Our Daily Show Interview! Free Spiritual Wellness Experience May 1st at 1!
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ALTON - You can join a free conversation about spirituality and developing your relationship with God.
At 1 p.m. on Thursday, May 1, 2025, community members are invited to River Bend Yoga in Alton for “Soul Travel Explorations,” the final installment of the three-part “Raise Your Spiritual IQ!” series. This final conversation will talk about who you are as Soul, an “eternal, creative spark of God,” and how to grow closer to God on your spiritual journey.
“[Soul is] our true identity,” explained organizer Flora Van Koten. “We’re all individual sparks of God, on our own divine journey back to the heart of God. So Soul Travel, in its simplest terms, is an individual moving closer to the heart of God.”
The May 1 conversation invites attendees to “discover the wonder of you” by discussing the meaning of Soul and how you can develop your relationship with the Holy Spirit. Van Koten and organizer Sheila Aehle believe we are all Soul, and we can find our way back to God — defined by them as “divine love” — through spiritual exercises.
Aehle and Van Koten practice Eckankar, the path of spiritual freedom that encourages your personal connection with the divine. Spiritual techniques they have learned by being students of Eckankar for many years will be part of the discussion on May 1, but they emphasized that the “Raise Your Spiritual IQ!” series is for anyone who wants to learn how to connect with their own inner knowledge and apply it in their daily lives.
The two women also noted that God and spirituality are personal journeys, but the conversation aims to share a few spiritual exercises you can do to increase your spiritual awareness. Van Koten said these exercises are “spiritual tools” that help people make gradual changes in their lives. The conversation, set up like a roundtable discussion, will also encourage participants to share personal experiences.
“I’m excited about hearing, as always, people’s stories, because they’re incredible,” Aehle said, adding, “When you start making a spiritual practice for yourself, it makes such a huge difference. You catch yourself faster because your awareness is opened up to more possibilities. To me, that’s part of the practicality of any spiritual exercise.”
Attendees will receive a free “Raise Your Spiritual IQ!” journal with spiritual exercises, as well as a copy of the book “Eckankar: Key to Soul Travel” by Harold Klemp. The exercises aim to guide participants toward a closer relationship with God. Aehle and Van Koten noted that these exercises can look like prayer, meditation, contemplation, singing the HU song, or whatever works best for you.
Ultimately, they hope to help people grow closer to their higher power and their identity as Soul. Van Koten and Aehle emphasized that the conversation can be beneficial to anyone regardless of religious denomination or background.
“We’re going to talk about spiritual exercises, how to shift your attention, which is Soul, going from the human consciousness to the Soul consciousness,” Van Koten added. “Soul Travel is basically moving from the human consciousness or the ego, if you will, to Soul consciousness. It’s just a shift in your awareness.”
“Soul Travel Explorations,” the final installment of the “Raise Your Spiritual IQ!” series, will start at 1 p.m. on May 1, 2025, at River Bend Yoga. This hourlong discussion is free and open to all.
For more information about Eckankar, call 630-427-5950, visit Eckankar.org or download the free HU app at HearHU.org. For more information about the "Raise Your Spiritual IQ!" series, click here. For your own copy of the "Raise Your Spiritual IQ!" journal, click here.
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