Zero Plastic Week

It has come to my attention that World Wide Zero Plastic Week began today.

It is an attempt to create awareness of the problems created by so much disposable plastic.  The packaging that we throw away is unbelievable.  And much of it winds up in the ocean.

So day one of World Wide Zero Plastic Week was World Oceans Day.

Why post this here?  Because I believe that healing may come to us, as we heal our planet.

So I have pledged not to buy anything made of or packaged in plastic this week.  I am hoping it will be habit forming for the long term.  Because as much plastic as I have eliminated from my life, I have not cut it out completely.  To do so, would take a whole new level of dedication.  And perhaps for me, it's time.

If you feel a resonance with this exercise, I hope you'll check out Zero Plastic Week on Facebook.

Have a good week

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.