniquely, and consistently referenced throughout scripture. As future Christian counselors, we will work with client's material and immaterial aspects of the mind, and therefore it is important that we understand the affects of toxic thoughts on both aspects of the mind. Special revelation tells us about God's truth, mercy, grace, and sacrifice. With Dr. Leaf's four techniques we are challenged to be aware of what we are thinking, choose to accept good thoughts, and build new memories, which as believers should line up with God's truth. Scriptures are purposeful messages God wants men to know about, and it is important to apply these truths to our life. The Bible tells us to take our thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5), to renew our minds (Romans 12:2), and to think about what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable (Philippians 4:8). Jay Adams, Neil Anderson, and Larry Crabb all emphasize the importance of becoming more like Christ, which starts by allowing scripture to fill our minds. Are the thoughts that consume you, and control your mind today based on what God says is true, or are they thoughts that are toxic that need to be rejected?

Kingdom of Darkness in Entertainment

Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill church comments on the spiritual warfare surrounding entertainment. He asks us, "Are our eyes open to the darkness of our day and the deception that surrounds us?" He also states that Satan is still at work today, deceiving and preaching to people, even through entertainment.


The Twilight series is highlighted more in detail in the 13 minute clip called Mark Driscoll on Twilight and how this work inspired by Satan targets pre-teens and teenage girls. It comes from the original sermon titled Jesus Heals a Demonized Boy which can be found on Mars Hill website. Mark Driscoll points out how our culture is inviting demons when reading and watching many things that entertainment places before our eyes.


While reading the Bondage Breaker, Neil T. Anderson writes, "Satan's first and foremost strategy is deception". Are we being deceived by entertainment? Are we being exposed to a darkness that is conforming to the things of this world? 1 Timothy 4:1 explains what is going on in our culture today as it states, "the Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons."


According to the first freedom in Christ step, we are called to renounce all past or present involvement with occult practices, cult teachings, rituals, and non- Christian religions. There is a "Non-Christian Spiritual Checklist" that allows us to recognize when we consciously or unconsciously open the door to darkness in our lives. The last box to check includes, movies, TV shows, music, books, magazines, or comics that glorified Satan. As Mark Driscoll puts it, the Twilight series involves vampires, blood thirst, lust, and the concept of being born again to be eternally young, but not through Jesus Christ.


The reality is that most of us get caught up in entertainment and expose ourselves to things that are not of the Lord, but are evil. I watched the Twilight series, even when knowing that it had things that were not of the Lord. Why did I do it? I guess I figured it was a love story and that I could ignore the rest. Not! I am convicted by how quick I am to expose myself to things that are not of the Lord, just because it is in a movie. I am reminded by reading The Bondage Breaker how real the kingdom of darkness is, even when I do not necessarily see it or think I am being affected by it. I am challenged to continue to ask myself, am I aligning with the Truth of Christ, or am I being deceived by the works of Satan? If the latter, my prayer is that the Lord will allow me to have discernment and boldness to not expose myself to the kingdom of darkness that surrounds entertainment.

The Divine Breath

I came across one of Rob Bell's NOOMA videos called Breathe. Rob Bell is a Pastor and the featured speaker in a series of spiritual short films called NOOMA. The trailer above briefly gives you an idea of the the paradox of what it means to be a human being. We are fragile and vulnerable, yet we have been "BREATHED" into by the Creator. During the

Short 15 min Film, Breathe

, Rob Bell uses scripture and the truth of the name LORD, or "Yahweh", to help others understand the significance of breathing. As he puts it, when you breath, when you let God in, you become aware of all the things you need to leave behind, and let go off.

In the Bible, the word Breath is the same as Spirit. The Spirit guides us into truth and will reveal to us the things we need to breathe out. What is going on inside of us? Do we have anger, concerns, stress or bitter roots? Do we need to take time to just recognize that what is flowing through us is the Divine breath that has given us life. This Breath, this Spirit, can begin the Sanctification process of becoming more like Christ.


This video has allowed me to understand how using scripture can teach and convict us of those things that are going on inside of us. Jay Adams uses Teaching and Conviction as two of the four Biblical processes to bring change in his book, How to Help People Change. I agree that to bring lasting change, a Christian counselor should use the truth in Scripture to first allow the client to learn about the power in Christ. Just as the optometrist will correct vision to help someone see better, a Christian Counselor can too teach the truth in Scripture that was BREATHED out by God (2 Timothy 3:16) that will reveal to us the things we need to breathe out. This conviction process takes place as someone is able to believe that the Spirit, or breath in us, that has given us life, is the same breath that can bring lasting change.

Natural Revelation in COLOMBIA!

On what seems like a weekly basis, the news reminds the world of only the drug trafficking in Colombia. What most people do not realize though, is that Colombia is a place full of Natural Revelation where God's existence and power can be revealed.

Colombia unfortunately, has been portrayed for many years as only the country with drugs and coffee. Although there is some truth to this, there is another world that exist in Colombia that few people are aware of, it's natural beauty.

Natural Revelation as learned in class, is God's witness to himself through history, nature, and human conscious. Through natural revelation and creation we learn about God's power and existence. Because I am 100% proud to be a Colombian, I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you all a video that allows you to see some of Colombia's natural beauty. With the few images shown, I hope it will begin to change how you see Colombia and reveal what God has created in a country that is seen by most people, as having only drugs and coffee.

In this you tube video called Colombia Tourism Video, you will see some of Colombia's natural beauty, history and different culture which always reveals God's existence and power to me.

For more information on Colombia and how tourists are discovering it's beauty, you can read this article on Moving it Globally or click on this you tube video "Colombia is Passion".