Happy Solstice Rising

Today we are celebrating with full responsiveness the miracle of life made possible as the Cosmic sun streams its full radiance of Light upon us. We are reminded of our inherited belonging and dependency to the source of Light that provides transformative power. The Sun awakens our cellular memory, our nervous system and soul longing to reach toward the rising Light which illuminates our cosmic /human journey. This time of year shines the way that can guide us in our destiny path toward our own personal /collective apexs.

I wish for all of you that today you experience a beginning again. A new dawn rising up in your spine, over the horizon of your inner ecology of being. Allowing the activation of those cosmic wheels within your chakras to assist you in movement toward your healthiest self.  Drink in the Light that brings stamina to your will and empowers your words into a living language of Love, Levity and Enlightment. Turning toward the Cosmic Light that lives within brings clarity and discernment such that it becomes easier to see the Light within every soul. The heat of True Light melts the heart's defended self and allows the wisdom of forgiveness to reside in its place. 

May The Light shine on you, on this planet and on all sentient beings. Enjoy!!!

SUFFERING, GROWTH, WISDOM

We most often use the common term "growing pains" when we are talking about youthful bodies stretching and growing beyond what feels comfortable within one's own skin. In time, the muscles, ligaments and skin cooperate and lo and behold, we become more grown up. Then before you know it, the time comes again for the same metamorphosis to happen, only now the territory that needs to grow is internal. This is called soul growth or soul evolution. Hence, what was once growing pains now become "learning pains".

Life, by its very nature, is designed to keep you growing, evolving, if you will. Every soul has a natural impulse to become so much more than one permits oneself to imagine and grow toward.  My experience as a body psychotherapist has taught me that individuals, as humanistic soulful organisms, have the capacity to respond in proportion to their measured sense of safety and security. If you feel you are standing on solid ground within yourself and in your environment, you are more capable of accepting and creating the needed changes in your life. When life feels continually tumultous and perhaps, even dangerous, then it is harder to respond wisely on your own behalf. We are reminded of the recent kidnappings in Ohio and the women who felt too trauamtized and therefore paralyzed to risk their freedom.. 

I know from my own experiences that when I have resisted my own forward movement, it was during times that I didn't feel grounded in myself. I had moved from one location to another and although my bags were upacked I was emotionally unsettled. I further complicated my life by creating distractions that took me further from myself rather than settling in. I used clever deflections and excuses such things as: higher pursuits, business projects, my children's needs, house cleaning, partying, decorating, shopping, or worse yet, helping others improve their lives! I eventually always came back to the same inevitable, restless feelings. When I was finally ready to or forced to face my own personal truths, I grew immensly.

What is most important to remember is that when your own avoidance factor catches up to you, and you will feel forced to deal that an emerging response, try not to react. Realize there is a great difference between responding and reacting and each one leads to a different outcome. Reacting is connected to quick impulsive behavior and can cause damage and regret. It generally is harsher, more adolescent, desperate and sourced in a deeper fear that never got resolved from the past.

Learn to take a deep breathe and ride the wave of your pain, anger, loss and fear all the way through. If you do, you will learn what you still need to address within yourself while everything else falls to the side. You will realize that the pain you have carried and avoided has been waiting for your attention so you can heal. Your growing pains are your learning pains. They exist to serve you in growth that wouls otherwise not occur. Carl G. Jung, mystic, psychiatrist, father of archetypal psychology reminded us , "There is no coming to consciousness without pain." Suffering is a part of your personal path toward wisdom. It is through addressing your suffering, as Buddha reminded us, that you become free from the illusory fears that keep you held and bound in captivity. Once your soul can breathe and stretch again, you discover that you are comfortable being in your own skin. 

Blessings

Connecting To The Heavens

Years ago, I remember reading that the ancients had no vocabulary word for sky. They simply spoke of the celestial sphere above as "The Heavens". I prefer that noun as it conjures up an image of a fullness of consciousness.

Tonight as I stepped outside into the cold clear air, I looked up for the first time in probably two weeks. Shame on me! This can happen to me when I am living in or near the city and void of natural light. This can happen to me when I am so focused and on task with projects that I keep my head to the ground,  my eye on the wheel or I am too deep in thought.  And when this happens to me, I forget momentarily who I am, to what, and to who else I am connected,  in my life.

Tonight, I see the star studded constellations and I feel connected to my ancestors who have passed before me. Tonight , I see several of the planets beautifully aligned and punctuating the deep dark sky before all the other stars fill in the void and I feel the depth of my connection to all my love ones near and so far away. Tonight, I see that I am seeing and therefore, I experience gratitude for the capacity to see and know what it is that I see.

It is Spirit in all of its forms that I see; It is Spirit that moves me to remember to look up once again. It is Spirit that has me remember that The heavens hold us all together here, there and forever. We are constellations of love and of light that orbit round and round in a universe that we call life.

Have A Good Night  

The Nourishment of Silence

On a recent visit to hear the Phila. Orchestra, I was struck by my own need, after the concert, for a pure silence to accompany me on my ride home. I thought it was a bit curious that I was so insistent and sensitive to this need for silence, until I tuned into my body and experienced just how 'full' I felt. I became aware that it wasn't possible for me to ingest anything more. I had partaken in an auditory, sensory feast that was  equivalent to the excellent meal that filled me on Thanksgiving Day. Now I simply had to digest the richness that had filled my senses. A protective womb of silence would provide the space I needed for me to do just that. 

This experience, although not new to me, got me thinking about silence as an essential factor in one's metabolic and psychic health. In our culture, learning to be comfortable in and with silence is easily swallowed up by our insatiable, addictive appetites for the latest information that comes across our air waves. Acquiring a developed taste for inner silence isn't easy to achieve on a constant full stomach.

I remember years ago working with a businessman that came to me for stress relief. Through our conversations about his lifestyle and work habits, he shared that he travelled most days and would end each evening, after a long day of meetings and sales, watching tv. until he fell asleep.  It became evident that what he suffered from was too much stimuli and a lack of silence that could have helped him tune into his own personal rhythm and decompress naturally. Although this isn't an uncommon scenario, it does speak to a broader social addiction that requires constant feeding and creates  a condition I refer to as a"psychic obesity".  How possible is it for one to extract the fullest sense of meaning, essence or nutrients from a present moment experience when systems are already operating on overload? How this translates to our bodies is a topic for another day.

   Fritz Perls , co-founder of Gestalt Therapy identified physio/psycho/emotional health as a human being's basic need to process life's experiences in an uninterrupted, metabolic fashion that could allow for proper assimilation, digestion and elimination. In other words, we are naturally hardwired to break down life experiences one bite at a time. Ask any dream therapist, psychotherapist, holistic doctor or nutritionist. Nothing that is worth chewing on escapes the inner self; and, what we choose to ignore always comes back to bite us in the .... Lastly, everything else that is indigestible requires our rightful refusal.  These principles are whole body wisdom.

 I have one simple exercise that I have developed and can share as a practice that will awaken and sensitize your body to the healing sound of silence and its enveloping presence. Bring you attention to your breath as a whole body activity. Let the inhale and exhale be a full body movement.  Stay with this sensation until you feel all of yourself is breathing. Now evoke the Presence of Silence into your surrounding space. Imagine Silence appears and envelops the atmosphere around you in a sacred, respectful way. Allow the power of Silence to filter out all other noise. Let silence contain you, so you may open up deeply into your space. Now allow yourself to listen to the fullness of Silence as a Presence. It asks nothing of you. Allow yourself to sense the power of Silence. It is fertile in its' emptiness.  If you evoke Silence as a Presence then it can envelop you in a gentle way. You will discover that your breathing relaxes, as does your body. You can begin to feel and take stock in what your body has actually absorbed that day and needs to assimilate, digest and eliminate. Silence provides a mantle of protection for you so you can take the necessary time to slow down and not lose yourself. Practice the art of just being.