Being Present to One's Heart

"The most important therapeutic ability is the capacity to be present with the heart and to be grounded in our inner being, in the authentic self, in the meditative quality within, in the inner source of love and truth, through which we can meet another person." says Dhyan Giten, from his new book “Presence - Working from Within.”

I agree with Dhyan, and I would say, in addition to being present in the heart and grounded in our inner being - a part of the work I do in SHEN Therapy-  be present to the "Now" (a/k/a mindfulness, what's objectively happening, "what's so"), and be aware of one's physical and emotional sensations. Have whatever comes up be ok (and in fact, these sensations are valuable teachers, as they can clue you to your authentic feelings).

I work with trauma survivors as well as highly sensitives. Some of my clients come to me habitually disassociating from their bodies, with panic attacks, and/or feelings of frequent overwhelm.  I've facilitated clients who were traversing a dark night of their soul and those in the midst of struggling to emerge from a history severe abuse. Some come to me out of touch with value in themselves and/or meaning in their life.

An insight I've received and shared is that those who have survived traumatic experiences bring an authenticity to their communication which is reassuring to others who have similar experiences  This authenticity is unmistakeable, and it can help other survivors of trauma to come to listen and to trust, and to realize recovery and healing is possible for them as well,  because someone else has been through it and understands. If it's their heart's desire, my clients can reach those who perhaps would not let themselves be reached a therapist who comes from academic theory only.

And at the very least, the experience of surviving incest, distorted caregiving, etc. can teach you what you don't like, and how you don't want to be. I tell my clients that now they have the glorious, gorgeous opportunity to discover for themselves what they do like, and what does nourish them. My clients start to do just that: in their exploration, they discover what their authentic self enjoys and what their heart enjoys doing. Some have gone on to become therapists, others have become speakers,  writers, artists, advocates and nurturing parents.

We can bloom out of a history of suffering and defilement, just as a Lotus grows out of rich muck, its blossoms, fragrance, and beauty inspiring all.

From Dhyan Gitan's Facebook page:  Swami Dhyan Gitan was trained in modern psychology at the University of Stockholm, and in Eastern methods for awareness in USA, Sweden and India. He has 22 years of experience in individual counseling and teaching awareness.

"Walk as if you are Kissing the Earth with Your Feet" - Thich Naht Hahn

Photo from: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Sunshine-Page/117136288381773

Inspiration

“Start calling yourself healed, happy, whole, blessed, and prosperous. Stop talking to God* about how big your mountains are, and start talking to your mountains about how big your God is!” ― Joel Osteen

(*If you're not comfortable with God, feel free to insert Buddha, the Goddess, Nature,or unconditional Love instead)


As a highly sensitive, I've found connecting with the Divine, with the Life that is in everyone and in everything yields a beautiful nourishment, which replenishes and renews me.

Every Sunday, I spend some time in contemplation and I look for inspiration in preparation for the work week ahead. I love and use an Oracle -- often a deck of cards--to assist me to move me into the realm of seeing the possible, and I have about a dozen decks from several sources.

Doreen Virtue offers weekly inspiration from her many sets of Oracle card decks. Here is the one for the current week, with Doreen's interpretation:



Doreen comments, “The Goddess cards show a sweet week ahead of self-care, and the more self-care that you give to yourself, the sweeter the week is. Remember to ask for and allow others to help you!”


Another way to connect with the Divine is to notice what's beautiful in your life.
John Keats: "A thing of beauty is a joy forever."


Arabian stallion Hucks Connection V - Scottsdale Liberty Champion 2010.
The lovely Arabian stallion Connection performs ears up in joyful beauty, grace and masculine machismo in the Liberty class at Scottsdale, Arizona to the song "Macho Man" (originally sung by the Village People).

In a Liberty class, the horse is set free, and is judged on how well he or she moves, how it uses the entire arena, displays its gaits, and how well its movement fits the music (or vice versa). After the music stops, the handler must catch and halter the horse within 90 seconds. Connection heads over to the gate and waits for his handler as soon as the announcer calls "Time." Enjoy this performance - one judge gave it a perfect score!

Zen and Meditation on the End of Suffering

The practice of mindfulness is particularly helpful for the highly sensitive.

Today I begin my day in thankfulness, peace and gratitude. Today I meditate to the sound of the bell and the beautiful words of the beloved Buddhist monk and Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hahn on The End of Suffering:




"May the sound of this bell penetrate deep into the cosmos
Even in the darkest spots living beings are able to hear it clearly
So that all suffering in them ceases, understanding comes to their heart
And they transcend the path of sorrow and death.

The universal dharma door is already open
The sound of the rising tide is heard clearly
The miracle happens
A beautiful child appears in the heart of the lotus flower
One single drop of this compassionate water is enough to bring back the refreshing spring to our mountains and rivers.

Listening to the bell I feel the afflictions in me begin to dissolve
My mind calm, my body relaxed
A smile is born on my lips
Following the sound of the bell, my breath brings me back to the safe island of mindfulness
In the garden of my heart, the flowers of peace bloom beautifully." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh

“We always have a choice,” the Tibetan Buddhist nun Pema Chödrön teaches, “we can let the circumstances of our lives harden us and make us increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us and make us kinder.” 

Thanks to Denise for this quote:
“A further sign of health is that we don't become undone by fear and trembling, but we take it as a message that it's time to stop struggling and look directly at what's threatening us.”― Pema Chödrön, The Places that Scare You, A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times 


I'd add to that: what we THINK is threatening us.  Most of the time, our scary thoughts are about the future, or something in the present triggers a reminder of our past and we want to prevent a yucky like that from ever happening again.  So as the honored teacher Pema Chödrön suggests above, let's look directly, and let ourselves feel what we feel. As we do, notice what's happening in and around us in the present time, and we'll find that most (95% and higher)  moments are safe. --Ayleyaell

from http://pemachodronfoundation.org/

Video made by Adèla Stefanov: ‪

http://visionaryartgallery.weebly.com/adela-stefanov.html‬

Meditation and Music from Graceful Passages, written and produced by Michael Stillwater and Gary Malkin, with music by Gary Malkin.

Graceful Passages is a spoken word/music recording and gift book, designed to help open the conversation around mortality for anyone, but particularly for those facing it directly.with messages from 12 of the world's most profound wisdom keepers including Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Thich Nhat Hanh,  Elisabeth Kubler- Ross, and Ram Dass.


From Michael's website: "Graceful Passages, proven effective in reducing anxiety of major transitions, and supporting family members, patients, and health care providers with a spiritual sanctuary around the dying process." 

Jack Canfield, co-creator of the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series, says:

"If you are going through challenges, or helping others going through transitions of any kind, I highly recommend Graceful Passages. The music is extraordinary, the spoken wisdom is timeless, and the gift book is exquisite. Let this masterpiece of healing music and inspiring words be an audio sanctuary for your soul and a priceless gift to share with someone you love."

Gandhi's Wisdom

Practicing some of Mahatma (A respectful title which means "Great Soul") Gandhi's philosophy can help the sensitive soul to participate more in today's intense world.

1. Truth
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”

“Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed."

"Aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.”


2. Control.
“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”


3. Action.
“An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.”

4. Change
“You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

“As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves.”


5. The present moment.
“I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present.
God has given me no control over the moment following.”


6. Everyone is human.
“I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.”

“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”

7. Persist.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”


8. Goodness.
“I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won’t presume to probe into the faults of others.”

“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.”

9. Forgiveness.
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."

“An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

10. Development.
“Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.”



And now, I invite you to arrange yourself comfortably,  open your senses, breathe and take in the marvelous "Gandhi Rap," by MC Yogi.  Enjoy!




Thanks to Claudia Kinnaman, whose email inspired this post!

Gandhi oil portrait - many sources, looking for origin

Gandhi with 2 women at PeaceWalk/ Picture source: 
http://harlemworldblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/mahatma_gandhi.jpg

What is Chi?

In answer to a Facebook friend's question, What is Chi? I wrote the following:

Above: Calligraphy of word: Chi

The word Chi is Chinese, and the modernized spelling is Qi. Both are pronounced "chee." (I've noticed that people seeing the word Qi for the first time pronounce it Kwee ...or Key.  "Key" is actually how the Japanese pronounce their word for Chi, but you'll see it spelled Ki). 

Chi translates as "vital life force." The calligraphy (at left) is made up of the words steam (or vapor) and rice, and implies nourishment.  

Chi is carried in the air, suffuses the tissues and travels through the acupuncture meridians. Chi is perceivable and measurable, Western science has studied it as a naturally occurring far infrared field. 


I would describe Chi as a naturally occurring biofield produced by all life and living. The term biofield was coined by Richard Pavek, who developed SHEN Physio-Emotional Therapy® and who wrote the following 3 articles. The last article is a subsection of a study on  Alternative Medical Systems and Practices in the United States commissioned by the National Institute of Health:
 
Brief History of the Biofield
Measurement of the Biofield
Biofield Therapeutics

From The Empire Strikes Back copyright Lucasfilms

Chi has much in common with "The Force" of George Lucas' Star Wars, or rather, I suspect "The Force" probably has its origins in research about Chi.  Lucas said the concept was universal: "Similar phrases have been used extensively by many different people for the last 13,000 years to describe the 'life force.'   From Obi-wan Kenobi: "It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together." and from Yoda, "Luminous beings are we, not this (apparent) crude matter."  

Chi is noted and described in many cultures, and is called yesod in kabbalistic tradition, pneuma to the Greeks and in Christian studies, baraka to the Sufis and prana in India.


SHEN Therapy uses Chi energy to relax and release emotional and physical pain and provide hands-on help for recovery from grief, pain, injury, abuse, and trauma. Physically, the SHEN protocols use Chi to relax tissue, (and thus contractions of tension held deeply in the body) normalize blood flow, reduce stress, and restore well being: http://lightkin.webs.com/shen.htm

I often use a patented "Chi Machine,"Japanese designed and German engineered, with clients in my practice and for my own personal health care. http://chihealth.webs.com/ayleyaellsstory.htm

As to what an article on Chi is doing in a blog devoted to experiences for the highly sensitive, strong chi is able to reach deeply into the physical body, through casts, through bandaged wounds, through pain, and precipitate healing.  Highly sensitives, as well as muggles describe the sensations of Chi healing as a gentle warmth, a tingling, and more rarely,  comfortably cool, like "a soft silver."


I found the following fascinating 5 minute video on youtube which describes the strokes and the meaning of the calligraphy for Chi above. You may wish to turn down or turn off the African beat auto-tuned soundtrack.

Angels come in All Sizes and Different Flavors

Sometimes the Angels send us an angel like Jackie Evancho who opens her mouth and heaven pours out.  Other times they send us a powerhouse who reminds us that strength and sensitivity can come in all sizes...

I especially enjoy media platforms like America's Got Talent when they showcase performances and people that enchant, uplift and inspire.

Anna Graceman is an amazing eleven year old.   I'm reminded of Menolly, heroine of Anne McCaffrey's young adult novel*Dragonsong, though we first meet Menolly when she is 15, and both Anna's parents are clearly supportive and nurturing, the opposite of Menolly's dismissive parents. Both girls, the live one and the fictional one, shine with musicality and have a talent for writing and composing that can't be denied.

Eleven years of age has become a magical milestone; world wide, those turning eleven wait and hope for an owl bringing them a letter inviting them to Hogwarts.  Anna is creating her own path to renown.

Enjoy Anna!




An original song by Anna: "Lexi's Lullaby"




*Dragonsong was one of the books cited when McCaffrey's "lifetime contribution in writing for teens" made her the 1999 recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award --- Wikipedia