Beat the Heat

           Here in Kentucky it is so hot our fillings are melting, and that's with A/C.  The NOAA's National Climactic Data Center over 4,000 daily heat records have been broken in the last 30 days.   My first duty station in the Navy was the Philippines, where we would put on long sleeved shirts if the temperature dropped into the 80's.  How to find that place again?
            This morning I took a challenging yoga class, had lunch with my mom, did a little yard work and saw clients in the afternoon.  A really fulfilling day on the surface., but by 5:15 I was strung out, tired and almost weepy.  When I dowsed for the problem, what came up was these feelings were from the heat.  I started right where I always do, finding a few things to be grateful for.  When I had exhausted the list of the people I saw today and their gifts to me, it still felt a bit incomplete.  Then I remembered, on the way into Shine, the Hyde Park yoga studio where I have studied for the last seven or eight years, I found a copy of the most recent issue of Whole Living Journal.
              On the cover, there it was, "Are you a perfectionist? sometimes "good enough" is enough," the lead in to my first ever article! Not am I only grateful for the lessons the world's ugliest quilt taught me, but now I am grateful because it got me published!  Maybe this heat is not so bad...
               I moved on to a bit of energy work.  I really love using reiki for fatigue, just place your hands on your legs and send the power symbol.  After a few minutes, getting up and walking around the room doesn't seem so impossible.  It was time to move up to distance healing.
               When I first learned distance healing in Reiki level II, I used a teddy bear.  The stones and other tools kept sliding off, so I moved onto a pillow.  That still was not great, so I decided to make something beautiful that I would enjoy looking at and using.

          I used the red through purple to symbolize the chakras, making it easier to imagine the person I was working on laying there in front of me.  On it you see several BioGenesis tools and a card to symbolize the Holy Spirit.  This is the layout that I used today to restore freshness to my body and spirit.  It is such a help to be able to "set and forget."  These tools keep working as I make dinner and write up a blog post.
         There are so many tools in the energetic toolbox, we just need to remember them in the heat.

Let Your Freak Flag Fly! or, following divine guidance

        There we were with thousands of our closest friends, sweltering in the heat of July, waiting for the Northside Fourth of July Parade.  It was so worth it!  Anyone who has a cause, a band, or would like to advertise may join the parade.  We saw politicians and those who demonstrate against them.  We saw marching bands and drill teams (even the men's drill team that uses power drills and does routines).  There were the lawnchair ladies, unicyclists and belly dancers.  The thing that really caught my attention, though, was this...

        Fly your own freak flag.  I remember the first time a friend said this to me.  What great permission for an uptight, former naval officer, Catholic girl. I was so tightly wrapped, nothing good could get out.  But I firmly believe that God gave us all gifts, we need to find ways to use them.  Which meant it was time for a change.  After finding reiki, the adventure began.  I found my journey mirrored by some of the pictures I took yesterday.
        As an energy healer in Northern Kentucky, sometimes I feel like this guy...

     He is a fire eater, using his talents, even though it is very, very hot.  Each baton is balanced carefully, he has all the right tools, he is focused.  Everyone who sees him marvels both at his ability and at his craziness.  In those times I just keep waking up, doing what I do and looking for what in me makes life so uncomfortable.  For this fine fellow, I would recommend a change of clothes and a change of venue, like some air conditioning.  For me it is usually something similar.  I feel the emotional heat when I am trying to explain what I do to someone who has asked, but is not really interested in the answer.  They are asking the question to point out how wrong I am.  The best part is, a change of venue (i.e. walking away) can fix this as well.
     Sometimes I feel like this guy...

      Here he is, riding a unicycle and not one person is noticing him!  When I feel like a performer who is ignored, it is time to look inside.  Do I want privacy and rest, so no clients call?  Do I have a belief in failure? Am I resisting people paying me for my services?  That last one is an old foe.  We have jousted many times. He grows weaker while I grow stronger.
      More and more often, fortunately, I feel like these guys...

   ...grooving to the energy that moves through me to my clients, at one with the forces around me, making cool jazz, not noticing the people watching.  Not a bad place to be.  I'll leave you with one last picture to capture the feeling of letting your freak flag fly.  This is my nephew, covered in sweat and dirt, sitting among the family he loves, totally engaged in the spectacle that is life.

Happy 4th of July!

        Happy Fourth! I wish for you much fun, beer and sunburn.  Isn't that what celebrating the fourth feels like?  I'd love to hear about what it feels like to you, just click on the comment below and fill me in.

        The Biogenesis Masters Conference is going on each night from 9-10pm.  Though the hour feels wrong (it is being delivered from Hawaii, here is a picture above), the information and techniques are great.  One of the phrases we were meditating on is "Movement is by means of attraction."  After hanging up from the conference, this just kept resonating in my mind, setting off scores of thoughts.
         The Law of Attraction is a very popular idea, but why is it that so many adherents are so unhappy and unsuccessful?  As Abraham says "Where's my stuff?"  It makes me both laugh and say "Yeah, where is it?" at the same time.  I'm a positive person, right?  Well, maybe not in all areas.  As I talked about last Wednesday, somewhere deep inside I was unwilling to change.
         If you think about it in yoga terms, when most of us forward bend, we actually stick our stomachs out on the way down.  The protruding belly gets in the way of that forward motion.  Coming up halfway, drawing the belly in, then continuing down gives a much fuller expression of the forward bend.
        Better yet, the settlers gave up hearth and home to move to the colonies that became the United States.  The Founding Fathers gave up familiar political institutions to create the Constitution of the United States, a document I swore to support and defend nearly two hundred years later when I joined the Navy.  If movement is by means of attraction, what do you need to give up to attract the desired movement?  The joy is in the discovery.

Celebrate in Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana

     Celebration is not what one normally associates with sitting forward bends.  They are more in line with procrastination and outright avoidance.  I have been part of this movement (or lack of movement) for many years. However, things are beginning to change.
      When I thought about the Fourth of July, the word that comes to mind is celebration.  But how to find celebration in yoga?  Rather than a vigorous, crazy practice, I decided to focus on the feeling that arises after the pose.  After this forward bend, the energy rises through the body, leaving a feeling of effervescence, sometimes even fireworks.  Enjoy. (By the way, Joy the cat joined in again...)

When Good Really is Enough

        This morning I ran week 6, day 3 of the couch to 5K program again.  I love the app because it gives you directions out loud, but so far it has not fixed my confidence problem.  Though I have been working the program for about 9 weeks, but running 20 minutes straight (week 7, day 1) has not happened yet.  I'm pretty sure Wednesday will be my day (today was pretty good), but I was not happy with myself.

        I'm out running and this is what I see...  Wow.  I was beginning to see that the win was just getting out the door. Not 200 yards further, I was treated to a beautiful sycamore and her twin.

I love their beauty and strength.  Like an old married couple they are both shaped and strengthened by their partner.  Just being there was good enough.

Time for a Change

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one getting burned.~Buddha

In this year of the Great Transformation, I would change holding on to anger to holding on to the past, but he really got this one right.  Life happens now...and now....and now....and now.  Time to enjoy.

A Little Help from my Friends

              It was time.  I couldn't put it off any longer.  Today was the day to write "the letter."  There was an aspect of my business lingering in limbo and it needed to be released.  First I wracked my brain, then I searched the web for templates.  Those first few attempts were unfortunate to say the least.  It was time to ask for help.  

              Wouldn't it be great to be able to hear guidance while confused?  Well, I'm not there yet.  Guidance during a reiki session or while teaching and counseling is easy.  When you don't have a horse in the race it is easy to be calm about the winner (and loser.)  Now, however, I was looking for a graceful exit strategy and was coming up with a whole lot of nothing.  Meditation wasn't happening so I went back to basics, dowsing basics that is.

               This is a picture of the opening page of Help One Another, an anthology of the teachings of Hanna Kroeger.  The pink post it notes remind me to slow down and open to grace while dowsing.  The first says "Open Pineal."  A little information in the pineal and how to open it are in this article on my website.  After opening the pineal gland,  the next note says "May I? Can I? Should I?"  These important questions must all be answered yes, to move on to the next step.  May I? asks if this is permissible.  For example, if I wanted to dowse one of my adult sons, I first need their permission.  A question without permission invades their privacy.  Can I? addresses the issue of am I able and is this knowable.  Should I?  Is this a question that it is good for me to ask and answer at this time?

              After preparation I turned to my angel cards.  I like these cards, not for the pictures or booklet that came with them, but rather for all the positive words.  They are quite useful for blessing houses, distance reiki and getting to the root of problems.  Here they are, the cards and my pendulum.  I prefer the Hanna Kroeger steel pendulum because it is light and fits easily in my pocket or purse, but I have even used my hoodie strings as a pendulum in the grocery store.  The weight doesn't seem to matter much.

               I'll break the deck into sections asking "Is the card with my answer in this stack?" over and over.  If a stack gets a no it is set to the side, if the answer is yes, fan the cards out and ask the pendulum to point to the card or cards that apply.

               For tonight's question, here was my answer.

             This is where intuition comes into play.  Really, Playfulness?  After quiet reflection I realized I was taking myself way too seriously, again.  Ten minutes later the letter was finished, proofread and printed.  I love great advice and who better to ask.