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.

Forgiveness

As the holidays approach, I find myself wanting to clear my paths to make way for the season of Love and Joy.  Part of that clearing is about forgiveness.

Forgiving myself, for the mistakes of the past, and forgiving others that I share human experiences with.  Forgiveness is my focus this week.  I don't want to be distracted by that old baggage.  I want to clear myself of all blame, bitterness, anger and grief.  

There are many tools to help us release and to forgive.  Some people write letters, some people use prayer, some have body work or energy work done, and some people use their own personal ceremonies to accomplish this.  If you're stuck for ideas and you feel overwhelmed at the prospect of working through issues of the past to find forgiveness whether for yourself or others, then do a search online to find something that speaks to your deepest heart.  I searched forgiveness chants, and a whole host of forgiveness exercises came up.

The energy of forgiveness, especially in forgiving yourself, allows for the most wonderful healing to occur.  It also makes you feel light years younger.

Have a good week.

Unexpected Treasure

Just a quick post (hopefully).  I can be pretty long winded.

I want to share how injuries can be wonderful gifts.


Have you ever noticed how you might keep injuring yourself.  Then you have a life changing shift in perception, and suddenly you're not doing that any more?

On Friday afternoon I was rushing about trying to get way too much done.  I was walking in through my front door with my hands full, and the door wasn't quite open wide enough, and I got an awful jolt when I hit it with my right shoulder.

And then I did something I've never done before.  I forgot all about it.  I remember experiencing rage, and then suddenly nothing.  My hands were full, I was busy, I bumped into a door--keep working!!!

I was with some friends later that evening and I realized my shoulder was swollen, and I thought "hmmm, inflammation.  I wonder what that's all about."

By the end of the evening I couldn't lift my arm.

The next morning I continued to use it even though I had very little motion.  And I kept wondering if I was getting bursitis, or some such.

That afternoon, I was seeing a visiting friend out to her car, and I turned to come back in through the front door, and the skin on my shoulder barely made contact with the door, but it was enough to awaken my body memory.  And then I remembered that I had bashed into the door on my way through almost 24 hours earlier.  But it wasn't until later that evening, when I could no longer move it at all in any direction, and the pain was excruciating, that my body memory reminded me that I had experienced this before, 28 years ago, and that Shoulder was most likely broken.

This is a pretty bad time for me to have this kind of an injury.  As an energy worker, I can do healing sessions with consciousness, and by distance.  This injury doesn't impact that kind of work.

But I am also the book binder for our family run press.  And we just released a book.  I am the only binder we have.  And I hand bind in small batches of six books at a time.  As quickly as I can.  A busted shoulder definitely has an impact on this kind of work.  And this time it's my right shoulder (my dominant hand).

"Two weeks," I told Mike.  That's how long it took 28 years ago, just to start using left shoulder again.

So here's the treasure part.  Sometimes when you have an injury, especially when you break something, you get an energy release.  I cracked into that shoulder, and rage was released! But that wasn't the only benefit.

Big life changes in just one little week.  In my relationships, in my work life, and in how I relate to myself.  Amazing.  Like cracking open a golden egg and releasing the richness within.  Such a huge shift in perception.

I'm not talking about looking for the silver lining, I'm talking about being showered with blessings.

So what's a little bone pain?  Excruciating? Yes!  But so worth it.

And a relatively easy shift in perception, is also allowing for accelerated healing to take place.  In other words, there is no longer a need to be injured.  Lesson learned, benefits reaped.  Let's get on with the healing.

Is Your Body Using The Water You Drink?

This time of year, it's really hard to stay hydrated.  I just reached for my water glass, and one of my cats at the same moment woke from a sound sleep and went to her water dish.

It's Summer, and our cells are thirsty.

There is a lot of controversy over how much water to drink.   There are just as many articles about getting too much water as there are articles about not getting enough water.

My feeling is that it's going to be different for each individual. 

One of the first ever BodyTalk techniques I learned was a technique called hydration.   It is a way to allow your body's wisdom to remember how to use the water in your body.  Allowing your cells to remember how to take water in and use it.

All cellular activity requires water.  When  chronic dehydration becomes a normal state of affairs, your tissues  become less able to use the water available to them.   Your cells simply can not absorb water as they were designed to do.  

Hydration of cells is a matter of water moving across the cell membranes and into the interior of the cells.  Water must be able to move freely across the cell walls in both directions, carrying nutrients into the cells and waste products out.

The hydration balancing technique is directed at correcting the cell membrane imbalances throughout the body so that the cells are capable of absorbing and using the water in the body.

Restoring your body's ability to hydrate, will give your cells the basic tools to function as they were designed.

Why Organic Foods?

Way back in 1994 (back in the days when I still watched TV) I saw a news magazine program, where 5 or 6 families with small children were documented grocery shopping. The camera crew filmed the parents lovingly filling up their shopping carts with fresh produce to feed to their families.  Then those foods were taken to a lab to be tested, and the cameras continued to film as the mothers and fathers received the news that the fresh foods which they thought were so healthy were covered in pesticides.  I remember one of the moms cried.  She was trying so hard to give her small child a healthy start in life.  Imagine her disappointment and frustration.

That program changed my life.  I began scrubbing everything with soap.  But it wasn't enough.  So then I began looking for organic produce, but it hadn't really caught on yet.  So I stopped eating produce.  As if that would actually protect me in a world gone mad for chemicals.

When I moved to Olympia, I became determined to grow my own food.  I started a back yard garden, and I was so happy, until I noticed my neighbor who had his garden on the other side of the fence was using chemicals and since he used a hose with a spray nozzle to water...well, you can imagine.  He was washing all his chemicals into my garden. I was too timid (back then; certainly not now) to ask him to find another way to water, or to stop using chemicals.

So I gave up that idea.  And I went back to trying to find organic produce.

We have a beautiful local food co-op in Olympia, and it's been around for a while, but in those days-every time I would check it out, the produce was in really bad shape, and I couldn't believe they would actually sell it.  Because even I could tell that there was no nutrients in food that looked that bad.  Eventually, the organic food industry caught on, and I began to see more of it.  And that happened just in time.  Because something else was happening.

I learned about Monsanto in 1999, I think it was.  A friend of mine educated me about GMOs.  She told me about soybeans being developed, and corn, and potatoes.  She told me about the science.  About how there was no way to know how it would affect our bodies.  And then she told me that the real danger was in developing food that could be patented.  That meant Monsanto and other biotech corporations could control the food supply.  I began to realize that there was more at stake than trying to reduce my pesticide consumption.

Olympia Food Co-op

I joined the food co-op shortly after that, determined only to buy organic from then on.  And I also began to shop at the last remaining locally owned grocery stores and to buy at the farmer's market.  I was determined to do this, because I could see that the large grocery chains were systematically driving the local business out, and that it was another way of controlling the food supply.  Which ultimately leads to fewer and fewer choices.

The more I educated myself, the more resolved I was to fight corporate food and biotech using my buying choices as a weapon.  

For many people who are still buying what is (inaccurately) referred to as conventional (because what's conventional about pesticides?)  the biggest resistance to buying organic seems to be the price.  

If you believe that the higher price tag on organic foods is because it's some kind of trendy boutique food eaten by suckers who are buying into a fad, please get to know your local organic food grower and you will find that nothing could be further from the truth.

Farming is hard work. And for small farms, it is expensive. Research the history of government subsidies in farming. Subsidies create a false price on food. That is why "conventional" foods bought at corporate grocery stores are sold cheaply.  In reality it costs more to produce food sustainably, because the government is not subsidizing those farmers.  We as consumers must support organic farming, if we wish to see it survive.

Also, ask your local farmer about government regulations and certification fees.  Then you will begin to see that this isn't a luxury item, but the authentic cost of growing food.

And let's remember that our farmers are part of our local community and they have bills to pay, and must support their families, just as the rest of us do.

There are more really good reasons to invest your food dollars in buying organic.  Think about your health.

Even if you eat almost 100% organic foods, you are still affected by the way foods are grown.  Pesticides are air born, and they get into the water.  Non sustainable growing methods create a stress on the land. Research why biodiversity is desirable for the environment.  Sustainable growing methods encourage biodiversity, creating healthy ecosystems, which we all benefit from...

These are just a few reasons why organic foods are the smart choice.

Olympia Farmer's Market
Olympia, WA.  USA

Food issues are a passion of mine and have been for a long time.

I am excited that more people are getting wise about their food.

Key words:

Local

Sustainable

Organic

Humane

Fair Trade

Support your local farm family.

Active Memories. What Are Your Triggers?

Memories come in all shapes and sizes right? Some are passive memories.  They are simply memories of experiences. Nothing more.

But some memories are active.  By active, I mean they have a button or trigger attached to them.  All it takes for you is to be reminded in some way and you are instantly reliving the memory as if it were happening in real time.  This can happen either consciously, so you're aware of it, or on a subconscious level, where you feel triggered by something or someone but you don't know why.

Either way your body is experiencing the same release of chemicals, the same stress, and the same reactions as it did with the initial experience.

Your body can hold trauma, emotions, experiences, and beliefs in your tissues.  If you are unable (for whatever reason) to process that experience , learn from it and let it go, then the energy of that emotion or perception can be stored in your body.  Maybe in an organ, or a muscle, or in the connective tissue, where it acts as a program that keeps running.  A program that influences your perception of life.

Here's an example of what I mean.  A woman was injured in a car accident which was not her fault.  Even after she recovered from her injuries, whenever she would speak of the incident, she would get tense and angry and relive the pain and stress of that situation all over again.  This went on until she had some BodyTalk done.  The trigger was deactivated and the memory became just another unpleasant experience that she rarely thought about.  She also stopped blaming the person who caused the accident and she was able to move on.

Sometimes we're not aware of memories that affect us like in the following example.  

In one session, I worked with a woman whose parents escaped a flood in a rowboat.  During which time the mother was pregnant with my client, who was born a very short time later.  Though she had no conscious memory of the event herself, she knew the story.  More importantly, when the charge was taken out of that subconscious memory, she found that she could now dive under the water when swimming.  Until her session, she hadn't liked having her face below the surface.  

That is how a memory we're not even aware of can affect perception and alter behavior.

We all have enough to deal with in life, without having to cope with old baggage.  Perhaps it's time to clear out and release some of the old stuff which keeps you stuck.  I can help you identify and release those old stories and defuse the trigger from those old experiences.

Permission To Heal

Something which makes BodyTalk a unique system of energy medicine, is that it allows me to conduct the session guided by your body's innate wisdom.

To begin, I establish communication with your body's inner wisdom.  Then I go into the deeper layers of the subconscious to ask permission to conduct the session.

That's a little bit different than getting permission at the level of your thinking mind.

BodyTalk is a system of healing which you could say, gives voice to the body.  Re-establishing communication with your inner wisdom is the goal during a BodyTalk session, whether it's your inner knowing giving you guidance, or whether it is the miraculous wisdom that regulates your body's physiology.

And asking permission is part of that process.  Allowing the body to guide what issues we address, and in what order we do that.

If you'd like to find out what your body has to say about your health, give me a call or send me a message using the contact form in the sidebar.          

Stress Reduction

Here is a little exercise I use for stress reduction.  If it seems familiar to you, it's from a post I wrote earlier entitled Neutralizing Stress.

Take a deep breath and bring your awareness into you body.  And just notice for a moment being present with your body.  What are you feeling within? What are you noticing? Notice the contact with the surface you're sitting or standing on.  Notice your clothes against  your skin.  Notice the air temperature, etc. But also notice your inner sensations, like any aches or subtle sensations, and how you're feeling emotionally.

You can take as long as you like with this.  And when you're ready, shift your focus to your heart field, which is the electromagnetic field generated by your heart. 

Just spend a little time focusing your awareness on your heart field.  Don't think about it, but feel it, if you can.  Just noticing it, is enough. 

I picture it as warm soft golden light radiating out from my heart.  I allow my focus to be as soft and diffused as the golden light I am seeing.  Just a soft awareness mingling with my heart field.  Just allowing myself to be present with that energy.

I invite you to practice doing this at least twice a day.  It only takes a few minutes.  You can do it as often as you think of it.

The reason this is important is because when you have trained your awareness to go automatically and easily into your heart field, you have amazing medicine at your disposal, you have an amazing tool for changing your experience and you have powerful protection from negative influence which you may feel are threatening your well being.

I can't recommend BodyTalk enough for an animal in distress! When a bird slammed hard into my window today and lay in that curled up, wings askew position looking for all the world to be dead, I implemented an energy medicine technique called Animal Access, taught by the BodyTalk System.

It was like watching a flower bloom seeing the young robin come back to life, as I went through each step. Right on cue, as I tapped out the last reciprocal, and felt my spine adjust with a little pop, my bird friend flew away.

It took 10 minutes.  The fastest I've ever seen a bird recover from hitting hard like that.

I'm so grateful to have these tools.

♥

Is Anger A Bad Thing?

Exploring The Role Of Anger

I have learnt through bitter experience the one supreme lesson to conserve my anger, and as heat conserved is transmuted into energy, even so our anger controlled can be transmuted into a power which can move the world.  --Mahatma Gandhi

Last week I wrote a little about the energy of the Wood element as defined by the concept of Chinese medicine.  I spoke of how the qualities of Wood energy manifest within the human body in the form of the Liver, Gallbladder and Eyes.

Assuming that everything in the material world around us is influenced by consciousness, and in turn expresses consciousness, I would like to talk about the role of anger today, which is associated with Liver/Gallbladder consciousness.

In the Chinese concept of medicine, Liver consciousness is all about planning and organization. It processes and stores experiences in our connective tissue so we can remember our lessons.  It generates anger to alert us to an invasion of our boundaries.

The Gallbladder consciousness is all about decisions and motivation.  It is the catalyst which gets us moving from the planning stage to activity.  It releases anger along with the bile to give us the courage and confidence to act on those plans.  And it regulates the strength and flexibility of our tendons, which reflects the way we perceive life.

Viewed within this system, the energy of anger is a natural, healthy emotion that keeps us moving on our path.

Only when it is denied expression does anger turn pathological, giving rise to resentment.

Think about a time in your life when you have pushed your anger down.  Explore how that felt.  Is there any resentment there?  Where do you think that resentment has gone?  Is it taking up space in your tissues somewhere in your body?

Now picture a stream.  The water is flowing pretty well and at an even pace.

Now picture that a beaver has moved in and built a dam.  And now the stream has changed it's course a little in order to keep flowing.  You can think of the beaver dam as your resentment.  It is an obstruction which is causing a blockage in the flow of your energy.  Your body may compensate for this, by redirecting the flow of energy.  But how many obstacles are there, causing slow downs and redirecting your energy flow?  Is your body experiencing a traffic jam?

The Blood follows the Qi

The Qi follows the Thought

The Thought follows the Spirit

The Spirit follows the Tao

Qi (pronounce chee) is the energy we've been talking about.  And Spirit is consciousness.  The Tao (pronounce Dow to rhyme with "now") is defined as the unconditional and unknowable source and guiding principle of all reality; the process of  nature.  It is the absolute principle underlying the universe and is in harmony with natural law, called God or Source Energy by some.

If the blood follows the Qi that would mean that the unobstructed energy flow is very important to the function of your body.  So it would seem like a really good idea to identify and clear out those obstructions to get your energy flowing as it was meant to.  You can think of a BodyTalk session like a Spring cleaning, where we sort through and identify what emotions, and perceptions are just taking up space.  I can help you shift that stuff.

We take on so much in our experience of living.

If you'd like a Spring cleaning to clear out those obstructions and get your energy flowing the way it was meant to, send me a message using the contact form in the side bar at the top of this page.

Wood Element

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.

Some Benefits to Eating Locally Grown Foods

1. It's Fresh.  Full of nutrients and living enzymes.

2. You support your local economy if you buy from local farmers/food producers.

3. Food grown locally supports biodiversity.

4. The food grown locally is more likely to contain the nutrients specific to local needs.

5. Less use of fossil fuels in transporting the food to market.  
    (Even less if you grow it yourself).

6. Locally grown food creates close community ties.


Talk to me my friends.   ♥    Do you grow your own food?  Do you buy sustainable organic food grown in your local area?

Pollen, Pollen Everywhere

Scanning Electron Microscope image of pollen grains from a variety of common plants.  --Wikipedia

And we love it!  Because that’s what our beloved bees are collecting to bring back to their hives.  And it is an inescapable fact that without pollen most of the plants which we humans make use of would not reproduce.

Nature is in a relationship with Pollen.

But maybe your body doesn't have a relationship with pollen.

Think about it for a minute.  In some people, pollen can cause irritation to eyes, nasal passages and throat.  Causing a reaction from a mild tickle in the nose or throat and itchy eyes to severe breathing difficulties.

If your body doesn't have a relationship with pollen, then when you come into contact with it you experience an immune response.  Your body reacts to pollen as if it were fighting off a full scale invasion, rather than  just giving you a little cough or sneeze to remove the particulate and you’re good to go.

A relationship allows for relating.  It’s how we make sense of things.  If your body relates to pollen, it recognizes what it is, then it deals with it appropriately, quickly and without triggering a life threatening emergency within your system, such as asthma.

Collectively, humanity is out of balance with the natural world.  Having removed ourselves from that stabilizing influence, we no longer have that relationship which allows the body to relate and recognize.  Rather than dealing with a friendly particle of pollen which accidentally got inhaled into your sinuses by simply sneezing it out, the body goes on red alert, and begins conducting a war with you as the battle field.

Hmmmm.  That really does sound like a human response doesn't it?

What can you do about it?  Well, you might go to the pharmacy and get medication designed to alleviate your symptoms. *

What’s wrong with that?  Well, you haven’t gotten to the root cause of your imbalance.  You haven’t restored your relationship within your body-mind.  But  what you have done is suppressed your immune system, and that act is teaching your body a new habit. 

Before, you had a hyper sensitive immune system.  Now you have an immune system which is being given signals via medication and the brain, that it should stop responding.

Does it sound like you've fixed the imbalance, or have you just created a new one?

Why not see if you can restore your body’s natural ability to relate? 

That’s where the BodyTalk System can help you.  BodyTalk can identify the root cause of the imbalance, restoring your body’s natural ability to function as it was meant to.

When your body is functioning as it was designed to do, it will supply you with the right chemicals in the proper amounts to suit every function.  You have your own internal pharmacy, with natural chemicals made just for you by your own body, not the synthetic ones made in a lab.

So in conclusion, we are not cursed with pollen, we are blessed with it.  It is a miraculous gift, which eventually feeds us and creates the oxygen we breath.  This could be your perception and your experience, if you will allow your body to function holistically.

If you'd like to experience a BodyTalk session, now is a great time to invest in yourself. 

*  I urge you to do a little research.  If you're taking medication, or thinking about it, even in the case of herbs or supplements, you owe it to yourself to take responsibility for your health and make an informed decision.  Your health is very precious.

What Are You Bringing To Life?

"Happiness is something that you bring to life."  

This quote by Dr. Wayne Dyer woke up inspiration for this short post today.  Thank you to my cousin Tricia for sharing it.

When I read these words, "Happiness is something that you bring to life."  I caught a glimpse of a mother nurturing her child Happiness.  Almost like tending a fire.  I saw her coax it into being.  I saw her feeding it and tending it with a focused attention.

Have you ever tried to start a fire with green wood.  You coax, and it takes all your focused attention as you tend and feed it.  Starting a fire with green wood takes a tremendous amount of focus and skill.  You can't just put kindling and paper and strike a spark to it, and then walk away.  You must keep adding small bits of dry fuel in order for the green wood to heat up enough to catch.

And so it sometimes seems with the art of tending to your Happiness, in order to bring it to life.

What Are You Listening To?

At your very core, is your deepest , truest knowing.

It is your core star, your heart star.  It is your inner radiance that speaks to you in a resounding voice.  Your connection. That Wisdom which offers guidance.

It directs the function of your body.  It gives you instruction about life.

How is it possible to become disconnected from this guidance which you have always had?

The answer is this.  It isn't possible to be disconnected from your deepest Wisdom, because it is a part of you and it is always broadcasting, full on, loud and clear.  But it is possible you have turned off your receiver.  That you have stopped being tuned in to that station.  That you have stopped listening.

If you're not listening to your own inner Wisdom...What are you listening to?

Your Inner Resources and The Fear Factor

It's been a very cold, Winter.  And now transitioning into Spring you can add fluctuating weather patterns to the mix.

Yesterday morning, I bundled up in layers of wool before I left home.  By noon I was removing those layers as I sweated beneath a warm sun in a clear blue sky.  Now today it's pouring rain.  I hear snow is forecast for tomorrow.

This is spring.  Beautiful, blessed spring--bringing motion and change to shake us out of our Winter lethargy. 

If you're feeling the Late Winter/Early Spring Weather Blues this post is dedicated to you.

First of all, it's a good idea to stay warm and cozy.  Those two go hand in hand.  The cozy part is every bit as important as the the warm part of the equation.  Warm foods, warm drinks, warm clothes, warm environments, warm lighting, warm friends, warm laughter, warm thoughts which warm the cockles of your heart...the sun will tease us from time to time, but we are still experiencing the cold and wet of early Spring.

Secondly, I urge you to get away from any device which feels cold to you right now.  And by that, I mean devices which feed you any news or entertainment based in fear and which does not warm the cockles of your heart.  If you're reading or watching anything which causes you to feel fear, depression, disgust or cold fury, put it down and walk away.  Preferably allowing your feet to take you outdoors.

Traditional Chinese Medicine: Fear, Winter/Cold and the Element of Water

In the psychology of the body, based on Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fear is associated with the Bladder and the Kidneys, which are allied with the Element of Water.  Using Traditional Chinese Medicine as a guide to understanding the Element of Water; Water relates to Winter and to Cold.

So being in this season which is moving between Winter and Spring, you want to pay attention to balancing the extremes which cause you discomfort.  Too much Water feeds the Wood Element (which is associated with Anger), and too much Water dowses the Fire Element (which is associated with healthy expressions of both Joy and Sadness).  Using that way of relating to emotions, you can see how too much Fear feeds Anger and how too much Fear leads to Depression and mood swings.

Fear in its healthy state motivates you to activity (Fight or Flight), but an overabundance of fear can be paralyzing.  So if inclement weather is keeping you indoors and inactive, you may be spending more time reading things, or watching things which cause you fear.  Inactivity can lead to a build up of undischarged Fear emotion.  Too much fear in your tissues can lead to weakness and collapse.

Recognizing The Fear Peddlers

It's this simple, Fear Peddlers are people who stand to profit by scaring you.  Either they want to sell you something, or they want to control you.  And fear keeps us divided, feeling isolated and alone.  You know when someone is telling you a story which causes you fear.  Start paying attention, and just notice how many fear messages you see on social media or in the news.

There is another type of Fear peddler, the kind who means well.  This type feel they need to educate you/warn you about how scary the situation really is.  For those of us who are bighearted activist types, we often get subjected to the Well Meaning Fear Peddlers, and we spread it around among our tribe like a virus.  But make no mistake it is still fear.  It is still a type of manipulation.

When your emotions are healthy and balanced, you have more clarity around your emotional perceptions.

Balancing Fear

Your body naturally knows how to balance fear, if you allow it to do its job.  When you experience fear, true fear, your body wants to take some action.  If you are startled, you jump, or you run, or you move in some way, which uses up the adrenaline suddenly coursing through your body.  In our society we often suppress our natural instincts.  If you get a shot of adrenaline because you've just narrowly missed an accident, do you stop the car and get out and move around in order to discharge that chemical in your body?  Most of us keep driving.  The adrenaline may have been used up in avoiding the accident, or maybe not.  

Also we have a lot of manufactured fears.  We may not have to avoid death or injury every day, but we have many learned fears.  Whether real or imagined, fear can still contribute to adrenal fatigue.

Some good ways to balance fear, is first to understand what causes you fear.  To get to know what motivates your perception and your response.

A BodyTalk session can help identify fears and phobias and their root causes while allowing you to release that fear, restoring you to a state of balance and clarity.

Another thing, since fear and stress go hand in hand, physical activity is a real good way to balance fear.  Anything from strenuous out door activity to creative endeavors such as moving a paintbrush around a canvas, or a pen on paper.  Engage with the activity.  Be very present with it, so you train yourself away from the habit of allowing your mind to manufacture and/or dwell on fears.

Here's one you probably haven't thought of.  Since your body is an emotion processor, a balance of energies also helps keep your fear level healthy, rather than extreme.  Bladder and Kidneys help process fear in the body to move it through.  This keeps the emotional energy from taking up residence in your tissues causing stuck energy or repeating patterns which may lead to illness or personal problems later on.

BodyTalk sessions can balance organ energies like Bladder and Kidneys to keep them fully functioning physiologically, energetically, and as emotional processors.

You are an holistic, integrated Being.  Body, Mind, and Spirit all flow together as One.  An imbalance anywhere within the Body/Mind complex eventually will affect your whole Being on some level, whether you experience other symptoms or not.  BodyTalk does not aim to treat symptoms.  It aims to restore balance to your whole Being.

I hope this article gave you some new ways to relate to the season, to the emotion of fear, to the body, and to Your Self.

Enjoy the fluid motion of this season as we move out of Winter and into Spring.

You are Loved

Breathing Space

Have you ever noticed that when you stop obsessing about a problem, it usually sorts itself out?

"What do I mean by that?" you may well ask.

You have a problem.  It occupies your thoughts.  It fills your attention.  You experience anxiety over it.  You concentrate on the "fixing" of this problem.

OK, now you've done all that.  Now check in with yourself and ask this question. "Am I getting anywhere with this?"

If the answer is yes, then that's amazing and wonderful.

If the answer is no, then consider this.

Consider allowing it to be alright.  Give yourself permission to allow this problem to solve itself.  Stop allowing it to occupy you.  Stop allowing it to "Take" from you, your energy and your time and attention.

I know, I know.  Your problem is serious business.  Your problem Needs your attention.  You Must devote yourself to the fixing of this thing…even if now you're stuck. Stuck in a loop, or an energy holding pattern.

So shake yourself loose from it for a moment, and try to understand what I'm offering as an alternative.  This is not an easy concept to grasp, especially if the problem is really serious to you, but try because it may really help.

I'm going to tell you a story to illustrate what I mean.  First I must say that I am telling a true story, but it does not belong to any one person, because I have seen this over and over again.  So if you think that I'm talking about you, I am--but not exclusively you.  This story comes from many people I know personally, including myself.

You have a loved one who is seriously ill.  It may be a pet, a family member, or a friend.  You don't know what to do.  You are involved because you love this one.  You are extremely invested in the out come of the loved one getting well…or ending their life peacefully…or what ever it is you think needs to happen in this particular case.

Take a deep breath.  Now allow yourself to let go of what you think needs to happen.  This is not your burden to bear.  This is not your journey to  take.  Your job is simply to allow your dear one to make the choice.  And trust that they are experiencing life to their full potential.

Your job is to stand aside in a place of love and non judgment to give them the breathing room they need to either heal, or move on.  It's really that simple.

If you don't think you can do that, then please consider examining your motives. Be gentle with yourself, but be honest.

Spoiler alert:  If you can give this "breathing room" to your loved one, you will see something quite miraculous…and you will be forever changed by the experience.

This method works for all problems.  It really does.  Whether the problem is your health, your relationships, your job, etc.

The ability to take yourself out of judgment about what you think Needs to happen, will allow space for the miraculous to occur.

Are you brave enough to try?  It takes absolute faith and trust to pull it off.

Neutralizing Stress

We live in a very high stress environment, and most people feel the affects of that.  There is so much going on in the world to divide attention and to distract.  A divided attention adds mental and emotional stress.

Add to that the physical stress caused to the body either from trauma or environmental factors as your immune system is taxed and your digestion is asked to compensate for processed foods and toxins.

And to top it off, there is the stress caused by trying to figure it all out.

This is the prescription I try always to remember to use.  When I feel overwhelmed, I have learned to remind myself  to stay in my heart field.  To stay present with my heart.

But how to do this?  I admit it takes practice and focus, but like any discipline it becomes automatic the more this practice is engaged in.

This is the exercise I use:

1.  Take a deep breath and bring full awareness into your body.  Just notice for a moment being present with your body.  What are you feeling within? What are you noticing? Notice the contact with the surface you're sitting or standing on.  Notice your clothes against  your skin.  Notice the air temperature, etc. But also notice your inner sensations, like any aches or subtle sensations, and how you're feeling emotionally.

2.  You can take as long as you like with this.  And when you're ready, shift your focus to your heart field, which is the electromagnetic field generated by your heart. 

Just spend a little time focusing your awareness on your heart field.  Don't think about it, but feel it, if you can.  Just noticing it, is enough. 

I picture it as warm soft golden light radiating out from my heart.  I  allow my focus to be as soft and diffused as the golden light I am seeing.  Just a soft awareness mingling with my heart field.  Just allowing myself to be present with that energy.

I invite you to practice doing this at least twice a day.  It only takes a few minutes.  You can do it as often as you think of it.

The reason this is important is because when you have trained your awareness to go automatically and easily into your heart field, you have amazing medicine at your disposal.   You have an amazing tool for changing your experience.  You have powerful protection from negative influences which you may feel are threatening your well being.  Because this excericise changes your perception of your experience.

Here are some variations on this exercise which may benefit and serve you.

1.     The next time you are reading an article, or you are watching or listening to a program which causes you to become agitated or angry or sad or overwhelmed or any emotion which does not feel good to you, take a moment to notice how it is making you feel.  Then allow your awareness to shift to your heart field.  Keep your attention there.  Now how are you feeling?  Which would you rather experience?  Which do you think is doing more harm to you?  And which is healing you?

For people who want to stay informed, without experiencing the negative effects of doing so…(remember the information we get is not coming to us first hand, but being reported through the perspective of the person writing or speaking the information)…being present in your heart field will keep you from dwelling in the perspective which would have a negative impact on your body, mind and spirit.

2.     The next time you are having an angry interaction with another person, rather than letting it escalate into a barrage of hostility with toxic words and feelings, go immediately to your heart field.  Stay there and watch the encounter change miraculously before your eyes.

This exercise takes a lot of practice and the ability to remain calm and focused when faced with hostile emotions. It also requires a willingness to surrender your investment in needing to be "right" or "win" an argument.

Anger is a natural emotion, and expressed in a healthy, non toxic way, can move you forward.  Interacting with people while being present in your heart field allows you to maintain your emotional equilibrium, keeping emotions non toxic.

3.     Being fearful, can also keep us in a state of overwhelm and keep us frozen and stuck.  In that state we are not fully living.  We are not realizing our potential.  We are instead, using up our precious internal energy resources dealing with distractions not worthy of us.

So what are some of the things that cause you fear or cause you worry?  Sit with one of your worst fears for a moment and tune into what that does to your body.  How does it feel --in your body?

Now put your awareness on your heart field.  How does that change your perception of that thing you fear?  Are you getting any insights about it?  Is that fear maybe softening it's hold on you a little bit?

Try using these exercises to engage your heart field awareness with your daily life.  Allow yourself to find ways to stay present in your heart field as much as you can.

When ever you are noticing anything which doesn’t make you feel good, go to your heart field.  See if it makes a difference for you.

Are You Listening To Your Body Or Are You Telling It?

Recently I worked with a client with chronic pain who was telling me that she was OK as long as she was "careful and didn't over-do."  I could see the energy around that belief had crystallized into a very hard rigid rock like energy and was keeping her frozen and restricted.

By restricting her activities to avoid pain like how she walked and for how long; how she sat, and the kind of work she would do-- had added a restriction which was interrupting the fluid flow of information, and of energy, and had the potential to affect  motion on many levels within her physiology, for instance, lymph, blood, cellular function…

Her focus had been for a long time, on how Fragile her body potentially was.  Her focus was on if I do such and such I will suffer for it.

But what happens if we remove the belief, (remember this was very solid, rigid, crystallized energy which was running like a program within her body)?  So what happens if we remove the belief?  Or what happens if we just soften it a bit, and allow it to relax?

For this particular client, removing the energy behind the belief, i.e. the belief itself, resulted in a different experience.  She told me that she moved in a more natural and relaxed way.  She wasn't so focused on being careful.  She did what she could and when she felt like she was ready to rest, she stopped.

OK now, this is important.  Pay attention to this next part and really let it sink in for a moment.

She Listened to her body, rather than making it listen to her belief about what would affect it.

This is a real paradigm shift.

This is where you choose between Potentials.

She allowed her body to relax, by not being so much on guard.  And for her, a relaxed body is a body which doesn't hold on so tightly to it's pain. 

Have you ever noticed how you move when you're restricting yourself?  Do you notice that you're in a state of tension when you're trying to be really careful? 

Maybe your muscles are clenched, and maybe your ankles are kind of locked and your legs are stiff when you walk because maybe you're just trying to maintain your balance so you won't fall down.

Or maybe because everything hurts you've decided that if you make little tiny movements maybe it won't hurt so badly.  Or you don't bend, or don't stoop, or don't walk, or don't reach.  And pretty soon you're sitting a whole lot more than you'd like to be.  And that isn't really making you feel any better.

I've had mystery pain.  Excruciating mystery pain.  Saw doctors, had tests, it remained a mystery, and I still had pain.  I had my own shift in perspective.  I let some things go, and I let the pain go.  That was about 25 years ago.

There is just so much more to see than just anatomy, you know? 

Just think about seeing yourself as more than a body.  And think about seeing your body as more than a material vehicle which conveys your spirit around Planet Earth.  There is so much more to BEing than most of us know, and I'm sure you already sense the truth in that.

Peering Inside

I wrote this a year ago, and thought I'd share it here.  Some of you may be able to relate to this post.  Especially if you have unresolved issues--and who doesn't have those?

I'm takin' a squint right now at my innards. Peering inside at the inner workings of the Rita. It's amazing in there. Oh yeah. Really messy. It looks like Chaos, but it's so very synchronized. Quite a thing of beauty.

Over there is the place where I harbor my fugitive emotions. The ones that never got expressed because I was too Busy, or too Bad Ass, or too Frozen. They're all over actually, just waiting to wreak havoc in tissues throughout my body. A sore muscle here, a tight tendon there. Scars and so on.

All the experiences, the good and the bad are jumbled in together, building my inner landscape. 

Peering deeper I see the faceless ones that want to remain hidden. They burrow down, not wanting to be seen. They keep me hidden, and invisible. They keep me from seeing myself. They keep me from feeding myself, from expressing myself, from contributing anything of value, lest it draw attention to me. They keep me anonymous and "safe". They would be happiest if I would just stay asleep.

Now that I know they're there, I wonder what they fear. In spite of their best efforts I have outgrown them. I look at them and they cringe away into the dark shadows, trying to blend into the back ground. I turn away from them and look out into the infinite within my borders. I see galaxies forming and stars being born. I see a landscape of amazing light and color. This is what I am now. I begin to move into that landscape, and the small ones clutch at me. I turn back to face them, and hold out my hand. "Come on", I say. "We'll go together".

This is what I am building now. This creation of me. As I tell this story, it becomes what I am. All the darkness and chaos is every bit as beautiful as the light and color of new forming suns. Even the small faceless ones are evolving. They know they must come along. They must transform to survive. It is inevitable. We cannot help it.

I often use this inner landscape to work something out. It's a natural process for me, and happens spontaneously. In it my emotions become characters in the story with personalities of their own.

I had a small scream one time. It belonged to a foolish memory that I allowed to torment me. It would lay hidden and then it would creep up on me when I least expected, and jump out and scream at me. I tried to ignore it for years upon years. One day when it snuck up on me and screamed it's scream, I realized it was like a small child trying to get my attention, by misbehaving. So I turned around in my inner landscape, and looked it in the face and said in a rather exasperated voice, "What?! What do you want, for heaven's sake?!" It looked at me with big eyes and said in a voice I could barely hear, "Nothing". And then it turned and ran away, and I haven't seen or heard from it since. 

In fact after that, a lot of my more tiresome memories stopped gnawing at me, grew up and moved out. And high time, too. How long can you be expected to support a house full of emotions and memories all feeding on your energy and draining your resources--raising a rumpus and generally just messin' up the place? I ask you.

Their contribution is that I learn from them. I find creative solutions to grow beyond them. And when my perception changes, so do they. They grow up and move on. The result is that I am no longer afraid to look into the shadowy landscape of my inner world.

So now I want to ask you to consider this option the next time one of your unresolved issues won't stay tucked away in it's carefully packed box.  The next time you are wasting your energy trying not to see what is tormenting you, I'd like to invite you to look your tormentor in the face.  See it for what it is.  Maybe the only way to end your struggle with this thing and to heal the wound is just to acknowledge it.  See if it has anything to say to you.  And if not, then allow it to go.

Sometimes when you stop struggling against something, it softens.  Sometimes the only reason you hang onto something is because you haven't heard the message you were meant to learn.  If you can sit with this thing and truly put your attention on it and acknowledge it--letting it have its say, then maybe you can be done with it.

I wish you well on your journey.