Found this on dailycupofyoga.wordpress.com
I found it to be very moving so am posting here...mostly so I can find it, LOL.
“When we listen as if we were in a temple and give attention to one another as if each person were our teacher, honoring his or her words as valuable and sacred, all kinds of great possibilities awaken. Even miracles can happen. To act in the world most effectively, our actions cannot come from our small sense of self, our limited identity, our hopes, and our fears. Rather, we must listen to a greater possibility and cultivate actions connected with our highest intentions from the patient and compassionate Buddha within us. We must learn to be in touch with something greater than ourselves, whether we call it the Tao, God, the dharma, or the law of nature. There is a deep current of truth that we can hear. When we listen and act in accordance with this truth, no matter what happens, our actions will be right.”
—Jack Kornfield, from A Path With Heart
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Flower Power: Eat some flowers with your soup or salad or veggies and get a potent reminder of your own vitality and potential.
By Daniela Koromzay
Floating on a sea of baby lettuce, a nasturtium draws my eyes like a bright orange beacon. I've never thought of eating flowers, but here on my plate at a local café is the same Day-Glo bloom I'm used to admiring while hiking or wandering the neighborhood; the idea of popping such beauty into my mouth makes me pause.
I smell the blossom first, then touch its velvety surface to my lips. I hold the petal away from me and think, "Is this really OK to eat?" I'm not concerned about toxicity, but about symbolism: Here is a magnificent, fleeting display of aliveness—offered up for my pleasure, to crunch and swallow. A blossom is a plant's last creative shout before turning to seed; a potent reminder of our own potential to unfurl, to bloom, and ultimately to wilt; a decadent display of beauty. And I'm about to eat it!
Of course, take away its exotic appearance, and a flower is no different than any common fruit or vegetable that is picked and eaten. With that thought, I put it in my mouth and am surprised at how fleshy and peppery it is, how it leaves a residue of sweetness.
That first flower was a revelation—that simple foodstuffs can be so provocative, visually, sensually, and philosophically. It renewed my sense of gratitude for the beauty and bounty of the earth and for my own vitality and potential.
Of course, as soon as I started paying attention, I discovered I was eating flowers all the time. They're disguised as dried spices like saffron, which is actually the stigmata—the inner crimson threads—of Crocus sativus; they flavor preserves like rose petal jam and many vinegars; they're the basis for herbal infusions like hibiscus tea.
No matter how often I saw them and ate them, though, they still had power to thrill me and surprise my palate. And I wasn't the only one affected that way. My sister told me she had been to a party where vast quantities of sushi were served on large trays, a perfect pansy blossom atop each piece. The trays sat on broad tables like purple and white fields, and inspired the guests to nibble slowly, so as not to reduce the magnificent landscape too quickly.
Down the Garden Path
If you garden at all, you probably have beautiful blooms to eat—provided they're organic. For the best flavor, pick flowers early in the day, and eat them as soon as possible. Of course, there are poisonous specimens too, so buy a flower guide for your area before munching like a rabbit on any old backyard bloom. If you have borage, calendulas, chrysanthemums, nasturtiums, pansies, roses, or violets on hand, float a petal on top of pureed soup or mix a few in with your lettuces. Try freezing violets in ice cube trays for a more appetizing rendition of the plastic frozen-fly trick you may remember from childhood.
So many edible flowers are easy to grow, it's almost a crime not to devote some corner of earth—even a window box or pot—to cultivating plants that produce gorgeous blossoms you can both eye and eat. If you have poor soil, try nasturtiums. These creeping vines produce a ton of blossoms ranging from yellow to deep maroon, even in the driest clay soil.
Calendula, also called pot marigold (and commonly used for medicinal purposes), is easy to grow and offers up basketfuls of blossoms in radiant oranges and yellows. After removing the center petals, you can use calendulas to brighten salads and garnish rice dishes, frittatas, or soups. In a pinch, a friend once searched her backyard for something to decorate a birthday cake and came up with late-blooming calendula, whose glossy orange petals gave an electric sheen to the white-frosted cake.
Store-Bought Beauty
If you're not inclined to dirty your hands, or if you're an urban dweller without a garden, don't give up on edible beauty. Visit farmers' markets for the freshest, most reasonably priced selection. Many natural-food stores now carry edible flowers in the produce section, and some chain grocery stores stock them near the fresh herbs. But don't visit your favorite florist shop expecting to use its wares for food: They've been doused with a heavy load of non-food-grade pesticides.
Blossoms are a perishable, often expensive, and some might say non-nutritive commodity. But, I would argue, the deep nourishment that comes through beauty rivals vitamins and calories, at least for those of us who are already well fed. Often, it is the small indulgences that bring the greatest satisfaction—and this luxury won't make you fat or jittery.
Chef Special
Once you get your hands on some edible, organic flowers, try cooking with them. I, for one, am partial to "manicotti" in full bloom—the fleshy, yellow blossoms from zucchini plants, stuffed and baked, make a perfect replacement for the traditional pasta shell. Gerald Gass, head chef at the McEvoy Ranch (http://www.mcevoyranch.com/) in Petaluma, California, often removes these thick petals and sautés them with vegetables in a stir-fry.
Chrysanthemums too, with their sturdy red, white, orange, or yellow petals, can be cooked with seasonal vegetables, adding glorious hues and a pungent flavor. "You don't get these kinds of colors with ordinary food," says Gass, who cooks only with produce grown in the organic gardens outside the ranch kitchen. Indeed, walking with Margaret Koski-Kent, head gardener at the McEvoy Ranch, I was dazzled by dozens of radiant flowers growing among the fruit trees and vegetable beds.
Pick the Proper Petal
Not all buds are pleasing to the palate, I soon discovered, as we walked among the towering hollyhocks and vines heavy with yellow gourds and nibbled on flowers from several plants. The bean blossoms, firm, fresh, and sweet, tasted like their name, but so did a society garlic blossom—lavender-hued and star-shaped. It filled my mouth with the unmistakable taste of garlic and overpowered the flavor of the next few blossoms I sampled. And a deep red salvia bloom, with its long tubular throat, was earthy and tough—not exactly a flower you'd want to serve to guests.
It's easy to forget that what you put into your mouth comes directly from the earth. But a flower can jog your memory and remind you of the garden where it came from and to which we all belong.
Daniela Koromzay writes and teaches yoga in the San Francisco Bay Area.
http://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/1735?print=1
Return to http://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/1735
--------------
Floating on a sea of baby lettuce, a nasturtium draws my eyes like a bright orange beacon. I've never thought of eating flowers, but here on my plate at a local café is the same Day-Glo bloom I'm used to admiring while hiking or wandering the neighborhood; the idea of popping such beauty into my mouth makes me pause.
I smell the blossom first, then touch its velvety surface to my lips. I hold the petal away from me and think, "Is this really OK to eat?" I'm not concerned about toxicity, but about symbolism: Here is a magnificent, fleeting display of aliveness—offered up for my pleasure, to crunch and swallow. A blossom is a plant's last creative shout before turning to seed; a potent reminder of our own potential to unfurl, to bloom, and ultimately to wilt; a decadent display of beauty. And I'm about to eat it!
Of course, take away its exotic appearance, and a flower is no different than any common fruit or vegetable that is picked and eaten. With that thought, I put it in my mouth and am surprised at how fleshy and peppery it is, how it leaves a residue of sweetness.
That first flower was a revelation—that simple foodstuffs can be so provocative, visually, sensually, and philosophically. It renewed my sense of gratitude for the beauty and bounty of the earth and for my own vitality and potential.
Of course, as soon as I started paying attention, I discovered I was eating flowers all the time. They're disguised as dried spices like saffron, which is actually the stigmata—the inner crimson threads—of Crocus sativus; they flavor preserves like rose petal jam and many vinegars; they're the basis for herbal infusions like hibiscus tea.
No matter how often I saw them and ate them, though, they still had power to thrill me and surprise my palate. And I wasn't the only one affected that way. My sister told me she had been to a party where vast quantities of sushi were served on large trays, a perfect pansy blossom atop each piece. The trays sat on broad tables like purple and white fields, and inspired the guests to nibble slowly, so as not to reduce the magnificent landscape too quickly.
Down the Garden Path
If you garden at all, you probably have beautiful blooms to eat—provided they're organic. For the best flavor, pick flowers early in the day, and eat them as soon as possible. Of course, there are poisonous specimens too, so buy a flower guide for your area before munching like a rabbit on any old backyard bloom. If you have borage, calendulas, chrysanthemums, nasturtiums, pansies, roses, or violets on hand, float a petal on top of pureed soup or mix a few in with your lettuces. Try freezing violets in ice cube trays for a more appetizing rendition of the plastic frozen-fly trick you may remember from childhood.
So many edible flowers are easy to grow, it's almost a crime not to devote some corner of earth—even a window box or pot—to cultivating plants that produce gorgeous blossoms you can both eye and eat. If you have poor soil, try nasturtiums. These creeping vines produce a ton of blossoms ranging from yellow to deep maroon, even in the driest clay soil.
Calendula, also called pot marigold (and commonly used for medicinal purposes), is easy to grow and offers up basketfuls of blossoms in radiant oranges and yellows. After removing the center petals, you can use calendulas to brighten salads and garnish rice dishes, frittatas, or soups. In a pinch, a friend once searched her backyard for something to decorate a birthday cake and came up with late-blooming calendula, whose glossy orange petals gave an electric sheen to the white-frosted cake.
Store-Bought Beauty
If you're not inclined to dirty your hands, or if you're an urban dweller without a garden, don't give up on edible beauty. Visit farmers' markets for the freshest, most reasonably priced selection. Many natural-food stores now carry edible flowers in the produce section, and some chain grocery stores stock them near the fresh herbs. But don't visit your favorite florist shop expecting to use its wares for food: They've been doused with a heavy load of non-food-grade pesticides.
Blossoms are a perishable, often expensive, and some might say non-nutritive commodity. But, I would argue, the deep nourishment that comes through beauty rivals vitamins and calories, at least for those of us who are already well fed. Often, it is the small indulgences that bring the greatest satisfaction—and this luxury won't make you fat or jittery.
Chef Special
Once you get your hands on some edible, organic flowers, try cooking with them. I, for one, am partial to "manicotti" in full bloom—the fleshy, yellow blossoms from zucchini plants, stuffed and baked, make a perfect replacement for the traditional pasta shell. Gerald Gass, head chef at the McEvoy Ranch (http://www.mcevoyranch.com/) in Petaluma, California, often removes these thick petals and sautés them with vegetables in a stir-fry.
Chrysanthemums too, with their sturdy red, white, orange, or yellow petals, can be cooked with seasonal vegetables, adding glorious hues and a pungent flavor. "You don't get these kinds of colors with ordinary food," says Gass, who cooks only with produce grown in the organic gardens outside the ranch kitchen. Indeed, walking with Margaret Koski-Kent, head gardener at the McEvoy Ranch, I was dazzled by dozens of radiant flowers growing among the fruit trees and vegetable beds.
Pick the Proper Petal
Not all buds are pleasing to the palate, I soon discovered, as we walked among the towering hollyhocks and vines heavy with yellow gourds and nibbled on flowers from several plants. The bean blossoms, firm, fresh, and sweet, tasted like their name, but so did a society garlic blossom—lavender-hued and star-shaped. It filled my mouth with the unmistakable taste of garlic and overpowered the flavor of the next few blossoms I sampled. And a deep red salvia bloom, with its long tubular throat, was earthy and tough—not exactly a flower you'd want to serve to guests.
It's easy to forget that what you put into your mouth comes directly from the earth. But a flower can jog your memory and remind you of the garden where it came from and to which we all belong.
Daniela Koromzay writes and teaches yoga in the San Francisco Bay Area.
http://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/1735?print=1
Return to http://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/1735
--------------
Emotions In Motion
Emotions in Motion
You reach up and back, your chest opening into a supported backbend. Then, suddenly, you're in tears. How did you move from serenity to intensity in just one moment?
By Donna Raskin
Last summer, Danielle Pagano hurried to her favorite yoga class feeling rushed but happy. Everything was fine until it came time to relax into Child's Pose just before the end of class. With her head bowed and attention focused inward, Pagano, a 33-year-old vice president of an international investment company, began to cry. She spent the next few minutes struggling to contain herself, and wrote the experience off to exhaustion. When it happened again the following week—this time earlier in the asana progression—she was stunned.
What had at first been a relaxing hour for Pagano had become a stressful obligation. She realized that something significant had happened, but she refused to return to class until she felt confident that an emotional upheaval wouldn't occur again. Not comfortable talking with her yoga teacher about it, Pagano skipped class for a couple of weeks, choosing instead to discuss the incident with her therapist.
Though Pagano didn't know it, her experience is a common one, as are the concerns it raised for her: Was something wrong with her? When would she be able to stop crying? What did the people around her think? And why did this happen in yoga class and not, say, while she was eating lunch or taking a walk?
It's a Good Thing
"The holistic system of yoga was designed so that these emotional breakthroughs can occur safely," says Joan Shivarpita Harrigan, Ph.D., a psychologist and the director of Patanjali Kundalini Yoga Care in Knoxville, Tennessee, which provides guidance to spiritual seekers. "Yoga is not merely an athletic system; it is a spiritual system. The asanas are designed to affect the subtle body for the purpose of spiritual transformation. People enter into the practice of yoga asana for physical fitness or physical health, or even because they've heard it's good for relaxation, but ultimately the purpose of yoga practice is spiritual development."
This development depends on breaking through places in the subtle body that are blocked with unresolved issues and energy. "Anytime you work with the body, you are also working with the mind and the energy system—which is the bridge between body and mind," Harrigan explains. And since that means working with emotions, emotional breakthroughs can be seen as markers of progress on the road to personal and spiritual growth.
That was certainly the case for Hilary Lindsay, founder of Active Yoga in Nashville, Tennessee. As a teacher, Lindsay has witnessed many emotional breakthroughs; as a student, she's experienced several herself. One of the most significant occurred during a hip-opening class. She left the class feeling normal, but during the drive home became extremely upset and emotional. She also felt she'd experienced a significant shift in her psyche—something akin to a clearing of her spirit. Lindsay felt, as she puts it, released. "There is no question that the emotion came out of my past," she says.
By the next day, her opinion of herself had taken a 180-degree turn. She realized she was a person who needed to constantly prove herself to be strong and capable, and saw that this was partly the result of an image instilled by her parents. Her spirit actually needed to recognize and accept that she was a proficient person and ease off the internal pressure. This realization, Lindsay says, was life-changing.
Not every spontaneous emotional event is quite so clear-cut, however. Difficult and stressful breakthroughs occur most often when the release involves long-held feelings of sadness, grief, confusion, or another strong emotion that a person has carried unconsciously throughout his or her life.
"Whenever something happens to us as a kid, our body is involved," says Michael Lee, founder of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, which is headquartered in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts (see "Therapy on the Mat," below). "This is particularly true of trauma. The body comes to the defense of the whole being. In defending it, the body does things to stop the pain from being fully experienced.
"Emotional pain is overwhelming for small children, because they don't have the resources to deal with it," he continues. "So the body shuts it off; if it didn't, the body would die from emotional pain. But then the body keeps doing the physical protection even long after the situation has ended."
Painful experiences, Lee adds, can range from small, acute ones to intense, chronic problems. Still, the mechanism at play is unclear: "We really don't understand the body-memory thing," he says, "at least in Western terms."
The Body-Mind Connection
In yogic terms, however, there is no separation between mind, body, and spirit. The three exist as a union (one definition of the word yoga); what happens to the mind also happens to the body and spirit, and so on. In other words, if something is bothering you spiritually, emotionally, or mentally, it is likely to show up in your body. And as you work deeply with your body in yoga, emotional issues will likely come to the fore.
In the yogic view, we all hold within our bodies emotions and misguided thoughts that keep us from reaching samadhi, defined by some as "conscious enlightenment." Any sense of unease or dis-ease in the body keeps us from reaching and experiencing this state. Asanas are one path to blissful contentment, working to bring us closer by focusing our minds and releasing any emotional or inner tension in our bodies.
Though the ancient yogis understood that emotional turmoil is carried in the mind, the body, and the spirit, Western medicine has been slow to accept this. But new research has verified empirically that mental and emotional condition can affect the state of the physical body, and that the mind-body connection is real. (Newsweek and Time both dedicated issues to the topic last year.)
Many doctors, psychotherapists, and chiropractors are embracing these findings, and are now recommending yoga to help patients deal with problems that only a few years ago would have been viewed and treated solely in biomechanical terms.
Hilary Lindsay recently experienced this firsthand. "I woke up one morning with my body completely distorted," she remembers. "I went to see a chiropractor, who told me plainly, 'There's nothing wrong with you physically.'" The doctor suggested she try a Phoenix Rising session, which she did. The practitioner put Lindsay into some supported yogalike positions on the floor. "He did not focus on anything more than, 'Here's this pose and how does it feel?' I would say something; he would repeat my word and say, 'What else?' until I would say there was finally nothing else." The therapist never analyzed or discussed what Lindsay said, but still, she felt he helped her to see her problem.
"When I drove off on my own, I realized my words had just painted a clear picture of my approach to life," she says. "I saw a power-driven maniac who was probably in the process of driving herself nuts."
As the day went on, she felt physically healed, and attributes that to the emotional outcome of the session, which the asanas helped her access. In other words, she was able to release the distortion in her body only by releasing her inner tension.
"I did not have any repeat of the symptoms," Lindsay adds, "and I felt the calm that comes with knowing yourself a little more than you did before. The awareness does not occur like the lightbulb over the cartoon guy's head. It doesn't come ahead of its time. The student has to be ready to receive it."
Forcing the Issue
Teachers are divided as to whether it's productive to actually try to raise difficult emotions on the mat. "One shouldn't really try to have an emotional release during asana, but if it happens, that's fine," Harrigan says, voicing what seems to be the majority opinion.
Ana Forrest, founder of the Forrest Yoga Circle studio in Santa Monica, California, is an experienced yoga teacher who has had her own emotional breakthroughs both on and off the mat. She is proud of her intention to push her students toward—and through—their own emotional blockages (see "Poses That Push You," below). "It's not that I push with my hands," Forrest explains. "But when I work with people, I really ask them to go deep, and I educate them along the way. I tell them, 'You're going to hit what's stored in there. Let it come up and be cleansed out of your cell tissue. It's a gift of the yoga.'"
At the beginning of each class, Forrest asks her students to "pick a spot that needs extra attention, so you can connect to that spot and then feel what emotion is connected to it." For example, when a student tells Forrest she's just had her heart broken, Forrest offers this advice: "Challenge yourself to make every pose about moving energy into your heart."
Her approach has worked well for many students, she says, but it's not without controversy. "People challenge me on this all the time," Forrest says.
Richard Miller, Ph.D., a yogi and licensed psychologist, says trying to cause an emotional release is a subtle form of violence, because it suggests that "you need to be other than you are." A true yogic view focuses not on change, he argues, but on self-acceptance on the student's part. "In that way, change and spiritual growth will unfold naturally," he says.
Miller, who is also a contributor to The Sacred Mirror: Nondual Wisdom and Psychotherapy (Paragon, 2003), a collection of essays by meditation practitioners and psychotherapists, stresses that it's important for teachers to neither comment on nor try to "help" a student through any release. "The moment we become helpers, we become hinderers," he says.
Forrest, however, believes that "most people need help with this, as our culture doesn't educate us on how to work in a healthy way with our emotions," and that without assistance, many people will remain stuck. Students trust her, she says, because of her own traumatic past (which includes sexual abuse, she openly shares) and her experiences working through emotions. "I've had years and years of therapy," she says. "I've still got twisty places inside of me, but I know how to accept and work with whatever memories need to come up."
Forrest tells her students, "I've walked the road you're on; I'm just about 10 miles ahead of you. But I still have a road to walk. I'm not enlightened, but I know what it is to have my spirit directing my actions."
And it's not just the student who learns from the teacher. Forrest says that through her students, she has grown from having "an emotional range of about four inches to a larger capacity—but there's always a lot of room for breakthrough."
Teardrops on the Mat
When a breakthrough does occur—even if it's much-needed—it can be hard for a person to cope with it. "If there is a release of emotion in a particular asana, according to Patanjali's Yoga Sutra [II.46–49], the thing to do is relax into the pose, regulate the breathing, and focus on the infinite to become centered in the deepest aspect of one’s self," Harrigan advises.
Harrigan thinks teachers should encourage their students to find a comforting and inspiring word or mantra to turn to anytime during class and to correlate with their breathing. "This is a centering device that is always at the student's disposal, no matter how or when the emotional release occurs," she says.
"I also recommend that people taking a hatha yoga asana class keep a journal of not just the physical experience but what goes through their minds and their emotional states," Harrigan adds. "This way, they can consider the spiritual aspect of their lives very consciously."
When a student is facing a welling-up of emotion, the most powerful action teachers can take is to simply offer him or her quiet support. "I would teach the teacher not to judge the event but to observe it with the discriminate buddhi [wisdom] faculty," Harrigan says. In this way, teachers can help their students disidentify with the feeling but use it later for self-study, either in yoga class or out—as Danielle Pagano did with her therapist. It is always wise, Harrigan adds, for teachers to be on the lookout for students who might benefit from a referral to a psychotherapist.
It's important for students to use their buddha minds too, and to get help when they need it. Whereas Lindsay felt released and was easily able to process her feelings on her own, Pagano knew she needed to talk with someone. There are times when a good therapist—as opposed to a good yoga teacher—is the right choice, agree all the teachers interviewed for this article.
Better yet, says Richard Miller, is a combination of the two approaches. "Some therapists don't have an understanding of the universe as a oneness; instead, they often believe they are helping their clients to have better lives by supporting them in achieving certain goals or resolving specific issues," he says. "Meanwhile, yoga teachers who speak only of hamstrings or Pigeon Pose are not communicating a true yogic view of enlightenment or inner equanimity." The truth, Miller concludes, is that "we are not here to try to change ourselves. We are here to meet ourselves where we are."
Poses That Push You
Asanas are not prescriptive for emotional issues in the same way they can be for issues in the physical body. But most of the yoga teachers interviewed for this story agree that some poses seem to initiate emotional responses more than others.
"Camel, hip openers, and lunges" Ana Forrest suggests. "Camel because of its immediate impact in exposing the heart, hip openers because they tap into the vital feelings stored in the area, and lunges because there's a lot of unchanneled potential and power in the thighs." Twists and backbends can also trigger an emotional release.
However, what works for one person may not work for another. You cannot demand release and expect a response, although you can certainly, as Forrest asks of her students, listen to your body and discover where it needs to untie an emotional knot. If your heart feels heavy, if your stomach is constantly in turmoil, if your inner child needs comforting, you can create an asana and pranayama program specifically for your condition, the same way you might practice inversions or balancing poses if you want to challenge yourself physically.
—D.R.
Therapy on the Mat
As a longtime devotee of both the therapy couch and the yoga mat, I was curious how the two blend together in Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy.
Michael Lee created Phoenix Rising specifically to help students cope with emotions. It combines assisted yoga postures, breath awareness, and nondirective dialogue based on the work of Carl Rogers, in which the therapist acts as a sounding board, repeating much of what the student says to allow her to stay with her own train of thought.
Lee drew inspiration from his own encounter with emotions on the mat in the early 1980s. He was living in an ashram where morning practice took place each day at 5:30. "Every day for a year and a half, the guy on the mat next to me would get about one-third of the way through class and begin to sob profusely," Lee remembers. "Some people found it disturbing. One day, I said to him, 'What's going on?'"
"I don't know," the man answered. "I just get overwhelmed by sadness. I try to hold back a little so I don't bother people." It turns out that he had been experiencing these intense outbursts every morning for 10 years.
"The guru had previously instructed the man to just stay with his practice, because he believed his emotions would work themselves out through asana alone," Lee recalls. "But even back then, I thought the experience required a more integrated approach."
Lee talked with the man extensively about his experience and, in helping him, created Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy. He launched the program at the DeSisto School for emotionally troubled teens in Lenox, Massachusetts, in 1986, building on his background in group dynamics from the psychology movements of the 1970s. (Lee is not a licensed psychotherapist.) Practiced by yoga teachers, bodyworkers, physical therapists, and psychologists, the method aims to bridge the gap between body and mind. Unlike traditional therapy—which might focus on eliminating a phobia or improving a skill, such as communication between spouses—Phoenix Rising sessions focus on helping people recognize their own body’s wisdom and get to the source of emotions that may be causing aches and pains, physical or otherwise.
I wanted to experience the method for myself, so I turned to Carol S. James, one of 1,012 Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy practitioners around the world. We began by talking on a couch, where James asked me about my health, state of mind, and background. After telling her about a few things that were troubling my mind on that particular day, we moved to another area in the softly lit room, where we sat facing each other on a large, puffy mat. James asked me to focus on my breath, which brought me into the moment and allowed me to begin to talk.
Throughout the session, she moved me into very gentle supported poses (backbends, forward bends, and leg stretches), almost the way a personal trainer might stretch a client at the end of a workout. She asked me to tell her more about my thoughts, and repeated many of my words. The session sounded something like this:
"I feel sad that I'm 40 and alone."
"You're sad that you're 40 and alone."
"It's surprising. I didn't expect this to happen."
"You're surprised. Tell me more about that."
And so on, until I found myself leaning back, physically, directly onto Carol and telling her more—a "more" I had never gotten to before.
The experience of physically leaning on someone while revealing myself to the person was one of the most profound I have ever had. During my session, I felt a connection to my deepest self, the self that is at peace. The combination of discussion and touch was sweet and deep.
At the end of the session, my heart was as open with love toward myself as it had ever been. The emotional breakthrough was not traumatic but physically and spiritually enlightening. I hate to glibly paraphrase Bob Dylan, but I truly felt released, and as Richard Miller said, I met myself right where I was, with love.
—D.R.Donna Raskin is a yoga teacher and writer in Rockport, Massachusetts, and author of Yoga Beats the Blues (Fair Winds, 2003).
link to article
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You reach up and back, your chest opening into a supported backbend. Then, suddenly, you're in tears. How did you move from serenity to intensity in just one moment?
By Donna Raskin
Last summer, Danielle Pagano hurried to her favorite yoga class feeling rushed but happy. Everything was fine until it came time to relax into Child's Pose just before the end of class. With her head bowed and attention focused inward, Pagano, a 33-year-old vice president of an international investment company, began to cry. She spent the next few minutes struggling to contain herself, and wrote the experience off to exhaustion. When it happened again the following week—this time earlier in the asana progression—she was stunned.
What had at first been a relaxing hour for Pagano had become a stressful obligation. She realized that something significant had happened, but she refused to return to class until she felt confident that an emotional upheaval wouldn't occur again. Not comfortable talking with her yoga teacher about it, Pagano skipped class for a couple of weeks, choosing instead to discuss the incident with her therapist.
Though Pagano didn't know it, her experience is a common one, as are the concerns it raised for her: Was something wrong with her? When would she be able to stop crying? What did the people around her think? And why did this happen in yoga class and not, say, while she was eating lunch or taking a walk?
It's a Good Thing
"The holistic system of yoga was designed so that these emotional breakthroughs can occur safely," says Joan Shivarpita Harrigan, Ph.D., a psychologist and the director of Patanjali Kundalini Yoga Care in Knoxville, Tennessee, which provides guidance to spiritual seekers. "Yoga is not merely an athletic system; it is a spiritual system. The asanas are designed to affect the subtle body for the purpose of spiritual transformation. People enter into the practice of yoga asana for physical fitness or physical health, or even because they've heard it's good for relaxation, but ultimately the purpose of yoga practice is spiritual development."
This development depends on breaking through places in the subtle body that are blocked with unresolved issues and energy. "Anytime you work with the body, you are also working with the mind and the energy system—which is the bridge between body and mind," Harrigan explains. And since that means working with emotions, emotional breakthroughs can be seen as markers of progress on the road to personal and spiritual growth.
That was certainly the case for Hilary Lindsay, founder of Active Yoga in Nashville, Tennessee. As a teacher, Lindsay has witnessed many emotional breakthroughs; as a student, she's experienced several herself. One of the most significant occurred during a hip-opening class. She left the class feeling normal, but during the drive home became extremely upset and emotional. She also felt she'd experienced a significant shift in her psyche—something akin to a clearing of her spirit. Lindsay felt, as she puts it, released. "There is no question that the emotion came out of my past," she says.
By the next day, her opinion of herself had taken a 180-degree turn. She realized she was a person who needed to constantly prove herself to be strong and capable, and saw that this was partly the result of an image instilled by her parents. Her spirit actually needed to recognize and accept that she was a proficient person and ease off the internal pressure. This realization, Lindsay says, was life-changing.
Not every spontaneous emotional event is quite so clear-cut, however. Difficult and stressful breakthroughs occur most often when the release involves long-held feelings of sadness, grief, confusion, or another strong emotion that a person has carried unconsciously throughout his or her life.
"Whenever something happens to us as a kid, our body is involved," says Michael Lee, founder of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, which is headquartered in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts (see "Therapy on the Mat," below). "This is particularly true of trauma. The body comes to the defense of the whole being. In defending it, the body does things to stop the pain from being fully experienced.
"Emotional pain is overwhelming for small children, because they don't have the resources to deal with it," he continues. "So the body shuts it off; if it didn't, the body would die from emotional pain. But then the body keeps doing the physical protection even long after the situation has ended."
Painful experiences, Lee adds, can range from small, acute ones to intense, chronic problems. Still, the mechanism at play is unclear: "We really don't understand the body-memory thing," he says, "at least in Western terms."
The Body-Mind Connection
In yogic terms, however, there is no separation between mind, body, and spirit. The three exist as a union (one definition of the word yoga); what happens to the mind also happens to the body and spirit, and so on. In other words, if something is bothering you spiritually, emotionally, or mentally, it is likely to show up in your body. And as you work deeply with your body in yoga, emotional issues will likely come to the fore.
In the yogic view, we all hold within our bodies emotions and misguided thoughts that keep us from reaching samadhi, defined by some as "conscious enlightenment." Any sense of unease or dis-ease in the body keeps us from reaching and experiencing this state. Asanas are one path to blissful contentment, working to bring us closer by focusing our minds and releasing any emotional or inner tension in our bodies.
Though the ancient yogis understood that emotional turmoil is carried in the mind, the body, and the spirit, Western medicine has been slow to accept this. But new research has verified empirically that mental and emotional condition can affect the state of the physical body, and that the mind-body connection is real. (Newsweek and Time both dedicated issues to the topic last year.)
Many doctors, psychotherapists, and chiropractors are embracing these findings, and are now recommending yoga to help patients deal with problems that only a few years ago would have been viewed and treated solely in biomechanical terms.
Hilary Lindsay recently experienced this firsthand. "I woke up one morning with my body completely distorted," she remembers. "I went to see a chiropractor, who told me plainly, 'There's nothing wrong with you physically.'" The doctor suggested she try a Phoenix Rising session, which she did. The practitioner put Lindsay into some supported yogalike positions on the floor. "He did not focus on anything more than, 'Here's this pose and how does it feel?' I would say something; he would repeat my word and say, 'What else?' until I would say there was finally nothing else." The therapist never analyzed or discussed what Lindsay said, but still, she felt he helped her to see her problem.
"When I drove off on my own, I realized my words had just painted a clear picture of my approach to life," she says. "I saw a power-driven maniac who was probably in the process of driving herself nuts."
As the day went on, she felt physically healed, and attributes that to the emotional outcome of the session, which the asanas helped her access. In other words, she was able to release the distortion in her body only by releasing her inner tension.
"I did not have any repeat of the symptoms," Lindsay adds, "and I felt the calm that comes with knowing yourself a little more than you did before. The awareness does not occur like the lightbulb over the cartoon guy's head. It doesn't come ahead of its time. The student has to be ready to receive it."
Forcing the Issue
Teachers are divided as to whether it's productive to actually try to raise difficult emotions on the mat. "One shouldn't really try to have an emotional release during asana, but if it happens, that's fine," Harrigan says, voicing what seems to be the majority opinion.
Ana Forrest, founder of the Forrest Yoga Circle studio in Santa Monica, California, is an experienced yoga teacher who has had her own emotional breakthroughs both on and off the mat. She is proud of her intention to push her students toward—and through—their own emotional blockages (see "Poses That Push You," below). "It's not that I push with my hands," Forrest explains. "But when I work with people, I really ask them to go deep, and I educate them along the way. I tell them, 'You're going to hit what's stored in there. Let it come up and be cleansed out of your cell tissue. It's a gift of the yoga.'"
At the beginning of each class, Forrest asks her students to "pick a spot that needs extra attention, so you can connect to that spot and then feel what emotion is connected to it." For example, when a student tells Forrest she's just had her heart broken, Forrest offers this advice: "Challenge yourself to make every pose about moving energy into your heart."
Her approach has worked well for many students, she says, but it's not without controversy. "People challenge me on this all the time," Forrest says.
Richard Miller, Ph.D., a yogi and licensed psychologist, says trying to cause an emotional release is a subtle form of violence, because it suggests that "you need to be other than you are." A true yogic view focuses not on change, he argues, but on self-acceptance on the student's part. "In that way, change and spiritual growth will unfold naturally," he says.
Miller, who is also a contributor to The Sacred Mirror: Nondual Wisdom and Psychotherapy (Paragon, 2003), a collection of essays by meditation practitioners and psychotherapists, stresses that it's important for teachers to neither comment on nor try to "help" a student through any release. "The moment we become helpers, we become hinderers," he says.
Forrest, however, believes that "most people need help with this, as our culture doesn't educate us on how to work in a healthy way with our emotions," and that without assistance, many people will remain stuck. Students trust her, she says, because of her own traumatic past (which includes sexual abuse, she openly shares) and her experiences working through emotions. "I've had years and years of therapy," she says. "I've still got twisty places inside of me, but I know how to accept and work with whatever memories need to come up."
Forrest tells her students, "I've walked the road you're on; I'm just about 10 miles ahead of you. But I still have a road to walk. I'm not enlightened, but I know what it is to have my spirit directing my actions."
And it's not just the student who learns from the teacher. Forrest says that through her students, she has grown from having "an emotional range of about four inches to a larger capacity—but there's always a lot of room for breakthrough."
Teardrops on the Mat
When a breakthrough does occur—even if it's much-needed—it can be hard for a person to cope with it. "If there is a release of emotion in a particular asana, according to Patanjali's Yoga Sutra [II.46–49], the thing to do is relax into the pose, regulate the breathing, and focus on the infinite to become centered in the deepest aspect of one’s self," Harrigan advises.
Harrigan thinks teachers should encourage their students to find a comforting and inspiring word or mantra to turn to anytime during class and to correlate with their breathing. "This is a centering device that is always at the student's disposal, no matter how or when the emotional release occurs," she says.
"I also recommend that people taking a hatha yoga asana class keep a journal of not just the physical experience but what goes through their minds and their emotional states," Harrigan adds. "This way, they can consider the spiritual aspect of their lives very consciously."
When a student is facing a welling-up of emotion, the most powerful action teachers can take is to simply offer him or her quiet support. "I would teach the teacher not to judge the event but to observe it with the discriminate buddhi [wisdom] faculty," Harrigan says. In this way, teachers can help their students disidentify with the feeling but use it later for self-study, either in yoga class or out—as Danielle Pagano did with her therapist. It is always wise, Harrigan adds, for teachers to be on the lookout for students who might benefit from a referral to a psychotherapist.
It's important for students to use their buddha minds too, and to get help when they need it. Whereas Lindsay felt released and was easily able to process her feelings on her own, Pagano knew she needed to talk with someone. There are times when a good therapist—as opposed to a good yoga teacher—is the right choice, agree all the teachers interviewed for this article.
Better yet, says Richard Miller, is a combination of the two approaches. "Some therapists don't have an understanding of the universe as a oneness; instead, they often believe they are helping their clients to have better lives by supporting them in achieving certain goals or resolving specific issues," he says. "Meanwhile, yoga teachers who speak only of hamstrings or Pigeon Pose are not communicating a true yogic view of enlightenment or inner equanimity." The truth, Miller concludes, is that "we are not here to try to change ourselves. We are here to meet ourselves where we are."
Poses That Push You
Asanas are not prescriptive for emotional issues in the same way they can be for issues in the physical body. But most of the yoga teachers interviewed for this story agree that some poses seem to initiate emotional responses more than others.
"Camel, hip openers, and lunges" Ana Forrest suggests. "Camel because of its immediate impact in exposing the heart, hip openers because they tap into the vital feelings stored in the area, and lunges because there's a lot of unchanneled potential and power in the thighs." Twists and backbends can also trigger an emotional release.
However, what works for one person may not work for another. You cannot demand release and expect a response, although you can certainly, as Forrest asks of her students, listen to your body and discover where it needs to untie an emotional knot. If your heart feels heavy, if your stomach is constantly in turmoil, if your inner child needs comforting, you can create an asana and pranayama program specifically for your condition, the same way you might practice inversions or balancing poses if you want to challenge yourself physically.
—D.R.
Therapy on the Mat
As a longtime devotee of both the therapy couch and the yoga mat, I was curious how the two blend together in Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy.
Michael Lee created Phoenix Rising specifically to help students cope with emotions. It combines assisted yoga postures, breath awareness, and nondirective dialogue based on the work of Carl Rogers, in which the therapist acts as a sounding board, repeating much of what the student says to allow her to stay with her own train of thought.
Lee drew inspiration from his own encounter with emotions on the mat in the early 1980s. He was living in an ashram where morning practice took place each day at 5:30. "Every day for a year and a half, the guy on the mat next to me would get about one-third of the way through class and begin to sob profusely," Lee remembers. "Some people found it disturbing. One day, I said to him, 'What's going on?'"
"I don't know," the man answered. "I just get overwhelmed by sadness. I try to hold back a little so I don't bother people." It turns out that he had been experiencing these intense outbursts every morning for 10 years.
"The guru had previously instructed the man to just stay with his practice, because he believed his emotions would work themselves out through asana alone," Lee recalls. "But even back then, I thought the experience required a more integrated approach."
Lee talked with the man extensively about his experience and, in helping him, created Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy. He launched the program at the DeSisto School for emotionally troubled teens in Lenox, Massachusetts, in 1986, building on his background in group dynamics from the psychology movements of the 1970s. (Lee is not a licensed psychotherapist.) Practiced by yoga teachers, bodyworkers, physical therapists, and psychologists, the method aims to bridge the gap between body and mind. Unlike traditional therapy—which might focus on eliminating a phobia or improving a skill, such as communication between spouses—Phoenix Rising sessions focus on helping people recognize their own body’s wisdom and get to the source of emotions that may be causing aches and pains, physical or otherwise.
I wanted to experience the method for myself, so I turned to Carol S. James, one of 1,012 Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy practitioners around the world. We began by talking on a couch, where James asked me about my health, state of mind, and background. After telling her about a few things that were troubling my mind on that particular day, we moved to another area in the softly lit room, where we sat facing each other on a large, puffy mat. James asked me to focus on my breath, which brought me into the moment and allowed me to begin to talk.
Throughout the session, she moved me into very gentle supported poses (backbends, forward bends, and leg stretches), almost the way a personal trainer might stretch a client at the end of a workout. She asked me to tell her more about my thoughts, and repeated many of my words. The session sounded something like this:
"I feel sad that I'm 40 and alone."
"You're sad that you're 40 and alone."
"It's surprising. I didn't expect this to happen."
"You're surprised. Tell me more about that."
And so on, until I found myself leaning back, physically, directly onto Carol and telling her more—a "more" I had never gotten to before.
The experience of physically leaning on someone while revealing myself to the person was one of the most profound I have ever had. During my session, I felt a connection to my deepest self, the self that is at peace. The combination of discussion and touch was sweet and deep.
At the end of the session, my heart was as open with love toward myself as it had ever been. The emotional breakthrough was not traumatic but physically and spiritually enlightening. I hate to glibly paraphrase Bob Dylan, but I truly felt released, and as Richard Miller said, I met myself right where I was, with love.
—D.R.Donna Raskin is a yoga teacher and writer in Rockport, Massachusetts, and author of Yoga Beats the Blues (Fair Winds, 2003).
link to article
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Manifest Your Mantra Steps
Five Steps to Create A Healthy, Happy Mind
Are you looking for a way to break old, unhealthy mental patterns so that you can create a happier, healthier life? Well, today is "Manifest Your Mantra Day", and the Spirit Trainers are here to help!
Get yourself out of a slump or a self-defeating negative mindset by creating your own personal, affirmative mantra. Mantra literally means "mind wave", and is any word or phrase repeated often. Mantras can positively affect your thought patterns and beliefs. We suggest the following steps to help you manifest your own personal, positive mantra and let go of old, negative patterns.
Get the Five Steps
Overview
Make a list of 11 qualities /attributes of your personality that you regard as negative or harmful and which you believe hold you back from reaching your potential. These should be qualities that you would like to 'leave behind you' and release. Perhaps you have a false statement about yourself that your mind chronically repeats (eg. 'I'm so lazy') or maybe you just want to move from shy to outgoing. Whatever your choices, think of it as an opportunity to change negative thought patterns and beliefs into more positive and appealing ones that will affirm and empower you. Once you've created your list of 11, you'll then write adjectives that describe the exact opposite of those qualities. For example, if you listed 'grumpy' as a trait to release, you might write 'cheerful' as a positive alternative. When you're done with your list, we'll combine all the positive qualities in one big affirming statement about yourself.
Remember, this is YOUR secret and personal mantra. Keep it to yourself, and use it to redirect your mind whenever your thoughts veer in a direction that doesn't support you in your highest vision.
Here are the five steps:
1. Download our worksheet here (or go get a blank piece of paper, draw a line down the center of it. On the left top column, write 'Old Mental Belief' and on the right top column, write 'New Mental Belief'.)
2. Under Old Mental Beliefs, write the (up to) 11 attributes you would like to release.
3. Under New Mental Beliefs, list the exact opposite/positive of this quality or attribute. (eg. Grumpy/cheerful, lazy/energetic, shy/outgoing, fearful/courageous, etc)
4. Once you have a list of anywhere from 5 to 11 positive adjectives, pick three to five of these positive affirmations and make one positive affirming statement. An example might be:'I, Jane Smith, am a cheerful, energetic, outgoing person'.
5. Write your statement in one sentence, and then commit it to memory so you can repeat it with ease throughout your day. Repeat this phrase (with conviction!) each morning upon rising from bed, and each evening before falling asleep. Say this phrase with conviction - believe what you are saying.
http://www.practicalyoga.tv/shownewsletter.asp?newsletterID=15177765
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Five Steps to Create A Healthy, Happy Mind
Are you looking for a way to break old, unhealthy mental patterns so that you can create a happier, healthier life? Well, today is "Manifest Your Mantra Day", and the Spirit Trainers are here to help!
Get yourself out of a slump or a self-defeating negative mindset by creating your own personal, affirmative mantra. Mantra literally means "mind wave", and is any word or phrase repeated often. Mantras can positively affect your thought patterns and beliefs. We suggest the following steps to help you manifest your own personal, positive mantra and let go of old, negative patterns.
Get the Five Steps
Overview
Make a list of 11 qualities /attributes of your personality that you regard as negative or harmful and which you believe hold you back from reaching your potential. These should be qualities that you would like to 'leave behind you' and release. Perhaps you have a false statement about yourself that your mind chronically repeats (eg. 'I'm so lazy') or maybe you just want to move from shy to outgoing. Whatever your choices, think of it as an opportunity to change negative thought patterns and beliefs into more positive and appealing ones that will affirm and empower you. Once you've created your list of 11, you'll then write adjectives that describe the exact opposite of those qualities. For example, if you listed 'grumpy' as a trait to release, you might write 'cheerful' as a positive alternative. When you're done with your list, we'll combine all the positive qualities in one big affirming statement about yourself.
Remember, this is YOUR secret and personal mantra. Keep it to yourself, and use it to redirect your mind whenever your thoughts veer in a direction that doesn't support you in your highest vision.
Here are the five steps:
1. Download our worksheet here (or go get a blank piece of paper, draw a line down the center of it. On the left top column, write 'Old Mental Belief' and on the right top column, write 'New Mental Belief'.)
2. Under Old Mental Beliefs, write the (up to) 11 attributes you would like to release.
3. Under New Mental Beliefs, list the exact opposite/positive of this quality or attribute. (eg. Grumpy/cheerful, lazy/energetic, shy/outgoing, fearful/courageous, etc)
4. Once you have a list of anywhere from 5 to 11 positive adjectives, pick three to five of these positive affirmations and make one positive affirming statement. An example might be:'I, Jane Smith, am a cheerful, energetic, outgoing person'.
5. Write your statement in one sentence, and then commit it to memory so you can repeat it with ease throughout your day. Repeat this phrase (with conviction!) each morning upon rising from bed, and each evening before falling asleep. Say this phrase with conviction - believe what you are saying.
http://www.practicalyoga.tv/shownewsletter.asp?newsletterID=15177765
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Witch Balls
Witch Balls
Witch Ball Folklore
Witch's Balls have been very popular since the 18th century. First in England, then in New England, but their actual origin is considered to be much older.
For well over 3 centuries hollow glass spheres have been hung in windows to ward off witch's spells, evil spirits and ill fortune. Hanging these decorative glass balls in the window or on the porch is thought to tantalize mischievous spirits which may be threatening a home's tranquility. The wayward spirit is mesmerized by the ball's reflective beauty. When the spirit touches the sphere it is absorbed and trapped in the web-like strands of the glass inside the ball.
A witch ball or speculum was a device used for scrying or divining things. Sometimes the speculum was a magic mirror, a polished stone, or a crystal ball. Some witches fashioned specula from black bowls filled with water. By gazing into the reflective depths, a witch could find answers to urgent questions, predict future events, or see faraway places.
In maritime villages, witches sent out the glass globes fishermen use to hold their nets afloat. The globes were usually made of dark blue or green glass and appeared quite innocuous.
Biddy Early a well-known Irish witch, had a favorite blue glass bottle with which she used to view the future.
Witch balls measure 4 to 8 inches in diameter, and are occasionally decorated in enameled stripes and swirls or varying colors. Some are mirrored for use as convex mirrors.Crystal gazers sometimes claimed they used balls in which the spirits of dead souls had been banished. Therefore, the seer was thought to be dealing with spirits.
Hollow glass balls have been suspended in the windows of homes for centuries to ward off evil spirits. Legends say that evil spirits are attracted to the beauty of the ball, and upon touching its surface they are pulled inside and become forever trapped within the glittering web, thus protecting the home from any harm.
Now commonly known as "Witch Balls", these colorful glass balls originated in England during the 18th century, as people hung them in their windows to ward off demons and their evil spells.
How To Make A Protection Witch Ball
glass ball or Yule ornament with an opening
bottle of silver paint
a spool of red thread
few drops of frankincense or patchouli
oil
scissors
Witch Ball Folklore
Witch's Balls have been very popular since the 18th century. First in England, then in New England, but their actual origin is considered to be much older.
For well over 3 centuries hollow glass spheres have been hung in windows to ward off witch's spells, evil spirits and ill fortune. Hanging these decorative glass balls in the window or on the porch is thought to tantalize mischievous spirits which may be threatening a home's tranquility. The wayward spirit is mesmerized by the ball's reflective beauty. When the spirit touches the sphere it is absorbed and trapped in the web-like strands of the glass inside the ball.
A witch ball or speculum was a device used for scrying or divining things. Sometimes the speculum was a magic mirror, a polished stone, or a crystal ball. Some witches fashioned specula from black bowls filled with water. By gazing into the reflective depths, a witch could find answers to urgent questions, predict future events, or see faraway places.
In maritime villages, witches sent out the glass globes fishermen use to hold their nets afloat. The globes were usually made of dark blue or green glass and appeared quite innocuous.
Biddy Early a well-known Irish witch, had a favorite blue glass bottle with which she used to view the future.
Witch balls measure 4 to 8 inches in diameter, and are occasionally decorated in enameled stripes and swirls or varying colors. Some are mirrored for use as convex mirrors.Crystal gazers sometimes claimed they used balls in which the spirits of dead souls had been banished. Therefore, the seer was thought to be dealing with spirits.
Hollow glass balls have been suspended in the windows of homes for centuries to ward off evil spirits. Legends say that evil spirits are attracted to the beauty of the ball, and upon touching its surface they are pulled inside and become forever trapped within the glittering web, thus protecting the home from any harm.
Now commonly known as "Witch Balls", these colorful glass balls originated in England during the 18th century, as people hung them in their windows to ward off demons and their evil spells.
How To Make A Protection Witch Ball
glass ball or Yule ornament with an opening
bottle of silver paint
a spool of red thread
few drops of frankincense or patchouli
oil
scissors
Cover your working space with newspaper to protect against spills.
Take the metal cap off the ornament. Carefully pour a little of the silver paint inside the ball and swish it around until the inside is completely covered with the silver. Set it aside to dry. When the paint is totally dry, cut the red thread into three inch-lengths. Carefully poke this thread into the open end of the ball. Continue cutting and putting the thread into the ball until the ball is nearly full. Put in a few drops of oil. Then put the end back on the ornament. If it has no end, seal it with candle wax.
When you hang the protection ball, chant: "Symbol of the Moon, symbol of the Lady divine, Reject all negativity, defend this home (car), me and mine".
This protection ball can be hung in the window of your home or in your car. Any negative thoughts or ill-wishes directed against you are reflected back to the sender.
You can also decorate the outside with appropriate designs. You can put them onto wreaths or make them part of a dried flower arrangement. Programmed for protection, these little Witch balls do a very good job.
Animal Totems (posts from Wake the Witch yahoo group)
Do you know your animal totem?
Posted by: "Katydid"
Sat Apr 26, 2008 1:12 pm (PDT)
Do You Know Your Animal Totem?(Ted Andrews)
Begin the process of discovering your animal totems by examining the animals you have been most interested in & the times of your life that interest was piqued. Use the following questions to help determine which animals are probably totems to you in your life.
Which animal or bird has always fascinated you? (We are drawn to that which most resonates with us. Those animals which fascinate us have something to teach us.)
When you visit the zoo, which animal do you wish to visit the most or first? (As a child, this is especially important. Children are more naturally open and thus are able to more easily recognize the animal that will be important to them)
What animal(s) do you see most frequently when you are out in nature? Have you had encounters with animals in the wild?(The animals we encounter, in their city environments or in the wild, have significance for us. We can learn from them, even if only about survival within that environment.)
Of all the animals in the world, which are you most interested in now?(Our interests in animals change. Yes, we usually have one or two that are lifetime, power animals, but others become prominent when there is something importance or specific to teach us.)
What animal most frightens you? (That which we fear the most is often something we must learn to come to terms with. When we do that, it then becomes a power. Some shamans believe that fears will take the shape of animals, and only when we confront them without fear do their powers/medicine work for us instead of against us. Such an animal become a shadow totem.)
Have you ever been bitten or attacked by an animal? (Historically, if a shaman survived an attack, it was believed that the animal was the shaman's spirit totem and the attack was the totem's way of testing the shaman's ability to handle the power.)
Do you have dreams with animals in them or are there animal dreams you have never forgotten? (This is especially important if the dreams are recurring or if at least the animal image in the dream is a recurring one. Children often dream of animals, & attention should be given to these animals. They will often reflect specific spirit totems of the child.) This is a great beginning to your journey!
never choose an animal totem
Posted by: "Katydid"
Sat Apr 26, 2008 1:15 pm (PDT)
http://members.aol.com/torcboy/neverchooseatotem.htm
Never Choose a Totem Animal by Christopher Penczak
Animal Medicine is a balm of the soul. Animals bring us
wisdom from not only the shamanic otherworlds, but from the natural, instinctive world surrounding us. The medicine is their message, the answer to our problems. Actual physical illnesses may manifest from harmful thoughts and actions, but more often than not, their medicine power cures the conditions before they manifest as illness, by attacking the root of the issue.
Whatever they tell us, through their character and actions, usually grants meaningful insight on the way we live our lives. Sometimes we need a gentle nudge from our animal friends, both in the spirit and physical worlds, to remind us of the living truths.
Some of us have found our totem animals, our animal spirit guides in the other realms. More appropriately, they have found us. Sometimes an animal adopts a whole tribe or family. These power animals may be the archetypal representatives of their race, existing on the astral worlds, or they are simply a guiding spirit taking the form we need most.
The concept is found most strongly in Native American mysticism, but power animals can be found around the world. Each one is unique, as individual as people walking the Earth and snowflakes falling from the sky. But common threads run between them. Each animal works with different themes to bring their messages across.
If you do not know all of your totems, because you can have many as the need arises,
the spirit animal may send a physical representative to remind you. Some stay for great lengths of time, while others do their work and leave, not building a long relationship with you.
Recently I had an opossum climb into my chimney and fireplace while writing at my desk. The noise freaked me out, and I went to investigate. My initial panic was followed by a series of phone calls trying to find humane animal control people who would be able to safely release the opossum. It left before anyone got here. Later I found out about Opossum spirit medicine from a good friend. The opossum teaches us to play dead.
We accept the power of our enemies and cease to struggle. By not providing a chase, they will leave us for dead and we will be free. Those words fit so perfectly for a tense confrontation I was having in my life. By heeding the advice, the struggle was resolved perfectly. This is a quick dose of animal medicine brought to the physical world so I couldn't miss it. By understanding their nature, we divine our message. I thanked the opossum and since then, have not seen it, either here or in the otherworlds.
In anticipation of finding your totem, there is a desire to control. You may find a certain animal "cool" and want it to be your totem. And since you have an affinity for it, it may be a totem of yours, but the power animal you need most steps in when the time is right, regardless of your expectations or desires. Let them come. Trying to control the situation may block the animal needed to contact you. Each has a lesson. I've found some people start disappointed in their animal, because it is not strong or fast enough to match their self-perceived personality.
But the animal may be bringing traits you lack. Go with it. Do not fight it. Accept and work with your totem animal.
My first totem is the spider. I hated spiders. I'm still not too crazy about them, but I'm learning from them in both worlds. But I would not have chosen it. Spiders would come to me and just drop down. Wherever I went, there were spiders. I had them following me. My first initiation into the spider clan was a bite from my eight-legged friend as a child. I had an allergic reaction to it and was taken to the hospital. Twenty years later it culminated in a vision where a giant spirit spider helped me process some of my irrational fear and release it. Now they come to me frequently, but mostly during meditations. They have been a great help.
Since then I've also worked greatly with the crow, for I follow the crow goddess Macha. There are others, but they occur less frequently.
Your first meeting may be in a dream or meditation. It may come as a reoccurring physical encounter with an animal. You're animal may contact you first as needed, or you can initiate it.
Get into a quiet meditative state, and ask to meet the power animal most correct for you at this time. You may be spontaneously led on a shamanic journey. Or a vision may come to you.
Perhaps you'll get no response for now, and your animal will talk to you through the physical world. Be open and aware. No one wants the squirrel, when they think there is a tiger
out there. The ladybug is equally unpopular if you are the wild type, drawing more to the scorpion. But expect the unexpected.
Your totem may come to you in the form of a cartoon critter, teaching you to lighten up. It's happened. Be prepared. And never choose a totem animal. Let one choose you.
discovering & working with animal totems (long post)
Posted by: "Katydid"
Sat Apr 26, 2008 1:17 pm (PDT)
Discovering and working with Totem Animals
What are Totem Animals
Totem animals are any animal, bird, insect or aquatic life that offer themselves in service to assist not only humans but all forms of life.
In general, most people are born with 7 Totem animals while Shamans or those carrying strong shamanic energy may have hundreds of Totems.
New Totem Animals may be acquired throughout the life, especially in response to a great need for guidance or support.
A totem animal may come from any part of the world although it is more common for a person to be most strongly connected with those native to the persons country of birth. For those with strong ancestral ties to a country other than their birth, the animals are more likely to be found in the family's original country of origin. It is also quite possible that a person may have one or two totems from one part of the world, several more from another.
How can I tell which Animals are my Totems
Many times a person will feel drawn to one animal or another without being able to explain why, they just like the Animal's energy. This could indicate a possible totem connection.
Another clue is to watch and see which Animal's consistently appear in a person's life. This can occur through seeing frequent representations of the Animal such as receiving cards or letters with the same animal pictured over and over, turning on the telly and seeing nature shows featuring the same animal, seeing stories in the papers about the animal, or even in some
instances, having the animal show up in person in your neighborhood! Dreams will often feature a person's Totem animal when the person is ready as well as bringing in new totems. Shamans and some clairvoyants are also able to determine what a person's Totems are either through "seeing" the Animal near the person or journeying Shamanically to contact the person's Totems.
Developing a relationship with Totems
Once a person's animal totems have been determined, the next step is to develop a relationship with the energies the animal represents. This can be done in a number of ways, much the same as you would go about starting a new friendship.
The first is to be receptive and open to working with the Animal and the energy it represents. Allow yourself and your totems time to interact and get to know one another by studying their habitats, normal behaviour patterns and asking them to be present while you go about your daily routine so they can see how you operate in YOUR habitat! Commit to setting aside time each week to meditate and tune into your Totems energy, then stick with it! This show honor and respect, much the same way you want others to honor and respect you. Even a few minutes two or three times a week is better than nothing, and crucial if you want to reap the full benefit of what your totem is offering you. If the Totem animal is one you see frequently near your home,say a Blackbird or a Squirrel, spending time outdoors just watching and talking with the one's you see also encourages your Totem to be more responsive to you. Like any relationship, what you put into it is generally what you get out of it.
Ask your Totem questions, such as "what should I do about my situation at my job" and then be
open to the intuitive insights you receive. Jot them down if possible and act upon them! The more you act upon the intuitive advice given and are receptive to receiving, the more your totem feels like a valued part of your life and will act accordingly. It's also nice to return the favor and ask your totems if there is anything you can do for them! Remember, it's a two way street and the more you give the more you will receive. I often talk to the Crows
in my neighborhood (much to my neighbor's dismay!) as crows and ravens are two of my primary Totems. If I ignore them, next time out I am likely to have something tossed in my direction or have a flock follow me down the street shrieking at me. Like any old friend, they like to be greeted when we meet and are highly offended if I don't at least say hello. Makes all the difference in the world!
My Totem is acting strangely, what does that mean?
Once you have developed a relationship with your totem animals, there may be times when those local to your neighborhood or in dream states or meditations, don't act as they normally would. This is an alert that something is up or about to change in your life that you need to pay attention to. The stranger or more unusual the behaviour, the more you need to examine areas of your life that may be out of kilter or situations it's time to let go of. Usually we know intuitively when something is not right in our lives, but all to often we try to ignore it and carry
on as usual. Of course at some point the situation is going to blow up in your face which is precisely what your totems are trying to get you to prevent. Pay attention and take action where you know you need to. Then if the Totem still hasn't settled down, it's probably a raven or crow. They are always acting strangely. Just don't tell them I told you so or I will never hear the end of it!
My Totem attacked, bit, scratched or frightened me in a dream or meditation
Welcome to the Shamans world! Actually, it's not uncommon to have these kinds of experiences with totems. Often it's their way of testing your ability to handle their energies in the proper manner so you don't harm yourself or someone else. Shamans often have repeated dreams of being torn apart and reassembled by their Totems.
Often when a new Totem appears, you are tested in much the same way as their energy is unfamiliar to you and you need classes so to speak in how to deal with this new influx of energy. How you respond in these situations tells the animal how you are able to handle the energy when it actually shows up in your life. Running away screaming is obviously not going to win you any brownie points, but has sure sounded good to me on more than one occasion. The main thing to remember is that the Totem would not be there if the chances were slim to none that you couldn't handle the energy.
What if I don't like, or feel drawn to my Totems?
This does happen. Earwigs for example make me go all wobbly. I know that Spirit in all his/her wisdom has a pretty darn good reason for having created them in the first place, and despite what Crow says about them having been manifested simply to give me the ickies, I know they have a very important place in the scheme of things. I won't kill them, but I will make my housemates remove them when found inside. Without violence of course!
So what do you do if you have a Totem that gives you shivers? First have patience with yourself and admit that you just don't care for this particular Totem. Then do your best to set aside any negative feelings you have for it and study it's native habitat and normal life cycle as you would the totems you do like. I have Ant as a Totem and frankly it's another not very favorite insect. Yet I have learned to respect their strength, sense of dedication and purpose, patience and loyalty to their group. They are still not my favorite insects, yet we have a good working relationship based on mutual respect and trust.
Often the totem we like the least is really the one we can learn the most from, so do your best to accept what has been offered. If you still can't stomach that particular Totem, you can ask that you have another take it's place, just be sure and honor the original one by thanking it for what it has taught you, asking Spirit to bless it and all of it's kind.
Asking Totem Animals for help
Now we get to the really good stuff! Yes, your Totem animals can assist you in a variety of ways. You see, when anyone or anything does a good deed, they attract positive karma. So it really is in your Totems best interests to help you in any way that they can. Likewise, it's also in yours to assist them when needed!
One way of asking for help is to sit in meditation and call your totems to you, saying that you have a problem or situation you need help with and asking for a volunteer to step forward who can give the greatest help. Don't be surprised if he one who steps up is not the one you expected, but trust that this is indeed the right Totem for the job.
Next, ask specifically what you would like to have happen, including the phrase " For the good of all and harm to none". This is very important, as your totem may not act if it knows to do so would bring harm to you or another. Yes, they will protect you if you are attacked by another, without hesitation, but they will also do their utmost to protect you from unforseen consequences that could be brought about as the result of your request.
Now you need to release the totem to go do it's work. You can use a phrase like " Peace and Spirit be with you as you journey forth to fulfill my request". Saying thank you in advance is also appreciated both by your totem and Spirit and actually gives greater momentum towards the fulfillment of your request.
Another option is to find a picture of your totem, set up a small altar or private space for the totem with some crystals, incense, flowers, plants, etc., preferably relating to your request. Write your request down on a piece of paper or parchment, place it in on the altar and set a candle ( in a candle holder please! It won't do you much good to ask your Totem to bring you your soul mate if you burn your house down in the process!) on top of it, light the incense,
then the candle and visualize your totem going off into the Universe to bring youwhat you have asked for. Please's and thank you's are again much appreciated and add momentum towards the
manifestation of your desire.
In some circumstances you may get the feeling that a friend or loved one needs your totems energy on loan so to speak. In such circumstances, you can ask that if it is appropriate, that your
totem(s) go and assist this other person. Your intent to help is all that is needed, your totems will take care of the rest!
Honouring Totem Animals
There are numerous ways to honor totem animals. It can be s simple as putting out food for the wildlife in your area (this does not have to include your loon of a neighbor down the street, but hey, whatever floats your boat!) with the intent that your Totems are also being nourished to sending positive energy and love from your heart to your totems.
Giving money to wildlife organizations, recycling, walking or biking as often as possible rather than driving, gardening organically, helping to protect wilderness areas and sharing your knowledge of your totems with others are all wonderful ways of saying thanks and giving back. Create a Butterfly garden in your yard, set up a bird bath or build a bird house. Even sitting quietly and saying thank you, sharing events in your daily life with your totems, honors them and the gifts they share with you each and every day.
If you would like to know more about Totem Animals, I strongly recommend the book " Animal Speak" By Ted Andrews.
Copyright © 1998-1999 by Lynx Graywolf
All rights reserved.
finding your animal totem or guide
Posted by: "Katydid"
Sat Apr 26, 2008 1:20 pm (PDT)
Finding your Animal Totem or Guide
I get quite a few people asking me how do you know a particular animal is your totem or guide? It can be a fun process finding out, because most people have more than one animal guiding them at any one time. It's great trying to find a serious totem and then have a prankster like the raven or the coyote come up instead. Anyway, here are some tried and true ways of finding/realising your totem.
1. The first. The easiest. What animal has always fascinated you? Have you always loved leopards? Or horses? Or even to be obscure, snails? (Okay, so one of my guides is the snail. No laughing!) These animals usually resonate with your energy most closely, and have something to teach you.
2. Secondly. What animals do you HATE? Spiders? Rats? Snakes? That strange rhinocerous that keeps appearing in your dreams? The qualities we hate within other animals, are usually qualities we do not wish to foster, or are qualities within ourselves that we repress. These animals also have something to teach us. They are shadow totems, and only by confronting our fear of them, can we turn this fear into power, and use it wisely. My shadow totem/guide is the dolphin, and I'm not prepared to turn my hatred and fear into power just yet, because I'm having much too much fun flying with the raven.
3. Well kids, what animals do you HAVE to see at the zoo every single time? The otters? The fox? The bears? Think about it, it's animal magnetism displayed at its most basic. Kids are usually pretty down on their guides and potentially their totem animals, because they're generally more receptive. The zoo is a good place to start as any.
4. Did you like cheetahs a year ago? Lions the year before that? The changes in our animal tastes means something. We usually have learnt the lesson from one animal, and moved on to learn something new. Though we do have a lifetime totem, it's much easier to stumble upon the creatures that we are currently learning from.
5. What animals do you see most frequently when you're outside? A week where you've only seen pelicans? Another week where you seem to hear magpies left, right and centre? We learn from these animals survival within a harsh environment, and that beauty and courage are still available to us.
6. Ever been bitten? Massacred? Scarred by an animal? These animals are usually testing us, to see if we're worthy of being their pupil. Repetitive nightmares of an animal attacking you can also mean the same thing. If a wolf wants to be your totem, and it can't access you in real life because you live in Australia, it will sometimes come to you in your sleep instead.
7. Dreams. I've referred to them a couple of times now. They're important. Recurring animals mean something symbolically, whether or not we understand what they mean. Write down dreams with a particular animal in them, especially if you've had them more than once. It's significant.
8. Meditation. Let the animal come to you. Walk through a forest, a desert, whatever comes to mind and let it find you. This is a good method, especially for those who can already meditate. It's not good to resent the first animal that comes to you, or you could find yourself attacked. I was meditating a month ago and stumbled across a wolverine. I was a little bit surprised, I didn't want a wolverine protecting my heart chakra! Next second claws were digging into my chest and all I could smell was rank decay. I'd angered Wolverine! However, acceptance followed, and I wouldn't have it any other way now.
Within Villtur the honouring of animals is something that should be done on a frequent basis. I don't necessarily mean via prayer, or going to the Animal Adventist Church down the road for Mass. Honouring animals acknowledges their power, and that they - by the simple fact that they have souls and personalities - are our equals.
You can honour animals by:
a. Leaving seed scattered in your yard, at the park, or anywhere in general for the bird spirits. Birds traditionally are one of the oldest symbols of the Mother Goddess, and appreciate the seed, especially in Winter.
b. You can sponsor an endangered species.
c. Helping at local RSPCA centres and rehabilitation centres.
d. Researching and observing animals that are important to you. Spend a few hours at the zoo watching it, writing down what you notice, respecting it's space and trying not to make it uncomfortable. The more you understand about an animal, the better.
e. Observing the individual ethics of an animal. Male dogs do not like to be directly stared at, it offends them and their sense of territory, looking away and letting them approach lets them appreciate your sense of propriety. Cats on the other hand test you by staring, if you look away, you are the weaker prey and they will not respect you. Calling out bird calls without thinking often disturbs birds in the local area. If you whistle for no reason, you often have upset all the birds that can hear you, and have infringed on their sense of territory. Only call, if you sense that it would be accepted. These are a few small examples.
f. Keeping ornaments of your totem animals or pictures. Even carrying little images around with you. Constantly remind yourself that they are there. Do not take them for granted!
g. Not killing them/responding to them mindlessly. Sounds stupid I know. But don?t just slam your hand down when you see a spider, scream when you see a rat or jump on a chair when you see a cockroach. If you need to get rid of it, fine. If you have to kill it because there's no where you can let it go, then do it. However, you should first acknowledge that you are killing a living creature, and decide from there what the best cause of action is.
There are many other ways of honouring animals, but these are some basics which are hopefully food for thought. http://ravenari.com/vilturr/t/finani.html
the basics of animal totems
Posted by: "Katydid"
Sat Apr 26, 2008 1:22 pm (PDT)
The Basics of Animal Totems(Ted Andrews)
1. Every animal has a powerful spirit.
2. This spirit may be its own, or that of a being who uses the animal image to communicate messages of the orld to humans.
3. Every animal has its own talents. A study of its talents will reveal the kind of medicine, magic, and power it can help you to develop within your own life. Remember, every animal has a speciality.
4. Lifelong power animals are usually wild, not domesticated, animals. There are a few exceptions, but even these exceptions are just links to the true power animal. For example, people may have dogs or cats as totems. These have their own medicine and power, but the domesticated animal may only be a softened form of its wild counterpart. A dog may be a link to the wolf, coyote, or any of the wild canine family. A cat may be a link to a member of the wild feline family, such as panthers, lions, tigers, and such. For many, beginning with the
domesticated form of the totem is a way of laying a foundation so that some day they will be able to handle and work more effectively with its true power form.
5. The animal chooses the person, not the other way around. Many believe that they can just choose an animal and start communicating with it. Usually ego gets in the way at these times. The individual chooses the animal he or she believes to be the most glamorous and powerful, rather than what is harmonious to the individual. The results are ineffectual and often frustrating. No animal is better or worse than any other. Every animal's medicine is unique. It is always much better to be powerful in mouse medicine than to be clumsy and ineffectual in eagle
medicine. You will find your greatest success in the animal that comes to you.
6. You must develop a relationship with your totem. To communicate with them demands respect. You must learn their point of view. Animals won't just warm up to you immediately. They must learn to trust you and your limitations, and you must learn to trust them and their limitations. This takes time, patience and practice.
7. You must honor your totem for its medicine to be effective in your life. The more you honor them - the more significance you give them within your life - the more powerful and effective they become.
Some of the ways you can honor them and draw them closer into your life is by:
Hanging pictures of them,
Drawing pictures of them,
Reading and learning as much about them as possible,
Buying figurines of your totem for yourself or purchasing small tokens and images of your totem and giving them to friends as gifts.
These are reminders of the power and spirit of your totem animal. Donating to wildlife
organizations with time and / or money. Dancing to honor your totem is a powerful link. Learn to mimic its behaviors. If it's a turtle, learn to creep like a turtle. If it's a lion, learn to crouch like a lion. If it's a bird, imitate its hopping or flying. And most importantly, keeping the animal alive within your imagination. See yourself as the animal totem using its qualities in appropriate places within your life. Remember that the imagination is a real link to your totem.
8. Once you learn to work with the medicine of your power animal, it then becomes a doorway to connecting with others of the animal realm. You are not limited to just one totem. Each can teach or add something to your life that the others can't. Working with your power animal will help teach you how to align with others. This way if you need greater strength, you can call up the image and draw upon the energy of a bear. If you need speed, you can connect with the energy of cheetah. Through your power animal, you learn to align with and shapeshift to the energies of other animals and beings.
9. Although there are one or even several totems that are strongest in your life and remain with you through most of it, others do play a role. You may have a totem for a day. You may have a totem that assists you through a particularly rough period in your life. One may come to you and stay with you through a cycle of several years. Another may be present when you do creative work. You are likely to have different totems for different areas of your life. There's no limit to the totems you can work with. The key though is to connect strongly and fully with at least one. This expands the consciousness and opens the bridge to others more easily.
10. More than one person can have the same totem. I know a number of individuals who work with wolf medicine. There are common factors in the way each works, but there are also differences. The archetypal energies and spirit reflected in the wolf will manifest for each uniquely, because each person is unique. The role the totem plays will be specific in many ways to the individual. Individuals who are in close relationships may share a totem. That totem becomes a guide to making the relationship stronger and more productive. The totem
may watch over the couple. Totem sharing is not limited to couples. Healing and meditation groups often share a totem animal, to oversee the activities.
link to life paths animal totems site
Posted by: "Katy_Ravensong"
Sat Apr 26, 2008 1:27 pm (PDT)
This is the first site I found that really 'hooked' me on researching totem animals/guides. That was quite a few years ago and it is still one of my favorite sites. It has many annoying popups since it's a tripod site but the info is worth it.
http://wolfs_moon.tripod.com/totemspage.html
Posted by: "Katydid"
Sat Apr 26, 2008 1:12 pm (PDT)
Do You Know Your Animal Totem?(Ted Andrews)
Begin the process of discovering your animal totems by examining the animals you have been most interested in & the times of your life that interest was piqued. Use the following questions to help determine which animals are probably totems to you in your life.
Which animal or bird has always fascinated you? (We are drawn to that which most resonates with us. Those animals which fascinate us have something to teach us.)
When you visit the zoo, which animal do you wish to visit the most or first? (As a child, this is especially important. Children are more naturally open and thus are able to more easily recognize the animal that will be important to them)
What animal(s) do you see most frequently when you are out in nature? Have you had encounters with animals in the wild?(The animals we encounter, in their city environments or in the wild, have significance for us. We can learn from them, even if only about survival within that environment.)
Of all the animals in the world, which are you most interested in now?(Our interests in animals change. Yes, we usually have one or two that are lifetime, power animals, but others become prominent when there is something importance or specific to teach us.)
What animal most frightens you? (That which we fear the most is often something we must learn to come to terms with. When we do that, it then becomes a power. Some shamans believe that fears will take the shape of animals, and only when we confront them without fear do their powers/medicine work for us instead of against us. Such an animal become a shadow totem.)
Have you ever been bitten or attacked by an animal? (Historically, if a shaman survived an attack, it was believed that the animal was the shaman's spirit totem and the attack was the totem's way of testing the shaman's ability to handle the power.)
Do you have dreams with animals in them or are there animal dreams you have never forgotten? (This is especially important if the dreams are recurring or if at least the animal image in the dream is a recurring one. Children often dream of animals, & attention should be given to these animals. They will often reflect specific spirit totems of the child.) This is a great beginning to your journey!
never choose an animal totem
Posted by: "Katydid"
Sat Apr 26, 2008 1:15 pm (PDT)
http://members.aol.com/torcboy/neverchooseatotem.htm
Never Choose a Totem Animal by Christopher Penczak
Animal Medicine is a balm of the soul. Animals bring us
wisdom from not only the shamanic otherworlds, but from the natural, instinctive world surrounding us. The medicine is their message, the answer to our problems. Actual physical illnesses may manifest from harmful thoughts and actions, but more often than not, their medicine power cures the conditions before they manifest as illness, by attacking the root of the issue.
Whatever they tell us, through their character and actions, usually grants meaningful insight on the way we live our lives. Sometimes we need a gentle nudge from our animal friends, both in the spirit and physical worlds, to remind us of the living truths.
Some of us have found our totem animals, our animal spirit guides in the other realms. More appropriately, they have found us. Sometimes an animal adopts a whole tribe or family. These power animals may be the archetypal representatives of their race, existing on the astral worlds, or they are simply a guiding spirit taking the form we need most.
The concept is found most strongly in Native American mysticism, but power animals can be found around the world. Each one is unique, as individual as people walking the Earth and snowflakes falling from the sky. But common threads run between them. Each animal works with different themes to bring their messages across.
If you do not know all of your totems, because you can have many as the need arises,
the spirit animal may send a physical representative to remind you. Some stay for great lengths of time, while others do their work and leave, not building a long relationship with you.
Recently I had an opossum climb into my chimney and fireplace while writing at my desk. The noise freaked me out, and I went to investigate. My initial panic was followed by a series of phone calls trying to find humane animal control people who would be able to safely release the opossum. It left before anyone got here. Later I found out about Opossum spirit medicine from a good friend. The opossum teaches us to play dead.
We accept the power of our enemies and cease to struggle. By not providing a chase, they will leave us for dead and we will be free. Those words fit so perfectly for a tense confrontation I was having in my life. By heeding the advice, the struggle was resolved perfectly. This is a quick dose of animal medicine brought to the physical world so I couldn't miss it. By understanding their nature, we divine our message. I thanked the opossum and since then, have not seen it, either here or in the otherworlds.
In anticipation of finding your totem, there is a desire to control. You may find a certain animal "cool" and want it to be your totem. And since you have an affinity for it, it may be a totem of yours, but the power animal you need most steps in when the time is right, regardless of your expectations or desires. Let them come. Trying to control the situation may block the animal needed to contact you. Each has a lesson. I've found some people start disappointed in their animal, because it is not strong or fast enough to match their self-perceived personality.
But the animal may be bringing traits you lack. Go with it. Do not fight it. Accept and work with your totem animal.
My first totem is the spider. I hated spiders. I'm still not too crazy about them, but I'm learning from them in both worlds. But I would not have chosen it. Spiders would come to me and just drop down. Wherever I went, there were spiders. I had them following me. My first initiation into the spider clan was a bite from my eight-legged friend as a child. I had an allergic reaction to it and was taken to the hospital. Twenty years later it culminated in a vision where a giant spirit spider helped me process some of my irrational fear and release it. Now they come to me frequently, but mostly during meditations. They have been a great help.
Since then I've also worked greatly with the crow, for I follow the crow goddess Macha. There are others, but they occur less frequently.
Your first meeting may be in a dream or meditation. It may come as a reoccurring physical encounter with an animal. You're animal may contact you first as needed, or you can initiate it.
Get into a quiet meditative state, and ask to meet the power animal most correct for you at this time. You may be spontaneously led on a shamanic journey. Or a vision may come to you.
Perhaps you'll get no response for now, and your animal will talk to you through the physical world. Be open and aware. No one wants the squirrel, when they think there is a tiger
out there. The ladybug is equally unpopular if you are the wild type, drawing more to the scorpion. But expect the unexpected.
Your totem may come to you in the form of a cartoon critter, teaching you to lighten up. It's happened. Be prepared. And never choose a totem animal. Let one choose you.
discovering & working with animal totems (long post)
Posted by: "Katydid"
Sat Apr 26, 2008 1:17 pm (PDT)
Discovering and working with Totem Animals
What are Totem Animals
Totem animals are any animal, bird, insect or aquatic life that offer themselves in service to assist not only humans but all forms of life.
In general, most people are born with 7 Totem animals while Shamans or those carrying strong shamanic energy may have hundreds of Totems.
New Totem Animals may be acquired throughout the life, especially in response to a great need for guidance or support.
A totem animal may come from any part of the world although it is more common for a person to be most strongly connected with those native to the persons country of birth. For those with strong ancestral ties to a country other than their birth, the animals are more likely to be found in the family's original country of origin. It is also quite possible that a person may have one or two totems from one part of the world, several more from another.
How can I tell which Animals are my Totems
Many times a person will feel drawn to one animal or another without being able to explain why, they just like the Animal's energy. This could indicate a possible totem connection.
Another clue is to watch and see which Animal's consistently appear in a person's life. This can occur through seeing frequent representations of the Animal such as receiving cards or letters with the same animal pictured over and over, turning on the telly and seeing nature shows featuring the same animal, seeing stories in the papers about the animal, or even in some
instances, having the animal show up in person in your neighborhood! Dreams will often feature a person's Totem animal when the person is ready as well as bringing in new totems. Shamans and some clairvoyants are also able to determine what a person's Totems are either through "seeing" the Animal near the person or journeying Shamanically to contact the person's Totems.
Developing a relationship with Totems
Once a person's animal totems have been determined, the next step is to develop a relationship with the energies the animal represents. This can be done in a number of ways, much the same as you would go about starting a new friendship.
The first is to be receptive and open to working with the Animal and the energy it represents. Allow yourself and your totems time to interact and get to know one another by studying their habitats, normal behaviour patterns and asking them to be present while you go about your daily routine so they can see how you operate in YOUR habitat! Commit to setting aside time each week to meditate and tune into your Totems energy, then stick with it! This show honor and respect, much the same way you want others to honor and respect you. Even a few minutes two or three times a week is better than nothing, and crucial if you want to reap the full benefit of what your totem is offering you. If the Totem animal is one you see frequently near your home,say a Blackbird or a Squirrel, spending time outdoors just watching and talking with the one's you see also encourages your Totem to be more responsive to you. Like any relationship, what you put into it is generally what you get out of it.
Ask your Totem questions, such as "what should I do about my situation at my job" and then be
open to the intuitive insights you receive. Jot them down if possible and act upon them! The more you act upon the intuitive advice given and are receptive to receiving, the more your totem feels like a valued part of your life and will act accordingly. It's also nice to return the favor and ask your totems if there is anything you can do for them! Remember, it's a two way street and the more you give the more you will receive. I often talk to the Crows
in my neighborhood (much to my neighbor's dismay!) as crows and ravens are two of my primary Totems. If I ignore them, next time out I am likely to have something tossed in my direction or have a flock follow me down the street shrieking at me. Like any old friend, they like to be greeted when we meet and are highly offended if I don't at least say hello. Makes all the difference in the world!
My Totem is acting strangely, what does that mean?
Once you have developed a relationship with your totem animals, there may be times when those local to your neighborhood or in dream states or meditations, don't act as they normally would. This is an alert that something is up or about to change in your life that you need to pay attention to. The stranger or more unusual the behaviour, the more you need to examine areas of your life that may be out of kilter or situations it's time to let go of. Usually we know intuitively when something is not right in our lives, but all to often we try to ignore it and carry
on as usual. Of course at some point the situation is going to blow up in your face which is precisely what your totems are trying to get you to prevent. Pay attention and take action where you know you need to. Then if the Totem still hasn't settled down, it's probably a raven or crow. They are always acting strangely. Just don't tell them I told you so or I will never hear the end of it!
My Totem attacked, bit, scratched or frightened me in a dream or meditation
Welcome to the Shamans world! Actually, it's not uncommon to have these kinds of experiences with totems. Often it's their way of testing your ability to handle their energies in the proper manner so you don't harm yourself or someone else. Shamans often have repeated dreams of being torn apart and reassembled by their Totems.
Often when a new Totem appears, you are tested in much the same way as their energy is unfamiliar to you and you need classes so to speak in how to deal with this new influx of energy. How you respond in these situations tells the animal how you are able to handle the energy when it actually shows up in your life. Running away screaming is obviously not going to win you any brownie points, but has sure sounded good to me on more than one occasion. The main thing to remember is that the Totem would not be there if the chances were slim to none that you couldn't handle the energy.
What if I don't like, or feel drawn to my Totems?
This does happen. Earwigs for example make me go all wobbly. I know that Spirit in all his/her wisdom has a pretty darn good reason for having created them in the first place, and despite what Crow says about them having been manifested simply to give me the ickies, I know they have a very important place in the scheme of things. I won't kill them, but I will make my housemates remove them when found inside. Without violence of course!
So what do you do if you have a Totem that gives you shivers? First have patience with yourself and admit that you just don't care for this particular Totem. Then do your best to set aside any negative feelings you have for it and study it's native habitat and normal life cycle as you would the totems you do like. I have Ant as a Totem and frankly it's another not very favorite insect. Yet I have learned to respect their strength, sense of dedication and purpose, patience and loyalty to their group. They are still not my favorite insects, yet we have a good working relationship based on mutual respect and trust.
Often the totem we like the least is really the one we can learn the most from, so do your best to accept what has been offered. If you still can't stomach that particular Totem, you can ask that you have another take it's place, just be sure and honor the original one by thanking it for what it has taught you, asking Spirit to bless it and all of it's kind.
Asking Totem Animals for help
Now we get to the really good stuff! Yes, your Totem animals can assist you in a variety of ways. You see, when anyone or anything does a good deed, they attract positive karma. So it really is in your Totems best interests to help you in any way that they can. Likewise, it's also in yours to assist them when needed!
One way of asking for help is to sit in meditation and call your totems to you, saying that you have a problem or situation you need help with and asking for a volunteer to step forward who can give the greatest help. Don't be surprised if he one who steps up is not the one you expected, but trust that this is indeed the right Totem for the job.
Next, ask specifically what you would like to have happen, including the phrase " For the good of all and harm to none". This is very important, as your totem may not act if it knows to do so would bring harm to you or another. Yes, they will protect you if you are attacked by another, without hesitation, but they will also do their utmost to protect you from unforseen consequences that could be brought about as the result of your request.
Now you need to release the totem to go do it's work. You can use a phrase like " Peace and Spirit be with you as you journey forth to fulfill my request". Saying thank you in advance is also appreciated both by your totem and Spirit and actually gives greater momentum towards the fulfillment of your request.
Another option is to find a picture of your totem, set up a small altar or private space for the totem with some crystals, incense, flowers, plants, etc., preferably relating to your request. Write your request down on a piece of paper or parchment, place it in on the altar and set a candle ( in a candle holder please! It won't do you much good to ask your Totem to bring you your soul mate if you burn your house down in the process!) on top of it, light the incense,
then the candle and visualize your totem going off into the Universe to bring youwhat you have asked for. Please's and thank you's are again much appreciated and add momentum towards the
manifestation of your desire.
In some circumstances you may get the feeling that a friend or loved one needs your totems energy on loan so to speak. In such circumstances, you can ask that if it is appropriate, that your
totem(s) go and assist this other person. Your intent to help is all that is needed, your totems will take care of the rest!
Honouring Totem Animals
There are numerous ways to honor totem animals. It can be s simple as putting out food for the wildlife in your area (this does not have to include your loon of a neighbor down the street, but hey, whatever floats your boat!) with the intent that your Totems are also being nourished to sending positive energy and love from your heart to your totems.
Giving money to wildlife organizations, recycling, walking or biking as often as possible rather than driving, gardening organically, helping to protect wilderness areas and sharing your knowledge of your totems with others are all wonderful ways of saying thanks and giving back. Create a Butterfly garden in your yard, set up a bird bath or build a bird house. Even sitting quietly and saying thank you, sharing events in your daily life with your totems, honors them and the gifts they share with you each and every day.
If you would like to know more about Totem Animals, I strongly recommend the book " Animal Speak" By Ted Andrews.
Copyright © 1998-1999 by Lynx Graywolf
All rights reserved.
finding your animal totem or guide
Posted by: "Katydid"
Sat Apr 26, 2008 1:20 pm (PDT)
Finding your Animal Totem or Guide
I get quite a few people asking me how do you know a particular animal is your totem or guide? It can be a fun process finding out, because most people have more than one animal guiding them at any one time. It's great trying to find a serious totem and then have a prankster like the raven or the coyote come up instead. Anyway, here are some tried and true ways of finding/realising your totem.
1. The first. The easiest. What animal has always fascinated you? Have you always loved leopards? Or horses? Or even to be obscure, snails? (Okay, so one of my guides is the snail. No laughing!) These animals usually resonate with your energy most closely, and have something to teach you.
2. Secondly. What animals do you HATE? Spiders? Rats? Snakes? That strange rhinocerous that keeps appearing in your dreams? The qualities we hate within other animals, are usually qualities we do not wish to foster, or are qualities within ourselves that we repress. These animals also have something to teach us. They are shadow totems, and only by confronting our fear of them, can we turn this fear into power, and use it wisely. My shadow totem/guide is the dolphin, and I'm not prepared to turn my hatred and fear into power just yet, because I'm having much too much fun flying with the raven.
3. Well kids, what animals do you HAVE to see at the zoo every single time? The otters? The fox? The bears? Think about it, it's animal magnetism displayed at its most basic. Kids are usually pretty down on their guides and potentially their totem animals, because they're generally more receptive. The zoo is a good place to start as any.
4. Did you like cheetahs a year ago? Lions the year before that? The changes in our animal tastes means something. We usually have learnt the lesson from one animal, and moved on to learn something new. Though we do have a lifetime totem, it's much easier to stumble upon the creatures that we are currently learning from.
5. What animals do you see most frequently when you're outside? A week where you've only seen pelicans? Another week where you seem to hear magpies left, right and centre? We learn from these animals survival within a harsh environment, and that beauty and courage are still available to us.
6. Ever been bitten? Massacred? Scarred by an animal? These animals are usually testing us, to see if we're worthy of being their pupil. Repetitive nightmares of an animal attacking you can also mean the same thing. If a wolf wants to be your totem, and it can't access you in real life because you live in Australia, it will sometimes come to you in your sleep instead.
7. Dreams. I've referred to them a couple of times now. They're important. Recurring animals mean something symbolically, whether or not we understand what they mean. Write down dreams with a particular animal in them, especially if you've had them more than once. It's significant.
8. Meditation. Let the animal come to you. Walk through a forest, a desert, whatever comes to mind and let it find you. This is a good method, especially for those who can already meditate. It's not good to resent the first animal that comes to you, or you could find yourself attacked. I was meditating a month ago and stumbled across a wolverine. I was a little bit surprised, I didn't want a wolverine protecting my heart chakra! Next second claws were digging into my chest and all I could smell was rank decay. I'd angered Wolverine! However, acceptance followed, and I wouldn't have it any other way now.
Within Villtur the honouring of animals is something that should be done on a frequent basis. I don't necessarily mean via prayer, or going to the Animal Adventist Church down the road for Mass. Honouring animals acknowledges their power, and that they - by the simple fact that they have souls and personalities - are our equals.
You can honour animals by:
a. Leaving seed scattered in your yard, at the park, or anywhere in general for the bird spirits. Birds traditionally are one of the oldest symbols of the Mother Goddess, and appreciate the seed, especially in Winter.
b. You can sponsor an endangered species.
c. Helping at local RSPCA centres and rehabilitation centres.
d. Researching and observing animals that are important to you. Spend a few hours at the zoo watching it, writing down what you notice, respecting it's space and trying not to make it uncomfortable. The more you understand about an animal, the better.
e. Observing the individual ethics of an animal. Male dogs do not like to be directly stared at, it offends them and their sense of territory, looking away and letting them approach lets them appreciate your sense of propriety. Cats on the other hand test you by staring, if you look away, you are the weaker prey and they will not respect you. Calling out bird calls without thinking often disturbs birds in the local area. If you whistle for no reason, you often have upset all the birds that can hear you, and have infringed on their sense of territory. Only call, if you sense that it would be accepted. These are a few small examples.
f. Keeping ornaments of your totem animals or pictures. Even carrying little images around with you. Constantly remind yourself that they are there. Do not take them for granted!
g. Not killing them/responding to them mindlessly. Sounds stupid I know. But don?t just slam your hand down when you see a spider, scream when you see a rat or jump on a chair when you see a cockroach. If you need to get rid of it, fine. If you have to kill it because there's no where you can let it go, then do it. However, you should first acknowledge that you are killing a living creature, and decide from there what the best cause of action is.
There are many other ways of honouring animals, but these are some basics which are hopefully food for thought. http://ravenari.com/vilturr/t/finani.html
the basics of animal totems
Posted by: "Katydid"
Sat Apr 26, 2008 1:22 pm (PDT)
The Basics of Animal Totems(Ted Andrews)
1. Every animal has a powerful spirit.
2. This spirit may be its own, or that of a being who uses the animal image to communicate messages of the orld to humans.
3. Every animal has its own talents. A study of its talents will reveal the kind of medicine, magic, and power it can help you to develop within your own life. Remember, every animal has a speciality.
4. Lifelong power animals are usually wild, not domesticated, animals. There are a few exceptions, but even these exceptions are just links to the true power animal. For example, people may have dogs or cats as totems. These have their own medicine and power, but the domesticated animal may only be a softened form of its wild counterpart. A dog may be a link to the wolf, coyote, or any of the wild canine family. A cat may be a link to a member of the wild feline family, such as panthers, lions, tigers, and such. For many, beginning with the
domesticated form of the totem is a way of laying a foundation so that some day they will be able to handle and work more effectively with its true power form.
5. The animal chooses the person, not the other way around. Many believe that they can just choose an animal and start communicating with it. Usually ego gets in the way at these times. The individual chooses the animal he or she believes to be the most glamorous and powerful, rather than what is harmonious to the individual. The results are ineffectual and often frustrating. No animal is better or worse than any other. Every animal's medicine is unique. It is always much better to be powerful in mouse medicine than to be clumsy and ineffectual in eagle
medicine. You will find your greatest success in the animal that comes to you.
6. You must develop a relationship with your totem. To communicate with them demands respect. You must learn their point of view. Animals won't just warm up to you immediately. They must learn to trust you and your limitations, and you must learn to trust them and their limitations. This takes time, patience and practice.
7. You must honor your totem for its medicine to be effective in your life. The more you honor them - the more significance you give them within your life - the more powerful and effective they become.
Some of the ways you can honor them and draw them closer into your life is by:
Hanging pictures of them,
Drawing pictures of them,
Reading and learning as much about them as possible,
Buying figurines of your totem for yourself or purchasing small tokens and images of your totem and giving them to friends as gifts.
These are reminders of the power and spirit of your totem animal. Donating to wildlife
organizations with time and / or money. Dancing to honor your totem is a powerful link. Learn to mimic its behaviors. If it's a turtle, learn to creep like a turtle. If it's a lion, learn to crouch like a lion. If it's a bird, imitate its hopping or flying. And most importantly, keeping the animal alive within your imagination. See yourself as the animal totem using its qualities in appropriate places within your life. Remember that the imagination is a real link to your totem.
8. Once you learn to work with the medicine of your power animal, it then becomes a doorway to connecting with others of the animal realm. You are not limited to just one totem. Each can teach or add something to your life that the others can't. Working with your power animal will help teach you how to align with others. This way if you need greater strength, you can call up the image and draw upon the energy of a bear. If you need speed, you can connect with the energy of cheetah. Through your power animal, you learn to align with and shapeshift to the energies of other animals and beings.
9. Although there are one or even several totems that are strongest in your life and remain with you through most of it, others do play a role. You may have a totem for a day. You may have a totem that assists you through a particularly rough period in your life. One may come to you and stay with you through a cycle of several years. Another may be present when you do creative work. You are likely to have different totems for different areas of your life. There's no limit to the totems you can work with. The key though is to connect strongly and fully with at least one. This expands the consciousness and opens the bridge to others more easily.
10. More than one person can have the same totem. I know a number of individuals who work with wolf medicine. There are common factors in the way each works, but there are also differences. The archetypal energies and spirit reflected in the wolf will manifest for each uniquely, because each person is unique. The role the totem plays will be specific in many ways to the individual. Individuals who are in close relationships may share a totem. That totem becomes a guide to making the relationship stronger and more productive. The totem
may watch over the couple. Totem sharing is not limited to couples. Healing and meditation groups often share a totem animal, to oversee the activities.
link to life paths animal totems site
Posted by: "Katy_Ravensong"
Sat Apr 26, 2008 1:27 pm (PDT)
This is the first site I found that really 'hooked' me on researching totem animals/guides. That was quite a few years ago and it is still one of my favorite sites. It has many annoying popups since it's a tripod site but the info is worth it.
http://wolfs_moon.tripod.com/totemspage.html
Saturday, April 26, 2008
GREEN TARA HEALING RITUAL
This is Tara the Indian goddess, not the Irish Tara
GREEN TARA HEALING RITUAL
You will need:
1 Green candle for Green Tara
1 Candle for the sick person, in blue or pink... if you don't have that,green or white will do.
1 Black candle for removing any obstacles to good health
Green gemstones or any associated with healing, for the altar
Oils associated with healing
Cast your Circle.
Call on the 4 Elements, and the Four Guardians of theDirections (You can use the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel if you like).
Dress your candles with the appropriate oils.
If you want to carve anything on them first, that is fine.
Carve the name of the sick personon their candle, and an ankh or some symbol associated with health.
Carve on the black candle 'removal of blocks and obstacles'.
As you dress and light the candles, visualize the person being in excellent health, and enfolded in the love and green rays of Tara.
See her step down from her Lotus and come to hug the person you are asking her to help you heal.
This would be especially helpful to do before sending Reiki or other type ofhealing modality, invoking the help of Green Tara to help and add her energies to the healing.
Say this invocation three times:
HEALING INVOCATION
Blessed Tara, Goddess of Nature,
Savior and Protector
Of all who call on you;
Oh, come to me now, as I call
Upon your healing powers!
Please connect me, Divine One
To your energies,
Enable me to help ________
Who is in pain and needs you.
Your many eyes see everything;
Please look upon ________
With your great compassion...
Grant her peace and clarity,
And teach her the healthiest way
To live her life.
Praise to you, Green Mother!
Who aid all who call upon you
In their time of need;
Oh, come to me now,
As I call upon your healing powers!
Namaste.
When you are through with the invocation, thank Green Tara and the Elements, Guardians of the Four Directions, and anyone else you have asked to be with you during this ritual.
Then dismiss your Circle.
Go outside to ground yourself, and say, "So Mote It Be!"
When you come back in, relax and send your healing, unless you have already done it during the ritual.
Blessed Be.
© Copyright 4/21/08
Beth Clare Johnson(Mystic Raven)
GREEN TARA HEALING RITUAL
You will need:
1 Green candle for Green Tara
1 Candle for the sick person, in blue or pink... if you don't have that,green or white will do.
1 Black candle for removing any obstacles to good health
Green gemstones or any associated with healing, for the altar
Oils associated with healing
Cast your Circle.
Call on the 4 Elements, and the Four Guardians of theDirections (You can use the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel if you like).
Dress your candles with the appropriate oils.
If you want to carve anything on them first, that is fine.
Carve the name of the sick personon their candle, and an ankh or some symbol associated with health.
Carve on the black candle 'removal of blocks and obstacles'.
As you dress and light the candles, visualize the person being in excellent health, and enfolded in the love and green rays of Tara.
See her step down from her Lotus and come to hug the person you are asking her to help you heal.
This would be especially helpful to do before sending Reiki or other type ofhealing modality, invoking the help of Green Tara to help and add her energies to the healing.
Say this invocation three times:
HEALING INVOCATION
Blessed Tara, Goddess of Nature,
Savior and Protector
Of all who call on you;
Oh, come to me now, as I call
Upon your healing powers!
Please connect me, Divine One
To your energies,
Enable me to help ________
Who is in pain and needs you.
Your many eyes see everything;
Please look upon ________
With your great compassion...
Grant her peace and clarity,
And teach her the healthiest way
To live her life.
Praise to you, Green Mother!
Who aid all who call upon you
In their time of need;
Oh, come to me now,
As I call upon your healing powers!
Namaste.
When you are through with the invocation, thank Green Tara and the Elements, Guardians of the Four Directions, and anyone else you have asked to be with you during this ritual.
Then dismiss your Circle.
Go outside to ground yourself, and say, "So Mote It Be!"
When you come back in, relax and send your healing, unless you have already done it during the ritual.
Blessed Be.
© Copyright 4/21/08
Beth Clare Johnson(Mystic Raven)
Getting Over A Bad Day Spell
Getting Over a Bad Day Spell
April 24th, 2008
Color of the day: White
Incense of the day: Nutmeg
There are days when things just don't go right and we are feeling distressed and frustrated.
To relax and refresh oneself and start over with a better frame of mind, take a few minutes to "get over it."
This small ritual can be stripped to the bare bones and you can perform it quietly in the washroom at work or anywhere else.
Take three deep breaths and renew your connection with Mother Earth and the universe.
Wash your face with a clean cool cloth soaked in clear fresh water, and chant, "Soothing water wash care away, soothing water bring calm today."
Wash your hands with cold water and then rub lavender-scented lotion on your hands and your face.
Breathe in the calming, soothing, beautiful scent of lavender.
By: Gail Wood
April 24th, 2008
Color of the day: White
Incense of the day: Nutmeg
There are days when things just don't go right and we are feeling distressed and frustrated.
To relax and refresh oneself and start over with a better frame of mind, take a few minutes to "get over it."
This small ritual can be stripped to the bare bones and you can perform it quietly in the washroom at work or anywhere else.
Take three deep breaths and renew your connection with Mother Earth and the universe.
Wash your face with a clean cool cloth soaked in clear fresh water, and chant, "Soothing water wash care away, soothing water bring calm today."
Wash your hands with cold water and then rub lavender-scented lotion on your hands and your face.
Breathe in the calming, soothing, beautiful scent of lavender.
By: Gail Wood
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