Free Yourself Of Limitations
Living Our Deeper Song
Ashe
(“Ah-Shay”)
The Creative in me honors the Creative in you!
I didn’t like it. It was weaving in concepts and visualizations that are not taught in the original form of Tai Chi and Qigong and yoga. We are supposed to stick with the original format, right?
Well, after going through the imaginative interpretation that was being given these traditional moves, I realized I had been given the freedom to explore, to experiment and to discover Qigong and Tai Chi are martial arts that are meant to give you the balance and strength and advantage to protect yourself and win a fight. These two teachers that I listened to on the Shift Network Qigong Summit were simply adding imaginative interpretations to the moves. It was much like once having developed the skills of an instrument, you give yourself permission to improvise from your heart and soul.
This may not sit well for those of you who spent years developing your yoga practice or meditation practice or martial arts practice based on centuries old traditions.
I haven’t exactly made peace with it either. But I am giving myself permission to explore. To use my imagination to deepen and enrich my physical plane practice.
I have gone online to find moves for the kidney meridian. The instructions were to reach down and pull up the energy of the Earth into your body. I love that. I love that image. I find that putting an inner imaginative feeling beneath a specific move enriches it.
I just heard a metaphor in the Qigong Summit that really resonated with me – being aware of the female and male energy in the move and the image of being in the flow of the waxing and waning of the Yin-Yang symbol as you make the moves. It is a very fluid metaphor for me.
For instance, Yang energy manifested in the movements that expand, extend, open out, rise up, lengthen, elongate and out, and the Yin energy manifested in the movements of contraction, relaxation, close in, and sink down. I like applying those metaphors as I move. It helps me address the move internally and adds to the experience. It’s just a very strong image for me that will influence the subtleties aspect of the moves I make – beginning from within with an internal feeling. Just having those images beneath the moves adds a fascinating dimension to my experience.
I’m not sure I am explaining this well. I am both learning the correct form and adding the dimension of my imagination to power it from the inside out.
Is there an area of your life that you are following the instructions so exactly that you have not given yourself the freedom to experiment, explore, and improvise? Perhaps it’s time to go exploring and free yourself of limitations.
DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION
I examine my life for places of rigidity and turn my imagination free to loosen it up.
DEEPER SONG PROCESS
- Look at an area of your life you would like to free up and expand. Let’s begin with a physical expression. The image of the tennis serve comes up because it is a multi-faceted move that needs a fluid execution. What I place in my imagination beneath it will help direct its flow.
- Experiment with different images and see how it affects the physical plane expression.
===INNER WORK===
Deepen Your Inner Awareness
Fluid Structures
How does one build a structure that is fluid? If it’s fluid how does it ever get completed? How sturdy is a fluid structure? Or is it simply meant to be a framework for adventure.
I like that idea of my life being a framework for adventure. That means that every day I get to look at my life for a fresh perspective.
Is this still how our choice are made? What new nudges have you gotten from the universe? Where do you want to go exploring next? Or do you need to finish the path you are on before moving in a new direction?
Move within to a centered stillness to await the voice of your inner guidance.
The Spring Equinox is Monday, March 20, 2023 4:24 PM
I suggest we each create some sort of an honoring, refocusing ceremony for ourselves. The obvious metaphor is what are you going to plant? It may be a new crop or it maybe more of what you’ve got growing now but look at this as a time to pause and make some conscious choices about how you want your life to unfold over the coming year. Then plant the seeds to make that happen.
===SELF-HEALING===
Take Responsibility for Healing Yourself
Experiment
The occupational therapist said that my edema was associated with my heart and my lungs. I found awesome Qigong exercises for both. And boy, were they effective. There was much coughing on my part with the lung exercises and a literal shortness of breath on the heart moves. Remember these are simple moves in which you move the Chi energy and I am getting huge physical results.
If you have a physical problem go online and see what meridian it is on, then type in Qigong for that meridian and see what shows up for you. Experiment and find something that works for you and you’re willing to do.
Talk To Your Body And Listen Well
My body is going through healing process that is a little on the dramatic side. What I get to do is listen really well and get very creative about how I answer what I hear.
Do you listen to your body’s needs when it asks for something you’re not supplying. Or something it needs less of than what you are asking of it.
When you get involved in life, it’s hard to answer your body’s call for a nap in the middle of the day. Getting in an evening 20-minute meditation would help me. I need to get more creative and I need to get more open to different approaches to meet the physical implementation that is being requested. Sometimes it’s as simple as a pause for some deep breaths or a moment to stop whatever forward motion you’re doing mentally.
How well do you listen to your body’s need and how creative are you in answering it?
The Power of a Jacuzzi
I’ve been in hot tubs a handful of times in my life but I now have access to a Jacuzzi here in Evergreen and it is now my new favorite thing to do. As I read about what it does for you, I see it will help my arthritis, it’s going to help this situation I have with my legs, and it is an incredibly nurturing experience.
I was offered one my first week here, but it turned out the tub was broken and I hadn’t thought to ask about it since. I was offered one, took it and is now my new favorite thing. What new step can you take to add a special treat your life? Do that.
===OUTER WORK===
Explore New Potential and Possibilities
Where Is Your Passion Leading You?
And more importantly is your passion changing?
I can identify a great passion for learning and turning to share what I learned but the focus of that inquiry continues to change. That requires me to be flexible and inquisitive. I wish I could say that I pay attention to the needs of others but I don’t. My passion is so strong that I simply follow where it takes me and explore what I find and then turn and share what I learned.
Be aware of what passionately shows up that you need to explore. See if that direction holds merit for you. Explore a little. Try out some possible paths. See what others are doing and adapt what calls to you. Most of all, let your passion guide you into a new adventure often.
Stop Over-Thinking
I spent several hours trying to solve a problem that actually did not exist anywhere but in my mind. I found lots of different solutions even though none of them would be necessary. But I should have not put any time and effort into overthinking the situation.
I’m not sure how you extricate yourself from that kind of rabbit hole. My plan got pretty detailed and it turns out it wasn’t necessary at all. I have no idea what happened to “Go with the flow.”
Do you let your mind get carried away? Keep you awake? Do you picture worst case scenarios and try to figure out ways to get out of them? I think we have to learn to be more trusting that the universe will not give us more than we can handle. Trust the universe to give you the lessons that you need and the opportunities that will open new pathways for growth.
Sometimes the lesson is about how much you do not want to take that particular path. That was the reason for the lesson – for you to know that choice was not appropriate to you.
Learn to have more conversations with your inner voice. It is actually very wise.
===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===
Self-Healing Spiritual Practice and Deepening Awareness of Our Cosmic Oneness
Sing And Drum
I’m going to add something new to my spiritual practice. It came from listening to a presenter on a Shift Network Qigong summit who sang and drummed. I don’t know what language he used and it doesn’t make any difference because he set an intention and the experience was very profound – just by singing and later adding the drum.
I like the idea of singing tones rather than words that I can drape in my intention. But I am going to use my voice along with my drum and see what kind of experience I can create. I think I’ll start by using vowel sounds rather than words and simply set an intention for the experience and see what happens. I have been using my drum and singing songs that I composed to the directions but I think I will let it slowly evolve and see what shows up. I will go exploring and see where it takes me as an introspective experience. What unusual feature will you add to your spiritual practice?
===HOW TO BE A STRONG CONTRIBUTING MEMBER OF THE CIRCLE OF LIGHT BEARERS===
Expand Your Role in the Rapidly Evolving Universe
Make Space For New Growth
In gardening we make room for new growth by pruning. We cut back what has gotten too unruly in order to encourage the less vigorous plants to reach their potential.
What does that mean in your life? It means it is very easy to let one facet of our life take up too much room. It sort of creeps up and crowds out some of our favorite things because we’re giving too much time and energy to one facet of our life.
Has that happened to you? Can you identify a part of your life that needs to be scaled back – pruned if you will. And how will you do that?
Your job is probably the biggest offender and may be hardest to prune. I spend a huge amount of time at my computer because I really like to think and learn and write. But I need to make time for more physical movement. I will identify several times during my day to do my Qigong and go for a walk or any other form of movement that I choose to do. I should turn and stand and look out the window at nature to change my rhythm and address the needs of my body to shift my attention.
What will you prune from your life in order to make room for new growth?
===BROADEN YOUR HORIZON – EXPAND YOUR VIEW===
Raise Your Sights and Your Expectations
The Calling
I don’t know whether it’s the generation or the profession but as I ask the healthcare workers in this long-term facility how they got on this path, their stories share they knew they wanted to help people. Since these are the only younger people that I am around, I have no idea if other younger people are being called into a specific profession so strongly.
Some of the staff are nurses of course, but a Med-Aide’s work is helping people with their daily lives. That means bathing and dressing and eating and other bodily functions. Some of the people here have dementia. And I have had Med-Aides help me hang my stained glass in my window and also put my sea vegetables in the new spice containers, so the work can vary.
A newly licensed nurse I talked to wants to go work in labor and delivery. Another person knew she was going to become an OB/GYN surgeon. Another wants to work with handicapped children. Another really likes hanging out with older people. Of course the underlying motivation is that they want to help others.
In my recent trip to the hip surgeon which requires a Med-Aide to accompany me while I get to ride in a wheelchair in the back of the big van, I was escorted by the same person who took me on my first trip. And I remember asking her then what the qualifications were for doing this job. And she said, “You have to be a really kind person.” And they all are. How lovely, to know your own calling and have it beckon so deeply.
===OUR EVOLVING FUTURE===
Support and Encouragement for our Unfolding Role in the Future
My Foray Into AI
I’ve seen two demonstrations of ChatGPT on MacMost and I’m going to begin to use it. There is a free version. I think I’ll use it a little like I use Google to do research. It sure does get the answers fast. Welcome to the world of artificial intelligence.
You can access ChatGPT by going to chat.OpenAI.comand logging in. If you’re on OpenAI’s website, you can log in to your account, then scroll down until you see ChatGTP on the bottom.
=== ===THE UNFOLDING DIVINE FEMININE=== ===
Explore and Interpret the Guidance and Messages of the Divine Feminine
The Fight
What is unfolding in the United States is very scary. There is a portion of the population that wants to disavow huge other parts of the population – everyone who is not white – and they want to get rid of all women by preventing them from having fundamental healthcare.
One way to look at it is that the Divine Masculine is fighting to keep the control it has had for centuries.
What has the Divine Masculine shown us over the centuries? Domination and subjugation. In my cynicism I might say that’s about it. I’m a woman – a woman who has worked to get out from under male domination for a good portion of her life. And we have not achieved that yet.
Even as we fight for our freedom, we must bring forth the feminine traits of inclusiveness and caring. I’m not sure how to do that. It’s a tricky balancing act.
As mothers we can teach our sons about equality and inclusiveness and our daughters about knowing their true value and cultivating their individual path. As wives we can teach our husbands about equal partnership. As daughters we teach our parents how to embrace the new version of the role. As coworkers we can stand up for our rights without running roughshod over our male counterparts. As bosses and leaders, we teach everyone in our lives about inclusiveness.
How do you do that and where do you begin?
=== DEEPER SONG PHILOSOPHIES ===
On The Shift Network I discovered Roel Crabbe and I am drawn to his work and his energy. Ho is the meditation to connect you with a deeper awareness of the Web of Life. Enjoy
===REFLECTIONS OF A DEEPER SONG PODCAST===
We Are Cosmic Consciousness- A Deeper Song Expanded Perspective
Listen to my
Reflections of a Deeper Song Podcast on
Apple / Spotify / Googleand the
Deeper Song Website
==== DEEPER SONG EXPLORATION ===
Acupressure For Pain
My friend and gifted healer Christina Gerber taught me these acupressure points for pain.
“Your legs and feet are your thumbs and pinkies on your hands. Pressing each inch of each hand is like massaging your whole body! Your pain relates to your middle finger down to your wrist.”
===CARA’S CORNER===
Take Charge Of Your Own Health
I’m going to start learning and doing Qigong exercises for specific organs to assist in my own health. I have found videos for the Heart Meridian, Lung Meridian and Kidney Meridian as starters. These seem to be the meridians that are affecting my current physical imbalances.
Illness is about imbalanced energy and energy moves through meridians that flow throughout our body. What more direct way to self-heal than to strengthen the very channels that carry the energy through our body. What meridian will you start working on today?
Here are two places to start:
Heart Meridian With Lee Holden
Boost Your Kidney System with Alex Hui
===SING A DEEPER SONG ===
Energy Flow
I have to visualize the energy meridians in my body because I cannot feel them directly.
I have to visualize the energy meridians in my body because I cannot feel them directly. But they are there and I must encourage their clear flow.
I have to visualize the energy meridians in my body because I cannot feel them directly. But they are there and I must encourage their clear flow. I do the work to clear the path for them and I heal.
Cara Lumen, March, 2023
We create our future with every thought we think, every action we take. Move forward mindfully as you sing your Deeper Song.
Namaste,
Cara
Come Sing a Deeper Song
I help Transformational Leaders
deepen our relationship with the Unseen World
and expand our role in the New Consciousness
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