Archive for the ‘meditation’ Category

Surrendering

Saturday, February 13th, 2010
self portrait with grasses

self portrait with grasses

I’m taking a wonderful tele-course from Craig Hamilton, who is teaching for Integral Enlightenment.  Craig seems to be a highly evolved, gentle and thoughtful human who is giving his listeners wonderful exercises for shifting their lenses to a place beyond ego. Even though this kind of surrender isn’t something we can “do” or “accomplish,” it’s so lovely and true when we experience that place that I want to extend and expand my experience of living from that place.

Craig led us on a guided meditation back in time to the moment when the universe had just begun, as a tiny seed or point of energy he calls the evolutionary impulse. We felt the impulse within that seed to expand and create, and experienced the evolution of all things. We were each within that pinpoint, and thus were asked to experience ourselves as the evolutionary impulse, now in the form of a body/mind. Then, through that lens, he asked us to view whatever challenge we are facing in our lives and see how that challenge looks.

All I can really put into words is that next to that experience of being the evolutionary impulse, or being part of God, my challenges look pretty insignificant. My body felt a great relief, a relaxation, a surrender. Now I don’t hve to do it all by myself, I remembered. Now there is no self that has to try so hard.

And how did this feel, we were asked.  Well, to me, surrender feels like being a blade of grass that is being gently blown by the wind. I bend, and am caressed.

And so, as my spiritual practice, I’m going to try to return to being that evolutionary impulse or that aspect of the Creator every day, which after all, is what every spiritual practice is about. If, once again, I can surrender to the intelligence of that Creative Force, I can be at ease, in grace, beyond ego–and connected to all that is.

What is your spiritual practice to move beyond ego, and how does it work for you?  What does surrender mean to you and how do you experience it?

Food and the Life Force

Thursday, February 11th, 2010
rainbow carrots

rainbow carrots

Wow!  Have you seen these rainbow carrots? I thought they were so lovely that I decided to buy them no matter what the high-end grocery store was charging. They would be so fun to cut up! I couldn’t wait to see how much they held their color when cooked.  And would the purple ones taste any different from the plain ol’ carrots I’ve been eating all my life?

I love it when something fairly simple and completely natural takes my breath away. Somehow it’s proof of persistent innocence. And of the real things that tend to give us the  most pleasure.

It occured to me when I roasted these carrots with garlic and good olive oil, rosemary potatoes next to them, that food we consider beautiful probably gives us extra nourishment. All the research being done about the mind/body and about the body’s propensity to open with pleasure and close with fear on all its levels of functioning–well, the facts are a blur. But the impression I have is that when we take time, when we choose foods that are beautiful and pleasurable, our body breaks out into a big purr and is able to use the nutrients in the food to bolster the life force. And life force is what we want.

I had a client the other day who has been through such a major trauma that I feared she might be in a depression too deep for me to handle. I asked her how big she pictured the life force inside her to be.  I asked her to picture it in the form of a flame, figuring she might tell me it was the size of a pilot light.  She floored me by telling me it was as big as a house. I’m not worried about her now. Sure, I’m empathetic about the grief and the pain she has to go through, but I’m not worried about her in the long run because she has a life force as big as a house.  She has rainbow carrots inside her.

A Sand Spirit Speaks

Monday, February 1st, 2010
Sand Spirit Insight card #31

Sand Spirit Insight card #31

Perhaps you’ve seen my Sand Spirit Insight Cards.  I thought I’d do a little free teaching about how they work by posting some of my own experiences.  So here’s the card I drew today and the little story of what it says to me.

Today I’m sick, and I’m also sick of being sick!  I’ve had a problem for over a year with getting over viruses that stick like a quicksand that pulls me down.  I’m not into laying low for another couple of months, even though I’m trying to be patient. So I asked the Sand Spirits for some advice.

This card #31 is an image I photographed horizontally;  that is, the way I’ve always viewed this card is the view that would be rotated 90 degrees. Since this software is still new to me, I couldn’t figure out how to rotate the image. So, let’s work with what seems to be firmly in place, even though I don’t want to see it that way!

When viewed in my “normal” way, I’ve always seen an eye with a tear falling from it. Sometimes that is a gentle hint to accept grief that I may be not willing to feel. That’s what I thought was up here when I first picked the card.

Now that I can’t turn it, and am forced to look at it “through a different lens,” (serves me right, I suppose) I see a seed.  The stone that was formerly the iris of the eye is now a seed planted in the earth (or planted within me, perhaps) that seems to be radiating energy out into the ground that is containing it. A drop of water (which I suppose could also be a tear) is penetrating its space, bringing it nourishment.

Hmmm. So there is a seed within you, Pam, the Sand Spirit says. And it is radiating energy into the very ground of your being, even though all that is invisible to you. And, this is a time for that seed to receive nourishment. It needs the “water” of pure emotion, the moisture and juiciness of Spirit. So don’t be dry and brittle just now. See if you can keep the soil, the ground within you moist and receptive.  The seed will appreciate it. And by the way, the seed is YOU!  The seed is your essence, which is after all, what you are wanting to bring out from within.

The important question is, what do YOU see? You may see something completely different in this image. If so, what is the form or figure and what is its message? I’d love to hear from you!

The Tree and the Open Heart

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Rincon treeWhen I took this photo of a stunning tree (is it a Cypress?) I encountered in Santa Barbara, I wasn’t thinking about an open heart.  I just noticed the golden light of the sunset on the trunk, and the wonderful geometric shapes of the branches.

But today, in thinking about the seminar I’m teaching on Thursday about living and leading with an open heart, I happened to look at my friend, the tree. I believe it has a perfectly open heart.  Its core is open to both earth and heaven, drawing nourishment from both, and giving back to each. A good model for living and leading, I think.

When I look at the tree, I also think of the yoga Tree Pose.  When I enter that pose, at first I’m just thinking about keeping my balance while lifting one leg and positioning the foot along my standing leg. Once settled into the pose, however, I’m able to lift my arms like branches, a motion that opens my heart.  Does this mean that you have to have your balance before you can open your heart?

I do know that when I begin to fall out of balance and am afraid, my instinct is to close my heart. It’s an old notion of protection. So the practices of photography and also yoga are good reminders. Regain my balance and open my heart. Sink my roots into the earth.  Raise my arms to the heavens.  See now, what the next step might be.

A Twelve-Step Program to Break the Trance

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

When I was preparing to teach a seminar on Nourishing our Sense of Self, of course I wanted to feel my own Self in all her magnificence! I wanted to feel radiant, enlightened, and certain of what to offer.  Instead I was filled with an unnamed and unwelcome sadness, an emptiness, a not knowing, a forgetting, and a disorientation.

On a meditative walk, I asked for guidance.  I heard, “These are signs of an under-nourished Self or soul.”

I thought, “Oh, great.  I’m failing at the subject I’m about to teach.” And so I asked my elusive Self, “So what do I do?  How do I nourish you?”

What unfolded over the next two days was a process or practice for reconnecting with and nourishing the Self, or Essence.

Think of what is challenging you as you read this process. Bringing a challenging issue with you is a good way to see how the practice works.

First, I realized that I was stuck in an old addictive way of thinking. I was pulled into listening the ego, the mask or protection we have carefully built to protect the Self.

When the Great Forgetting occurs during the course of growing up and relating more and more to the outer world, we fall into the addictive pull of believing that the ego or mask is the self. I needed a process for breaking this addiction, for returning to my Essence.

I hope you find it helpful—and I would love to hear your comments!

The Self_opt

The Twelve-Step Program for Breaking the Addiction to Ego

and Nourishing the Self

1.  REMEMBER.

Just remembering the there is a Self of Essence within, and knowing that we have become disconnected is a powerful act in itself. Nothing more can happen until this remembering occurs.

2. CHANGE THE CHANNEL.

The ego works through the mind, and the mind chatters, nags and sometimes screams through “headphones” we wear when we are tuned into what author Annie Lamott calls “Station KFUK.” As humans, we have the unique ability to change the channel and go within and simply listen.

3. ASK FOR HELP.

Whatever your idea or language is for a higher power, ask for help from the universe. You are not alone, and thinking that you are is an unnecessary form of suffering.

4. SET AN INTENTION.

Tell your higher power or angels, guides, ancestors, saints or nature spirits what you’d like to co-create with their help. Focus on an experience like love, peace, inspiration or abundance rather than a specific outcome. Include your willingness to show up and do your part to create this experience, but don’t dictate how.

5.  CENTER AND GROUND.

You need to be fully on the earth and standing on your own two feet, so picture them sprouting roots that go all the way to the center of the earth. Feel the energy of your first chakra building, filling you with a sense of safety, security and belonging.

6.  PLUG INTO YOUR AUTHENTIC POWER.

Breathe into your second chakra in your belly.  Imagine a golden cord attached there that moves down into the earth to the center.  Picture the spirit of the Mother, the Divine Feminine at the center of the earth, filling a basket of her power for you and sending it up the cord to your belly. This is the power that births babies, seeds and stars.

7. EXPERIENCE YOUR TRUE SELF.

Breathe into the third chakra at your solar plexus and imagine your Essence or true Self taking a form that reflects the beauty of your soul-force living here. What does s(he) look and feel like? What are her powers? Her standards? How does she speak to you? Take time to meditate and feel this experience.

8. ACKNOWLEDGE THE SMALL ONE WITHIN.

Return to the issue that has been challenging you and to the feeling of powerlessness or fear you’ve had around the issue. When you are “in” this energy, how old do you feel? Acknowledge that there is a smaller you inside that needs compassion and help.

9. ASK THE TRUE SELF TO TAKE CHARGE.

Put her or him in the pilot’s seat. Embody her. Explain to the small one within that you are not abandoning her. She does not need to handle this issue; you will be in charge.  Feel your being fill with essence and notice what happens in your body and mind.

10. SEE YOUR WORLD THROUGH THE LENS OF ESSENCE.

Look at your world and the issue you brought with you through the lens of essence, soul or true self. Any change in perception?  Miracles can happen just because of shifts in perception. What is true now?

11. ASK FOR THE NEXT STEP.

When we are embodying Essence, we don’t need to be able to see control everything.  When we have returned to a place of faith and grace, all we need is a flashlight, not a searchlight.  We are pioneers out in uncharted territory, so all we need to know is where to put our foot next. You know your next step.

12. LOCK IN AND LET GO.

Lock in means asking your True Self to give you a physical sign that will wake you up if you forget again and go into a trance. The twitch in the stomach or pain in the neck will lock in the mechanism for remembering and returning to Essence.

Now, just let go. Let it all go, expressing your gratitude.

So, how did that work for you?  I welcome your comments!