How are you doing? It has now been 5 months since the opening of „Heavens Cross“ in March. We are surrounded by changes on all levels and in all systems. Weather extremes show that even Gaia is going through a major transformation at the moment. How are you dealing with this personally? Are you succeeding in always being in the Eye of the hurricane to bring a Haven of peace to find in your personal inner landscape? Do you regularly manage to get yourself out of your thoughts, which are trained to perceive conflicts and threats and follow everything until it is resolved? As you've probably already realized, your thoughts can't solve anything, but only fuel the whirlwind inside you if you get caught up in them. What are your resources in these times? What techniques and opportunities do you have to consciously anchor yourself and find balance and calm in stormy times?
Perhaps you already use the Conscious breathing. Speaking of which, you are of course cordially invited to ATEM on WednesdaysSPACE Online, where we do exactly that: „Get back in touch with yourself and what is currently showing up in you.“ Or you can regularly practise the Coherent breathing, which is very balancing and regenerating for the heart, brain and breathing. As some of you have already experienced, I enjoy using the Aria APP (www.ariabreath.com), because here I can immerse myself sensually in the musical accompaniment and really get out of the constant hustle and bustle in my head.
Sometimes you ask yourself: „How much longer is this going to go on, will it get even more extreme in the next few years or will it no longer be „good“ in the world or for me personally?“ Exhaustion and Hopelessness are increasingly noticeable. Do you know this? If so, welcome, you are not alone... we are all going through this right now, no matter how psychologically trained or spiritually aware you are. Everyone has their challenges right now, their inner parts that are coming forward or past experiences/relationship patterns that are seeking healing. I know it doesn't help you to know this, but maybe it can reassure you a little, because it's NOT ON YOU!
When I take my dog for a walk, I use this opportunity to be in nature, away from all the issues of the day and I try to engage with my breath and the conscious experience of walking. In my imagination I focus on the intention: I RECEIVE... I breathe in and receive life energy - I see something beautiful and breathe it in - I allow myself to listen to sounds and receive them within me - I consciously feel into my body as I walk and then I realize: everything is always in motion. It is a constant Flow of my experience that flows through me. I think the trick is to relax into this flow. Then I feel safe because it flows through me... My thoughts fade into the background and become unimportant. Then I feel that I am carried in this flow - carried in my existence. I feel...
... life breathes me...
AND,
... I don't have to DO anything for it...
... it happens all by itself, because there is always a next breath and something that wants to be experienced through me next. That's what I'm here for. That is the gift of being human. This daily routine - „consciously receiving“ - anchors me within myself and I manage to find my way back to this center, which is always there, faster and faster, even in the bigger whirls of everyday life. It breathes me...
... but today my realization went one level deeper: I stood on the banks of the Weser and looked out over the water. Interesting - I think - this river is like the „Flow of life„. I feel as if the incoming waves are coming from the past and they continue to flow into the future. I perceive them in the NOW. My eyes were very still in a line across the water. Then I realized that I have a choice: I can either look at the ripples, as an analogy for thoughts and information. I can look at what they contain, how they develop and when they disappear (narrow focus). However, this is quite exhausting in the long run and I have to keep concentrating. But the second way of looking is to observe the FLOW, not the individual waves (open focus). And when I do that, something inside me relaxes. Life flows, I don't have to DO anything.
The question is: Am I present enough to really just let my experience happen in this moment, as it presents itself to me right now? Regardless of whether it is pleasant or challenging. Can I let myself be touched by this experience and receive it! To open myself to it, not to close myself off. Not to fight with my experience or to flee from it. Can I perhaps even remain curious and open?
Of course, it's possible with beautiful things. But I've just had an example of an exercise that wasn't so easy for me. My wild cat Charlie had a festering abscess on his leg and couldn't be caught. Matthias and I tried for 4 days without success. It wasn't easy for me to stay soft and open all the time, and to feel in the moment what wanted to happen next without completely exhausting myself because I was so worried. Eventually we managed it thanks to a cat landing net and after treatment at the vets Charlie is now well again. What I have learned from this is that I can trust in a greater whole, in the „flow of life“ that always goes on, even if I stop in between to recharge my resources and refocus.
But now back to the Weser, where I could perceive the flow, because now it became even more interesting: I had the impulse to broaden my focus. Not only to perceive the flow on a line in the present, but the entire river in its landscape. And suddenly I realized: there is no past or future, everything takes place in the now. All possible waves on the river are now. All Potentials, how a situation could develop are already there in the present moment. And I „choose“ them through my perception.
A river full of potential experiences that flows through my Perception in the now moves. Isn't that interesting? And I can neither contain nor control this flow and if I try to resist it, it is likely to become more unpleasant for me. However, if I remain anchored in my presence (in the middle of the whirlwind) and open myself to the flow in this moment, feel that I am embedded in a greater whole, then it becomes peaceful within me, it happens Synchronicities and I am in the Flow. Everything is already there within me and wants to be experienced through me. If I manage to be so still that I can feel: LIFE BREATHS ME
Finally, I have one more small breathing exercise for you to try out, e.g. if something has triggered you or simply during your breathing meditation.
It goes like this...
1) I breathe in as if I were filling a balloon inside...
2) I pause for a moment and feel how „filled“ and nourished I am by the breath
3) I let the exhalation happen... slowly, long and gently.
Another picture would be...
1) Inhale: I draw the bow
2) Hold: I feel myself in my full energy and strength
3) Exhale: I let go (of myself/or the topic)
I wish you a great start to September
All the love
sandra
