When I Joined Her Zen

By Rebecca McGranahan

When I joined the living lotus academy in 2020, my life was a mess. My S.O. was, after 7 years, moving out, I was 30lbs overweight, I felt I wasn’t healing properly from a toxic relationship and two major cancer surgeries and my overall outlook on life was grim at best. When the opportunity to take this course arose, I jumped in with both feet as I was in desperate need of a positive change.

Nearing the end of my time here, I want to share some of the changes I made that left me: 30lbs lighter, feeling great, cancer free and finally feeling like I didn’t have a Charley Brown thundercloud above me, which was the most important change of all.

1. I changed my diet and began intermittent fasting and proper food combinations. I took on a vegetarian lifestyle, cut the sugar, tried to eat only live foods and started a high protein, low carb way of eating.

I built an altar that truly reflected my core beliefs in love, acceptance and the idea that things are only temporary. All of the changes I was going through felt overwhelming but as I began reading some of the speeches of the Dahli Lama, it helped me realize nothing belongs to us and nothing is forever. I ordered many different crystals from bangladesh, China, Africa and New Zealand, all of which have healing properties that I firmly believe have helped me stay cancer free. My alter is a center of focus for my meditation, which has always been a challenge as I have the attention span of a housefly, but I found that focusing on a single flame helped me quiet the noise in my mind and If I can do it...you can do it!

1. I lined my chakras and used essential oils to change my moods when they were low. I have recently ordered some chakra stones but feel as though using a quartz crystal, that was given to me by a soldier who found it in iraq, enabled me to clear some of the garbage that had acquired between me feeling unheard and carrying great sadness in my heart from my loss of S.O. and cancer. I found peppermint oil and ylang ylang helped me raise my spirits. I often got compliments on the latter just wearing it as a scent which made me feel even more balanced as it came from the earth and I am definitely of the earth as a Taurus.

1. I took a deep look inside and accepted that I had pain.: Through meditation and yoga. I was able to clear out some of the noise and truly listen to my heart. After feeling stifled and unheard in a toxic relationship.

1. I began journaling and found my voice again, even if it was just me talking to my journal and being grateful for all the universe had allowed. This helped me clear my 5th chakra, the throat, which was definitely clogged and allowed me to share some of what was bothering me alone and with others. I began speaking from an authentic place, allowing myself to be as vulnerable as I felt and I began to see that authenticity lies in being vulnerable.

2. Found that speaking my personal truth, listening and taking a longer moment to understand someone else from a place of unconditional love and acceptance, helped me stop expecting so much from people. It helped me see that the reason I was so disappointed in life was because my expectations of things and people were unrealistic.

I found if I stopped and really listened, I could enjoy the moment both with others and alone. I truly enjoy and live in the moment as much as I can. I have always been focused on the next achievement and being able to actually be present in the moment, is what I consider my biggest achievement from this course.

In closing I want to say, I was in a very dark place when I began my journey at the living lotus. Now, I feel more positive and my mental health is improving every day. I hope everyone experiences the kind of change I did during the course of this study and learns a bit about themselves and “their” inner truth as I did while reading these digital pages and learning about holistic living.

With love.

Rebecca