Wednesday, Nov29th, 2017

Energy Musings.  Here. Now.

Today!

Each day is a brand new 24 hours.  But sometimes, it can feel like you’re stuck on repeat. Asking yourself “haven’t I DONE this already?” :  “haven’t I been here before?”.  The question is always:  what is new in what is old?

Patterns are a part of Nature and Life itself.  Patterns are present everywhere in our mind, body, pyche, history, family, and so on.  A pattern, by its nature, is repetitive.  In that repetition there can either be stability or blockage.  The blockage comes when you are a stuck in a loop.  Some kind of feedback creates a reactionary response and then you’re doing it all over again.   But a pattern, when seen in its expanse, can also be grounding, anchoring and freeing.

Which patterns serve you and which are your Achilles Heel?  These patterns are up for deep understanding.  Remember, deep understanding may have a component of analysis to it, but that is only a small piece.  Don’t just ask your brain what IT thinks, be sure to check in with your heart, your belly, your body, your soul, your higher self.  Balancing out these lenses, you will see a clearer picture of what is happening and were and how to direct your life force.

Is change needed now?  Is routine needed now?  Is whats comfortable needed now?  Look for the patterns and make a conscious choice on how to approach them.   Then breathe into the newness of the present moment.

 

Word of the day:  Pattern

Song of the day:  Patterns by Simon & Garfunkle

‘tools’ of the trade

Yesterday, after a quite extraordinary crystal bowl “meditation”, a student asked if I ever just sit in stillness.   It was a great question following back to back sound healing work.

The tools that I use are just that:  Tools. They are never to be mistaken for the goal, the end, or even the path itself.  They are simply helpers along the way.  Our crystal friends come from deep inside the earth to offer us their medicine. Our resident resonant tools offer vibrational healing, clearing and deep visioning. But this medicine is not “what its all about”.  What its “all about” IS stillness.  The greatest sound for healing IS silence.  If we mistake the tools for the goal, we have become lost along the way.

And sometimes, thats ok too.  Life’s diversions, like the fluctuations of the mind itself, are simply what they are.  Perhaps the path forward is clear, straight, efficient.  Perhaps it instead sends us on all sorts of detours, road blocks and obstacles.  Usually, its a bit of both.  Remember though, to gently come back to the path as soon as you notice you have become lost in a distraction.  We practice this in meditation to imprint that reflex in our whole life.

The key is to slowly, carefully and attentively become increasingly discerning.  So that, over practice and time, you learn to see clearly what is a diversion and what is, in that moment, a tool to move you forward. Everything and anything can be either one of these: distraction or valuable tool, depending on the timing and who you are, whats happening and where you are.  An authentic guide understands this and can offer tools as needed all while nudging you gently forward, encouraging a healthy detachment from any “tool” itself.

The question naturally arises:  what is the intention for your practice?  One intention of meditation & yoga as a path for example, is to bring you to a state of “thoughtless awareness”, an expansive mind in union with a clear body that allows you a perspective not based on biases, belief systems, judgement, analysis or expectations.

We become the still pond.  We are the clear blue sky.

Along the way we receive gifts, insights, benefits.  Sometimes the practice is joyful, fun and exciting: the gifts feel like blessings.  Sometimes the practice is difficult, challenging and painful: the gifts can feel like a curse.  All of it is inspiring, creative and essential,  coming from the same loving source.  All of it brings us into greater balance and understanding so that we may hear the silence and be with the stillness.

Balance. Stillness. Silence.

These are words I don’t use lightly.  I carry the depth of their authenticity deep within my  understanding.

But balance, stillness & silence are ultimately still just tools.

so, what its all about, anyway?

Monday, Nov 20, 2017

Energy Musings.  Here.  Now.

Today!

This week.  A week of Gratitude & Family, offers us the opportunity to embrace both the challenges and rewards of these personal, familial and societal traditions.  No matter if you celebrate, what you celebrate, how you celebrate or who you celebrate with.

To create the space for acceptance, love, wholeness, unity…. start with you.  Before the family, the friends, the events, the traveling, the cooking, the conversation, the activity, the liveliness of this holiday, take the time to spend time for YOU.  Perhaps alone even.

What are the practices that you go to for self care.  Massage?  Quiet time alone?  Meditation with your Sangha?  Creative outlets?  Something that both clears and fills you:  fills you with the spaciousness you require now to be the love and gratitude you know you are.  It might require getting away from the “busy-ness” temporarily.  Going out to the mountains, the sea or even the spa.

Take a moment today to ask yourself what you might need.  Remembering: this practice involves sensing these needs before we are in crisis mode.  The more we can practice THIS, the more truly present we can be in all situations for ourselves and each other.

Just breathe.  Place your hand on your heart and your belly.  Listen deeply to the information from these places.  Slow down, soften just a little, and keep listening.  How quiet do you need to become in order to really hear yourself?  Thats your work today and when you listen, acknowledge and respond to this inner voice for self care.

Poem of the Day: Buddha in Glory (Rainer Maria Rilke)

Center of all centers, core of cores,
almond self-enclosed, and growing sweet–
all this universe, to the furthest stars
all beyond them, is your flesh, your fruit.

Now you feel how nothing clings to you;
your vast shell reaches into endless space,
and there the rich, thick fluids rise and flow.
Illuminated in your infinite peace,

a billion stars go spinning through the night,
blazing high above your head.
But in you is the presence that
will be, when all the stars are dead.

 

Song of the Day: Don’t Bring Me Down by ELO

Tuesday, Nov. 7th, 2017

 

 

Energy Musings. Here. Now.

Today!

Take a deep breath in, close your eyes, listen to the sound of your breath.  Spend a moment here, just being with what is.  What “IS”, is always the breath.  Nothing less, nothing more.  How deeply can you connect with your breath?  The flowing river of your Be-Ing?  The breath is both your physical presence here & now AND it is your universal, formless, nature.  Understanding this helps us to cope, release, shed and let go during difficult times.

Now is one of those times.

Look outside, at the colors, the movement, the patterns around you.  Connect with something other than the news, politics, “stories” today.  Connect with something deeper, richer, longer lasting than any of these outlets can offer you.  Connect with the Earth and with your Life Force.  The breath will lead you to both.  Take off your shoes, play in the leaves, light a fire.  Or simply be still.

Today, even if just for a moment, Just Be.

Drink in the nourishment of this sacred place of Be-ing.  Restore your Self.

 

Song of the Day:  Stillness of the Day by Paul Adams