Equilibrium Revisited

The Summer holiday is over and we're at that in between season where the weather is still mostly fine.  In the Pacific North West we have misty mornings and mellow sunshine afternoons, with spectacular sunsets.

Let's take a moment to reflect.  I invite you to take a breath with me and  bring your awareness into your body. 

What is the very first thing you notice? 

Is it a sensation, or a pain, or an emotion?  Or are you deeply relaxed?

Acknowledge what you're feeling and then take a deep, full, relaxed breath.

So how was your Summer?  Was it restful?  Was it busy?  Did you have some fun?  Take a few moments to breath in the scents and memories of what Summer means to you.

And now come fully into the present moment.  How does that feel?  What sensations are you feeling in your body, when your awareness is fully in this present moment?  Is it different than when you were reflecting upon your memory of Summer?  And if so, in what way?

That short exercise was meant to bring you into an awareness of your Experience of Yourself.  How did you do?  Did you get any insights?  Were you made aware of anything you may not have been noticing?  If nothing else, you just meditated for a few minutes…and that in itself is very rejuvenating.

During this Season consider taking the opportunity to realign yourself.  To come into balance and find center.  Equilibrium.  Stability.

In Chinese Medicine, the Summer season is affiliated with the Fire Element and the Earth Element is aligned with this in-between season.  The season known as Late Summer.  This season of harvest, and abundance.  Still productive. Not quite Autumn.  This allows the opportunity to Earth the energy of the Fire Element, storing it to see you through the colder seasons.

This is a great time to align yourself seasonally with the Earth, and follow Her example as She comes into balance.  To Ground the Creative Fire Energy and bring it to Earth within yourself.  So you may be productive and create a state of balance and stability within yourself.

In that state of Balance you have clarity.  You have breathing space.  You have deep reserves from which to draw upon.  There you will find wisdom and peace.

Enjoy Your Quest. 

Relating & Relationship

Everything is about relationships.  You have a relationship with each member of your family.  From the moment you're born, you are in relationships with your parents, your siblings, uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, great grandparents...and whether you consider that relationship healthy or unhealthy, it is still a relationship.

As you grow, you form relationships with friends and authority figures and society.  You form relationships with food, water, the air you breath, and the environment around you.  You form opinions based on your way of relating to the world.

Later you form relationships with the media and marketing and material possessions, and you form love relationships, and business relationships and the list goes on.

The definition of RELATIONSHIP:  The way in which two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected, or the state of being connected.  It is how you are related to the world around you.  It is how you relate, in your human experience.

Everyone and everything is in relationship.  This includes your body.  Your organs are in a relationship with the cells that create tissue and blood and so on.  There isn't one thing going on in your body that isn't dependent on its relationships.

And so maybe you can begin to get a glimmer of an idea that how you relate to the world also affects how your internal community (in other words, your anatomy/physiology) relates within your body.

This is where BodyTalk can be of help to you.  BodyTalk is a system of whole health that restores balance to the relationships within the bodymind.

When we experience balance in our internal relationships, we find it easier to harmonize with our external relationships.  It's really just that simple.

Autumn Flowers: Gifts For The Soul

I received a beautiful gift from a client I met for the first time on Tuesday.  I couldn't be more grateful for these dahlias grown so obviously with love.

With the colder weather, I have been very sorry to see the fresh vegetables die back in the local gardens, but now I am cheered by these hardy flowers that bloom in late summer and fall.  Their diversity in color, size and shape, is a reflection of us all.

Thanks K-, for a most thoughtful gift.  I am very happy every time I see them.

Seasonal Influences: Wood Element

Today's topic is Wood Element, the influence of Spring.

Spring has arrived for most of us.  She seems to rise up out of the ground, up through the trunks of trees and through the soles of our feet.

She tiptoes in tentatively in her green and floral garments with the freshness of new life.  Speaking the language of birdsong, buzzing bee, and wind.  Her influences over the land are obvious as seeds burst through the ground, birds break free of eggs, and new life begins. 

There is a lot of movement this time of year and expansion as Spring stretches herself, spreading her influence and permeating the land.

And we feel this too, and our bodies respond, as the consciousness of Spring awakens in each of us.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Spring is associated with the Element of Wood, which is linked to Wind, movement, expansion, birth and growth.  Those qualities express themselves within the human body in the form of the Liver, the Gallbladder, and the Eyes.  The consciousness of Wood relates to the Soul and to the storage of all experiences.

So what does that mean to you?  The Five Chinese Elements are concepts used to help us relate to what’s going on within the body.  The balance of Elements is a way of maintaining the delicate balance of energies within the body-mind complex.

In the cycle of energy associated with the 5 Elements of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Wood feeds Fire Energy and controls Earth Energy, which would relate to feeding your spirit, your joy, the deep wisdom of your heart,  while keeping you from too much worry and confusion.

Wood Energy in turn,  is fed by the Element of Water, but it is controlled by the Metal Element.

To give an example, let’s just say you have an imbalance of not enough Wood Energy.  This might affect your ability to expand your perception, or it may affect your ability to make decisions, etc.  One way to balance that might be with more Water Energy because Water feeds and nourishes Wood.  Or maybe it’s a matter of too much Metal cutting off your Wood Energy.

These imbalances can be addressed in a BodyTalk session, where your body reveals what type of an imbalance it has, in other words, whether it's a matter of too much or not enough of said Wood Element, and how we will proceed within the session.

With BodyTalk we use consciousness to find the story behind the imbalance and to shift perceptions within the body-mind, which in turn causes the body to reset itself and to make the adjustments it needs to re-establish balance.

Equilibrium

The Summer holiday is over and we're at that in between season where the weather is still mostly fine.  In the Pacific North West we have misty mornings and mellow sunshine afternoons, with spectacular sunsets.

Let's take a moment to reflect.  I invite you to take a breath with me and  bring your awareness into your body. 

What is the very first thing you notice? 

Is it a sensation, or a pain, or an emotion?  Or are you deeply relaxed?

Acknowledge what you're feeling and then take a deep, full, relaxed breath.

So how was your Summer?  Was it restful?  Was it busy?  Did you have some fun?  Take a few moments to breath in the scents and memories of what Summer means to you.

And now come fully into the present moment.  How does that feel?  What sensations are you feeling in your body, when your awareness is fully in this present moment?  Is it different than when you were reflecting upon your memory of Summer?  And if so, in what way?

That short exercise was meant to bring you into an awareness of your Experience of Yourself.  How did you do?  Did you get any insights?  Were you made aware of anything you may not have been noticing?  If nothing else, you just meditated for a few minutes…and that in itself is very rejuvenating.

During this Season consider taking the opportunity to realign yourself.  To come into balance and find center.  Equilibrium.  Stability.

In Chinese Medicine, the Summer season is affiliated with the Fire Element and the Earth Element is aligned with this in-between season.  The season known as Late Summer.  This season of harvest, and abundance.  Still productive. Not quite Autumn.  This allows the opportunity to Earth the energy of the Fire Element, storing it to see you through the colder seasons.

This is a great time to align yourself seasonally with the Earth, and follow Her example as She comes into balance.  To Ground the Creative Fire Energy and bring it to Earth within yourself.  So you may be productive and create a state of balance and stability within yourself.

In that state of Balance you have clarity.  You have breathing space.  You have deep reserves from which to draw upon.  There you will find wisdom and peace.

Enjoy Your Quest.