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Episode 005: Lessons in Meditation and Agnihotra with Dee Doanes

Oct 08, 2019
Seeds of Tao podcast agnihotra and ayurveda

 Lessons in Meditation and Agnihotra with Dee Doanes

Have you ever heard of Agnihotra? We sure hadn’t before this interview!  Josh interviewed the amazing and extremely knowledgeable Dee Doanes about Agnihotra and the application in our lives, our growing spaces and our communities, even extending it out to our world. Definitely listen to this episode to learn all about Agnihotra and what Dee is doing and teaching with this practice, and here in the post we will go over exactly what Agnihotra is, its benefits, and why it’s an amazing solution for permies.

 Agnihotra

First off, Agnihotra is a healing fire from the ancient science of Ayurveda. Agnihotra.org reads, “ It is a process of purifying the atmosphere through a specially prepared fire performed at sunrise and sunset daily. Anyone in any walk of life can do Agnihotra and heal the atmosphere in his/her own home. Thousands of people all over the world have experienced that Agnihotra reduces stress, leads to greater clarity of thought, improves overall health, gives one increased energy, and makes the mind more full of love. It is a great aid to drug and alcohol deaddiction. Agnihotra also nourishes plant life and neutralizes harmful radiation and pathogenic bacteria. It harmonizes the functioning of Prana (life energy) and can be used to purify water resources.” 

It is basically a fire that you burn at sunrise and sunset (consistent with the earth’s biorhythm), read specific Sanskrit mantras and you build the fire out of cow dung (manure) brown rice and ghee. The fire must be burned in a copper pyramid (can be found on amazon surprisingly), and as specific energies are put into this ritual, a magnetic type field is created, which neutralizes negative energies and reinforces positive energies. This ends up creating positive benefits all around.

Agnihotra in the Mind

Benefits of Agnihotra interestingly enough effect every level of the Harmonic Method, personal, home and community. On the personal level, Agnihotra has been shown to renew brain cells, revitalize skin, and purify the blood. It has a really interesting effect on the psyche as well. Those struggling from various addictions such as alcohol can use Agnihotra to help them overcome their addictions. For me that was totally out of left field, but they’ve been doing this for a long time and it has been shown to be extremely helpful. It is also really effective for those who deal with ADHD, Autism, anxiety, and those who struggle with violent outbursts. The fire is extremely calming and the combination of the mantras and vibrations created are very healing to the mind. Even if you are not dealing with specific neural or emotional struggles, agnihotra helps to reduce stress, increase clarity of thought, improve overall health, increase energy, and fill the mind more full of love (which I read as increasing serotonin)

Agnihotra in the Home

On a home level, Agnihotra is extremely beneficial for the garden. “The ghee is thrust into the atmosphere and attaches itself to the molecular structure of the soil, allowing the soil to retain more moisture. Plants grown in Agnihotra atmosphere are better able to withstand droughts. Agnihotra causes a change in the cellular structure of the plant which sends more nutrients to the fruit of the plant and less to the leaves, stem and roots. Many people have found that the size, taste, texture and yield of fruits and vegetables grown in Agnihotra atmosphere are superior. Performance of Agnihotra in the garden reduces pest problems and organic gardening and farming are made easier by using Homa (healing fire) techniques.” And who doesn’t want a boost in their gardenscape?

Agnihotra in the Community

In the bigger picture, Agnihotra is currently being used in Georgia and Alabama to fight air pollution, especially in locations with vulnerable populations (lower income, a high percentage of migrants or elderly, etc.). It is very healing as a grassroots effort in these communities to lift the inhabitants up, helping those who struggle with addiction to overcome their addictions and find peace, as well as others who struggle with extreme hardships in their lives. But on a broader scale, the practice of Agnihotra is extremely healing for the planet - plant life is nourished, harmful radiation is neutralized, pathogenic bacteria are neutralized, and water is purified.

Let's Open Our Eyes

I think as permies who really are gunning for global positive change, we need to open our eyes. There are so many things around the world that people are practicing that could be extremely helpful in our efforts. We’re already the counter culture, so why not break our minds free from traditional approaches to energy and solutions for global healing? Too often do we think “Oh man, that’s all woo woo…” when at the very least we should give it a chance to be experienced. To be completely honest, I used to think declarations or affirmations were complete voodoo when Josh would talk to me about them. I totally wrote them off for years. Finally I gave it a try and combined them with other mindset techniques and it totally changed my life. I started to see things happening differently, and bringing things into fruition inside and outside of myself. It was incredible. And now here I am teaching and mentoring people about putting into practice these tactics that at one time were only voodoo for me. Ever since then I really try to approach these new, unexplored tactics with an open mind, because you never know - they could totally change your life! 

 

In the podcast episode Dee goes into great detail about how she uses Agnihotra in all aspects of her life and environment to lift and purify, so definitely check the podcast out. And if you would life to check out more about what Dee of doing or about Agnihotra itself, here are some resources. 

 

Keep growing!



Dee’s Shanti Atlanta Agnihotra and Meditation Center and  Ayurveda Stress Therapy Clinic

http://www.healthpluslifestyle.com/

https://www.healtheatmosphere.com/

 

Dee on Social Media:

https://twitter.com/hugtreesinheels

https://www.facebook.com/shantiatlanta/

https://www.instagram.com/deedoanes

 

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