PM asks: “Can you tell me if Helen Russ is New Age. She advertised in the Catholic Church Porch Meditation as an alternative.”
If it’s the same Helen Russ that I found, she’s about as New Age as you can get. An Australian with a background in environmental community development, she apparently conducts company appraisal programs and is very involved in corporate meme work.
A meme is described on her website as “the combined power of human beings, and the purpose is not to erase it or to pretend that it is not there, or even to make it transparent to the point where it is just not there, but to make it an active force that holds the Divine.” This meme work is “made powerful by practicing meditation and techniques to source consciousness in an ongoing manner.”
One of the meditation techniques she’s referring to is Vipassana, an introspective meditation that involves slowing the thought processes in order to achieve heightened self-awareness. It is highly recommended that persons interested in this technique attend a 10 day training course during which time all worship, exercise, and outside communication is forbidden.
Russ is also involved in Siddah Yoga Ashram meditation. Siddah Yoga is a new religious movement based on the Hindu spiritual traditions of Vedanta and a Hindu philosophy known as Kashmir Shaivism.
She alo believes in the awakening of the Third Eye, which is believed to be one of the seven chakras or energy centers in the body. Located in the center of the forehead, it is considered to be a mystical center that is believed in some religious traditions to be a kind of gateway to higher consciousness. The Third Eye is often associated with psychic powers such as clairvoyance, precognition and out-of-body experiences.
Russ combines all of these methods into a variety of corporate and individual retreats and workshops in order to help people “tackle the challenges of the next millennium” which she believes will require them to be “in touch with the inspiration and guiding light of their own spirit.”
As you’ll notice while perusing her website, there is no mention of God in any of her materials.
Why any Catholic publication would expose their readers to an ad for someone like this is beyond me.
Send your New Age questions to newage@womenofgrace.com
