Sacral Chakra.3

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

How are your daily walks coming along? The weather has been perfect for evening strolls, though I realized last night that the days are getting shorter. Dusk fell around 8pm. Remember when daylight stretched all the way to ten at night?

I’d like you to think about your Sacral Chakra. The second chakra, located below your belly button. This chakra helps us know who we are, and stay true to ourselves in any given situation. To appreciate the darkness and the light within our own make up. So I’d like you to take pen and paper, and write.

Who do you want to be when you grow up? Not just a job– but what aspects of you the job you want symbolizes. Are you a healer? A go-getter? Someone who cares deeply about providing for your family? Do you feel deeply, do you try not to feel? Are you an artist, a great cook– Who do you want to be when you grow up? This should be a long list, or a few pages of writing it out. Delve.

Take your time. Think about your values. Which ones are important to YOU? Which ones have you taken on because you were “supposed to value that”? Who do you want to be? Not because others would value you, but because those traits and activities and ways of being in the world CALL TO YOU.

When you’ve exhausted your list, go back through it. Highlight the ones that catch your attention. Highlight the ones that you really feel.

Write those down on one side of a fresh page. On the other side, think about what you do, or what small thing you could easily add to your life as it is now that moves you toward that way of being in the world. You may realize (in fact, if you are really seeing your self, and not just having a pitty party, you WILL realize) that you have already become some of the things on your list. That you have already taken some steps toward others. You may come to realize that if you start slowly, and acknowledge your accomplishments and your real self (the self underneath all those social standards and professional standards and coping mechanisms)… You can be the person you dream of becoming.

You’re already half-way there. Welcome home to your Sacral Chakra. Your way of being in the world.

Be Well.

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Respect Yourself

Friday, August 27th, 2010

My housemate likes to leave the door open for airflow. But at night, and on chilly evenings, I really don’t like being alone in the room with the door wide open. So I close it. Then he walks through to let the dog out, and when they come back into the house, he carefully props the door back open, and goes back into his office.

Respect comes in many forms. Respecting one’s basic needs like food, shelter and safety. Respecting one’s dislikes such as too much meat on my dinner plate. Respecting one’s opinions, such as “Please don’t use that word around me. I find it really disrespectful to women. That includes me.” And respect for the differences between people. When my housemate spends time in the room, I’m fine with him keeping the door open. And now that I’ve pointed out that i INTENTIONALLY close that door, he’s trying to pay more attention to leaving it the way he found it when he’s not going to be in the room.

The thing is– we have to respect ourselves before we can ask anyone else to respect us. And it’s through active (non-aggressive) self respect that we show others how we expect to be treated, and what behaviors are acceptable/unacceptable if they want to be a part of our lives. If I didn’t tell him I wanted the door shut, he would never have noticed or cared that he was opening it. If I don’t make time for my projects and goals, nobody will. If I don’t take good care of myself, who will?

Basic respect is a two-way street. Respect everyone you love, including yourself.

Be Well.

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Sacral Chakra .2

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

The Sacral Chakra is often very challenging for women because it is where we come into our own as individuals, express our passions, feel our emotions, and enjoy our bodies. All things that our society teaches us not to do.

This chakra has a lot to do with water, and with expression. I’d love for each of us to take time this week to express our creativity. Paint something free-flowing and BIG. Even if it’s just a little water on a brush and a blank white wall that will dry back to blank white. Use finger paints. Work with clay or some other medium that really lets you be physical in your expression. And don’t worry about perfection. That’s not the point of this. The point is to involve your body in active expression of inner creativity.

Take time to light a candle, lock the bathroom door, and take a long cleansing bath or shower. Think of it as washing yourself clean energetically. A safe place to get out all the anger, fear, passion, joy– and become open to who you are and how you are in the world. A water cleansing. Think about using a little EO in the water (or put a drop on the hot tap so it radiates into the air of your shower)– maybe vanilla or rose or lavender. Maybe gardenia or jasmine.

Take walks this week, get comfortable with how your body moves through the world. Find at least one part of your body that you think is beautiful. For example, I’ve noticed that my feet are really sexy. I love my high arch, and the way foot flows into toes. I also love my little pinkey fingers. They are crooked due to a recurring genetic trait of my mom, my grandmother, my great grandmother. They remind me of who I am, and where I came from. And I like that about that part of my body. What do you like about your body? Your hair? The color of your eyes? The curve where your hip flairs out?

You are beautiful. Not just because of your body, but also because of your beautiful heart, and your wonderful way of being in the world. Embrace your unique self. Meditate on your own sweetness, your desires, and the positive changes you are making in your life and your health.

Be Well.

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Honestly

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

Okay. I give up on the whole “separate workshop” idea for now. There will be no password needed, and I’ll continue posting my chakra stuff in with the other blog posts. HOWEVER, I’m keeping the idea in mind. When I have time to sit down and plan out a workshop and it’s resource materials in full, I may try to post it separately en total.

Also, once my schedule calms down, and I can safely set aside times to work on creating online workshops, this will be much easier to do. For the sake of my sanity, and having some sort of follow-through, I’m dropping the complexity of passwords and separation. In the meantime, expect another Sacral Chakra post tomorrow.

Be Well.

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The Book

Sunday, August 22nd, 2010

So I spent between two and seven years (depending on how you look at it– two intensive years on a seven-year-long project) writing a really important book about what it’s like to deal with PTSD and the Iraq War. It’s honest. It’s painful in parts, funny in parts, and really interesting all the way through. It even has a fairly happy ending, in a weird way. But I had a hard time finding an agent, and when the book was mostly done, I was so SICK OF WRITING IT that I just put the whole project on the back burner.

Now, I just saw a news report that the last of the American troops in Iraq are on their way home. The news made me cry. It’s finally over. Now, we just have to overcome the after-effects. The economy may recover– it’s already showing signs of improvement. But our soldiers? I worry about them. So I’ve started marketing my book to agents again. I believe that educated voters make better choices, and my book is a sneaky way of educating people about the after-effects of war. This war.

I hope that by understanding the day-to-day challenges of living with PTSD, this generation of soldiers will finally get the psychological support they need to live healthy, happy, productive lives. The first two years that soldiers came home from their tour in Iraq, the divorce rate on post was 75%. That’s ridiculous, and avoidable. But it starts with providing support for the wives while their husbands are gone (and vise versa), and providing support for the husbands once they return home. Support that is confidential and doesn’t affect their military career or standing with their peers. Support that is given to all, even if they don’t show obvious signs of extreme PTSD right off the transport.

Anyway, it feels good to be putting my book out there again. If I get to a point of having some extra money, I may just self-publish it. Anyway, if you want more info, or you want to read the first chapter of the book before it is published, there’s a tab at the top of the page that says “The Book.” Go for it.

And above all, Be Well.

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Caring for Community

Friday, August 20th, 2010

I’ve been looking for work that would fit around my classwork for the next few years. A friend suggested elder-care. I’m so glad she did! I interviewed with a great company today, and am now signed up for training next Friday.

The company I’ll be working with provide everything from nursing staff to ordinary people who enjoy making new friends, cooking meals, doing a bit of shopping or light housekeeping, and sharing stories about life. Right now, I qualify as one of the ordinary folk. I’ll be scheduled to visit older people in their homes, and do the little things around the house that make up daily life– and that are sometimes really hard to do for yourself as you age.

I can’t believe someone is paying me to look at old photos, listen to life stories, do some healthy cooking, and maybe help someone change clothes once in a while, as needed. I know there’s a lot more to it than that– but I really am that excited about it!

AND this sort of job fits really well around classes and other commitments. I’m so excited. Also, since I’ll be both working, and giving back /serving my community, it’ll be a little easier for me to say no to other projects and volunteer opportunities in the future. I might even have enough time to visit my folks once in a while! Imagine that.

Be Well.

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So Cool!

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

Yesterday and today have been such gifts. Cool, but still very comfortable, and the sun didn’t beat down quite so intensely. I even got caught in a mini rainstorm on Tuesday. A big grey cloud overhead, surrounded by fluffy white thunderheads, and then a few fat drops splatting down on my windshield. I even got to use my wipers! A moment later the cloud lifted, but those few drops were Manna from heaven.

Today we’ve planned a family adventure. An opportunity to see new trees and new lakes and rivers. A chance to get outside and appreciate what is. As we learn to be present in our own lives, we often realize that RIGHT NOW isn’t so bad, really. We have a few good friends, we eat good food, and everywhere we look, there are trees. Learning to appreciate what is… That lesson is the difference between hope and despair. Today, I hope you see the beauty that surrounds us, and find hope in what is.

Be Well.

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Sacral Chakra

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

The second chakra is the Sacral Chakra. It governs emotion, passion, intimacy, sexuality, creativity, comfort with one’s body, self-nurturing and change.

The second chakra is connected to water, one’s sense of taste, one’s ability to cope with change, movement and the color orange. The second chakra is located below the navel, in the lower abdomen, genitals and womb. It affects one’s circulatory system, bladder and kidneys, sexual and reproductive organs.

As we work with this chakra, it is important to keep in mind that without change, there is no growth, no movement, and no life. The Sacral Chakra is about learning to go with the flow. Energy, abundance, passion, life force, and change all function as flowing rivers, full of movement and direction. As we work with our second chakra, we learn to feel the flow, and move with it. Going against these tides is exhausting, and rarely helps us to reach our destination.

Grace, self-expression, self-awareness, intuition and flexibility all offer the benefit of moving with our personal tides, life changes, and with the greater flow of prosperity and fulfillment in the world. It is in working with the second chakra that we begin to understand and accept who we are.  We differentiate between the Self, and the World. We become pregnant with possibility, and we discover that creative passion can be expressed with the body, the mind, and the spirit.

Our goal this month is to let go of limiting thoughts and self-judgments, and open to flow. Welcome to Sacral Chakra month. Watch for the password-protected post each week. This will be your opportunity to continue working with me on your Sacral Chakra. Second chakra.

Be Well.

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Spiral Moon

Saturday, August 14th, 2010

The New Moon happened this week. I was so busy enjoying it that I forgot to write about it! This moon I call Spiral Moon.

Spiral Moon reminds us of the interconnection of all life, of all events. We are coming around again to Autumn, to Harvests, to salmon have spawned, and now return to the river banks. New life begins even as the old life comes to an end.

Today, there is a heat advisory in Portland. But by the time the full moon comes around, the mornings will be chilly and the wind will carry just a hint of the coming cold. Some Native American tribes called this the Moon when Salmon Return to the Earth.

Pacific salmon are born in fresh water streams, but live their lives in the ocean. Eventually, they return to the stream they were born in, spawn their eggs, and acknowledge that their life journey is done. They settle in at the edge of the stream to die.

It is here that wild bear and other animals come to feast, to build their reserves of protein and fat for the lean winter months. They bring many salmon carcases onto the banks of the stream. Here, the salmon serve one more vital purpose. Their decomposition provides nitrogen fertilizer for the conifers and other trees along the bank.

Nothing in nature is wasted, and everything has a purpose. Even death contributes something vital to the living. It is the spiral dance. Energy flowing through and around all living things. Days and nights passing as they do every year. Ceremonies taking place. Spiral Moon.

Be Well.

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Crashing

Saturday, August 14th, 2010

This week, I received an email from a friend. Her family were out driving, and had been rammed by a drunk driver. Everyone lives, but there are young children and brain injuries and spinal injuries and bruises and nightmares.

I am sending them healing energy and love. This family is part of our community, and they work hard to contribute to our community. Please send them a bit of your healing energy, good wishes, and compassion in return. And if you think you might drink tonight, plan on leaving your car at home.

Be Well.

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