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Sustainability takes center stage at Soulcare, where a dedicated conservation team works to incorporate preservation processes into nearly every aspect of the lodge’s operation—from food composting and using energy-efficient lighting to recycling bath water for irrigation purposes.

The African style dwellings are air conditioned, with each bedroom having its own en-suite bathroom. Serengeti Safari Lodge welcomes families & has a luxurious swimming pool in the camp.

The Exclusive Entabeni Lodge is situated within the renowned 22 000ha Big 5 malaria-free, Entabeni Safari Conservancy. Known for its dramatic scenery, mesmerizing mountains & diverse wildlife, this luxury lodge is the ideal retreat to discover the secrets of the soul and the African Bush.

Entabeni Safari Conservancy, rightfully dubbed "The Place of the Mountain", is situated in the World Heritage Waterberg Biosphere. Approximately a three-hour drive north of Johannesburg, this 22 000 hectare malaria-free reserve boasts five eco-systems. A gravel road leads up to this Big 5 reserve, complemented by five different lodges. Each lodge comprises a unique blend of luxury and African wilderness, perfectly set in different immaculate locations of the reserve. The upper escarpment offers majestic craggy rock formations and wide-open grass plains. This is separated from the lower plateau by 600m high cliffs. The lower escarpment is approximately three degrees warmer and comprises of "sandveld" vegetation and a series of wetlands. It is a place where the lion still reigns as king and Mother Nature still mesmerizes with her power and beauty. Your modern African adventure starts here!

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6 Health Benefits of Eating Organic Food @ Soulcare Retreat.

Organic food is a pretty controversial subject in health and wellness these days, with people having various opinions about the subject. Some claim that organic is the only way to eat if you want to maintain good health, others however promise that this is just a marketing trick to be able to sell food at a higher cost and nothing more. Today, we wish to try and demystify these claims by bringing up some facts about real, science-backed benefits of eating organic food.

1. Less Exposure to Pesticides

Mass-produced food is usually laden with all sorts of pesticides, some of them of artificial origin. There have been numerous studies about the effects of pesticides on human and animal health, and some of them have proven that exposure to pesticides in certain amounts can actually lead to learning disorders in children, can impair the function of one’s nervous system and increase the chances of breast cancer. Organic food is usually grown without the use of pesticides, so by eating organic you avoid these risks entirely.

2. Healthy Fats

Fats get a bad rep in nutrition these days, but the truth is that they’re absolutely essential to maintaining proper health. Monosaturated fats like omega-6 and omega-3 are something that the human body cannot produce on its own, and they’re very important for proper brain function so it’s crucial that you get enough of them. Healthy fats can be found in animals sources such as fish, but also in various plant food such as dragon fruit. Studies have shown that organic foods contain more of these fats than their mass-produced counterparts, so if you care about healthy fats, it may be time to switch to organic.

3. More Antioxidants

An antioxidant is a molecule that inhibits the oxidization of other molecules. This leads to a number of health benefits, most significantly preventing the formation of tumor cells, and therefore cancer. A recent study conducted by the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry proved that onions that were raised organically had a 20% increase in antioxidants compared to those that were not. Additionally, some rare foods very high in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants (such as romanesco, or starfruit) are often only found in organic orchards and plantations, so going organic is pretty much the only way you can get them.

4. No Antibiotic Resistance

Mass produced meat like beef, pork and chicken is usually laden with all sorts of antibiotics – this is because farmers feed them to livestock in appalling amounts in order to prevent disease, since the animals are often kept in rather unsanitary conditions. The problem is that these antibiotics stay in the meat, and consuming this kind of meat often can make your body actually become resistant to antibiotics.

This is bad because when you actually do get sick from a bacterial infection, the antibiotics won’t be as effective and this can lead to serious health complications. Organic meat, on the other hand, comes from animals that 99% of the time do not receive antibiotics during their lives, so this risk is basically non-existent.

5. No Diseased Meat

While you are speaking for meat, even though mass-produced meats are theoretically kept safe from disease through the use of antibiotics, that doesn’t mean that animals living in unsanitary conditions are healthy. It doesn’t happen often, but you can end up with food poisoning if you come across meat from an animal that was sick before it was slaughtered. If this is something that you want to avoid, switching to organic meat is probably a good idea.

6. No GMO

Finally, let’s briefly touch on the oh-so-controversial subject of GMO. Although it hasn’t been absolutely proven yet that GMO introduces health risks, there have been some unofficial studies that suggest it might lead to an increased chance of cancer. Even if this is not true, GMO is still a relatively new branch in the industry, so there is a lot we don’t know about it, yet – especially when it comes to long-term health complications.

Conclusion

As you can see, there is definitely quite a number of reasons why you should try to introduce more organic food into your diet, especially if you care about your long-term health. To sum up, eating organic helps you stay away from pesticides, antibiotic-laden meat, GMO, and introduces more healthy fats and antioxidants into your diet. So stay organic, and your body will thank you for it with optimal health in the long run.

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Category: Features

Make your wedding ceremony a testament to your love

Your wedding day is one of the most important events in your life and it requires a professional Officiant who recognises that importance.
At Spiritual Weddings we are dedicated to meeting your needs and to making sure that your ceremony is personal to you.

What does it mean to be spiritual but not religious? When interviewing couples who use this term to describe themselves, I ask what this term means to them. Typically, they say things like "we consider ourselves to be good people, but we don't follow any particular religion" or "we believe in some kind of creator or God but not the way God is defined in the major world religions" or "I'm not really sure -- we believe there is something more to life than the physical, but don't know what that is or how to talk about it."

Deepen Your Relationship with God

•  Meditate

Meditation quiets your mind, calms your senses and opens your heart. Through the spiritual science of meditation, you can experience the peace of direct personal contact with God.

Meditation is not an emptying of the mind. It is the highest form of concentration in which the mind is focused entirely on God. Do not be discouraged if your attention drifts and worldly thoughts intrude. Simply begin again as if you had just begun. Continue your practice faithfully, with no expectations, and cherish whatever blessings come your way.

Briefly sit in silence and solitude after completing your practice in order to build a bridge of serenity between your meditation and the impatient world that awaits your return.

In time, with enough patience and practice, you will be able to access a deep inner stillness wherever you happen to be, no matter what is happening around you.

But enriching your inner life is only half the equation. If the peace and unconditional love you feel in meditation is not expressed through your every action, then you are not truly living a spiritual life. The goal of meditation is not to avoid the world, but to live in it more consciously and fully in ways that serve humanity.

Religion vs. Spirituality: What Is the Difference?

For thousands of years, humanity has passionately pursued the Truth with a capital T—the ultimate answers to life and the universe. This perennial knowledge constitutes the answers to what are often called the soul questions:

• Who am I?
• What do I want?
• What is my purpose?
• What is the meaning of life?

Historically, from the perspective of the soul, there have been two foundational routes to discover these truths: religion and spirituality. Although they have many similarities, there are differences between religion and spirituality.

Religion: By definition, religion is a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices; the service and worship of God or the supernatural.

Spirituality: Spirituality, on the other hand, connotes an experience of connection to something larger than you; living everyday life in a reverent and sacred manner. Or as Christina Puchalski, MD (leader in trying to incorporate spirituality into healthcare), puts it, “Spirituality is the aspect of humanity that refers to the way individuals seek and express meaning and purpose and the way they experience their connectedness to the moment, to self, to others, to nature, and to the significant or sacred."

Origins of Religions and Spirituality

Religion: Religions are most often based upon the lives, teachings, and beliefs of a historical or archetypal figure (e.g.,

Christ, Buddha, Moses, Krishna, Muhammad). The details of their lives as holy or highly evolved beings have been carried to us across the mists of time through oral tradition and written scriptures. These figures are the subject of worship and devotion and form the foundation of religious practices and rituals.

Spirituality: By contrast, spirituality is more often based upon the practical application of the founder’s teachings. Spiritual aspirants heed the advice of Japanese poet Matsuo Basho, “Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought.”

The Lines Blur

If you feel these definitions get blurry and cross into each other’s territory, you’re not alone. For example, you may know people who consider themselves spiritual, but not religious. Conversely, there can be individuals who are devoutly religious but are not what most would consider deeply spiritual.

Let’s try to clear things up by taking a closer look at the most defining differences between religious and spiritual paths. Bear in mind that there are no absolutes in these distinctions. They are merely general markers meant to better explore the qualities between two equally valid approaches to seeking the truth.

Objective vs. Subjective Experience

Religion: On the whole, a formal religion is often an objective experience. In other words, there is usually a greater focus on the externals:

• Houses of worship (e.g., a church)
• Books of scripture
• Eternal rituals
• Observances

This is the equivalent of object-referral in which your attention is placed upon the objects in your experience.

Spirituality: Spirituality, however, leans more toward self-referral or the internalization of your awareness of your soul. Spirituality is an inward journey that involves a shift in awareness rather than some form of external activity. As such, spirituality is much more about inner understanding than outer worship. This is not to say that worship is not a part of spirituality; it’s a matter of where the devotion and worship are directed:

• To an external practice, object, or figurehead
• To your soul, higher self, or divinity within

Organized vs. Formless

Religion: One of the hallmarks of religion is its organization. It is a structured, frequently rule-based construct that to some degree governs the behavior of its members. Moral rules, laws, and doctrines, as well as specific codes and criteria, create the organized structure that contains the religion’s specific belief system. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In previous, more uncertain times, the rules and dogma of organized religion helped to give society a sense of certainty and helped to guide and comfort those whose faith was lacking.

Spirituality: Spirituality though, breaks free from the restrictions and rigid structure sometimes associated with traditional religion. The spiritual aspirant recognizes that he or she is on a “pathless path” of self-discovery. They are following not a set of external rules, but their own inner call to spirit. In this way, spirituality can sometimes feel like a rebellious act of going solo and leaving the tribe, very much in the spirit of American philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson when he said, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

Traditional vs. Evolutionary Approach

Religion: Due to their centuries- to millennia-old histories, religions are by nature often deeply rooted in tradition, ritual, creed, and doctrine. Religious institutions conservatively guard their practices and values, holding rigidly to the past and the original interpretations of the founder’s teachings. This is understandable in that all religions wish to preserve the essence of their teachings so they may be accurately transmitted through history.

Spirituality: By comparison, spirituality is often less focused on the rigidly traditional approach and often favors an evolutionary mentality. This refers to both a more flexible and adaptive mindset toward core teachings of the great wisdom traditions but also reflects the understanding that, as the name implies, spiritual growth is an evolutionary process. Spirituality embraces change and the evolution of consciousness. With spiritual practice, ideas and interpretations change as individuals, societies, and the world move forward.

Exclusive vs. Inclusive

Religion: Traditional religious belief systems, sometimes based upon rigid interpretations of key teachings, can create an exclusive worldview that isolates those who may not share their views or interpretations. Sadly, this religious “in-group” mentality can be used to justify the exclusion of minorities or those deemed unworthy of God’s favor.

Spirituality: Spirituality makes no such distinctions. Instead, it favors an inclusive approach. In the recognition that pure spirit is a unifying force, no one is left out. You are part of the universal hologram, all gods and goddesses in disguise. As Krishna explains in the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4, verse 11: “As men approach me, so I receive them. All paths Arjuna, lead to me.”

In other words, from a spiritual perspective, no one has a monopoly on the truth. All are welcome in God’s eyes.

Belief vs. Experience

Religion: At its core, religion is about faith. That is to say, belief in something based upon unconditional acceptance of the religion’s teachings. Unlike the scientific worldview, religions don’t require evidence to validate their claims. Through religion, you are taught to have faith in God or the scriptures as being the infallible and ultimate truth of reality. Acceptance and surrender to the divine are taught as the path that leads to ultimate salvation.

Spirituality: Spirituality doesn’t dismiss faith; however, it often leans more heavily on direct experience of the soul or divinity. Practices such as meditation, yoga, silence, and contemplation allow you to make conscious contact with more expanded states of consciousness, thus helping to experientially validate the teachings rather than accepting them on faith alone. You know something because you have tasted the experience yourself as opposed to taking the word of another.

Fear vs. Love

Religion: Despite the best of intentions, religions can sometimes contain a subtle (or not so subtle) undercurrent of fear woven into their teachings. The concepts of original sin, divine judgement, God’s wrath, or eternal punishment can create a mental environment burdened in worry and anxiety over your worthiness and whether your actions will result in divine retribution or karmic punishment. Your fate in the afterlife can loom like a specter in the back of your mind, subtly influencing your thoughts and behavior.

Spirituality: By contrast, spirituality typically discards the vestiges of fear and worry in favor of a more loving, compassionate approach to life—and death. Spirituality embraces a consciousness-based worldview that supports all beings on their path to awakening in unconditional love. Your choices and behavior are guided not by fear of punishment, but rather by a desire to end suffering and create a peaceful and loving world for all.

As you can see, there are noticeable distinctions between spirituality vs. religion; however, these comparisons aren’t meant to be absolutes or an attempt to polarize one against the other. Religious and spiritual beliefs differ in the ways in which they are practiced. However, each practice serves as a vehicle to lead you closer to the truth you seek. Whichever path or combination of the two you follow is the personal and subjective expression of your journey of awakening.

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Written by Super User

Category: Features

Check out the infographic "Why Grasslands Are Important" and find out why grasslands are an important ecosystem that is essential to your health and the environment.