We are all wounded

I thought not to write a post, since the terrible shootings.  But then I found a meditation I wrote it in 2003 probably after the death of my mom or dad and I am directed to place it here.


Go into your body- find a tender place, a place that hurts from something that has happened in this life.  Feel how like a wound that place is- tender to the touch, sore.

It may be from a long time ago. It may be from some time recently.  We tend to clench up as things hurt us.  We get tighter and tighter until we really can't remember why we are so defended against life.  Tense in certain parts of our body and our mind.

Tonight, if you would like , I invite you to go into that hardness and begin to soften your stance, as you will, towards your wound.

We are all wounded.  We are all also strong.  Sometimes the strongest thing we can do is feel the pain.

So, slowly, approach one particular hard spot.  Find it in your body or your mind.  Do you know where it came from?  Start to remember the incident or circumstance that caused that tightening.

Be very compassionate with yourself.  Just soften it a little.  Open just a bit.  Breathe.  Stay with that a while.

Begin to see how that sorrow has formed you as a person. Instead of clenching your body, open slowly, gently.

Open your wound and let in love.  There are great lessons in sorrow,  great growth can come from it.

Open to the light of God.  Flood your sorrow with light.  Open, expand your sorrow with light.

Feel it transform into love. Love is the reason behind all that is.  Your pain transforms into the light, until it is sending love out to all the world.   Until it creates more light, more light to transform into the glory of creation.

Let go. Let go of the pain.  Let go of the Love.

And Love will be returned to you a thousandfold.

We are all children of the love that forms the universe.  The love that holds the universe together.

Nothing is ever lost.  Everything is transformed into love.

Surrender into God and Goddess's love.

Namaste.

Starting Your Day

Upon awakening, begin to notice the sounds around you. Birds calling each other , people making coffee in the kitchen, cars going by- all beginnings of a new day.

Feel how relaxed your body is. Notice your breathing.  Begin to breathe deliberately into each part of your body.  Breathe with your toes,  your feet, your ankles.  You are waking yourself up with your own energy.  Breathe with your calves,  your knees, your thighs.  Breathe with your hips and belly.  Breathe with your solar plexus,  your heart. Breathe through your arms and hands, your shoulders.  Breathe with your throat.  Breathe lightly through your ears.  Breathe lightly with your eyes, clearing your sight.  Breathe with your brain, oxygenizing all the cells and connections there.  Let the breath be a bubbling breath, letting go of all heaviness as you become more and more awake, breathing now with your whole body.

By now, you might feel a bit fluttery, so bring in a core of energy from above your head, as wide as your body.  Bring it all the way through to below your feet.  I picture this as literally a golden core of light.  Make it wider still, expanding to fill your aura, filling in any little rips or tears.

Feel this core energy as very strong, anchoring you to earth and sky.

Now, think about your day-  what you plan to do, what you must do.  See yourself walking through your day and everything going well.  You don't have to go into detail, just things generally working out the way you planned.  Breath and relax and say to yourself, "I'm going to have a perfect day."

Approach your day from this energized yet calm place.  With clear seeing, clear hearing, clear speaking and an open heart for this chance to live this day, on this earth, right now.
 
Blessings to you on your journey today- 

Falling asleep

Here is a way to help you fall asleep.As you lie there, relaxed and breathing,  send healing to every part of your body.  Beginning with your toes (each one!), your heels, your arches, your ankles, and so on.  Get really miniscule with it like this and work your way up your whole body.

Take your time with this and use a color.  I like golden, but on another day, pink, blue, lavender or green  might be better.  You can go into each system as it connects together, for instance, your digestive system,  sending healing to each section.

You will probably fall asleep before you reach the top of your head, but that's OK- You will have set a healing intent and your healing will continue as you sleep.

If there is a certain area you are having trouble with, flood it with soft, soothing light-  don't worry, the light is limitless so you can pour on as much as you want. Then continue on with the next area of your body. 

When you are about through, as you lie there in a state of healing, visualize an energy blueprint of your body hovering just above you.  See it as your perfect body, that is completely healed and happy. Bring this blueprint into your body, merging the two.  While you're at it, shave off a few years and make yourself  younger- it can't hurt!

You don't have to effort on any of this- it is easy, just start goofing around with it .In  practicing this, you will get in touch with yourself as your own healer- and in touch with all that is right about your body.  Your  body does so much for you and does it well.  It also wants to heal any problem areas and you can help. Try it!

Blessings-  Lia

Releasing Anger

While anger can be righteous and sometimes motivating, most of the time it just gums up the works.Anger causes our blood pressure to rise,  clenches up the body and leaves a bad residue.
So today, we are going to work on releasing that residue.

Go into your mind and release any anger you have stored there.  You may think you don't have any but if you start to look you will find it.  It may be a time you took offense,  or things did not go the way you thought they would. 

It is as if there are little birds flying around in circles, trapped, around and around in your mind.  Release them!  And they will fly away so fast, so glad to be free.  You will feel better.  Do this a number of times until you are empty of these constructs.

Go into your chest and feel the tension of leftover anger there. Breathe and release the anger on the outflow.

Release the tension from your heart, letting the last bit flow down your fingertips.  Release anger from your belly, your gut, from the base of your spine.

And finally, go into your spine, starting at the base and feel that last bit of stored resentment.  Release the tension and let it pop out through the chakras in front of your body. Work your way up each vertebrae, find the holding part and release. Through your second chakra in the belly, through the solar plexus in the middle of your body,  through the heart, the chest, the throat and finally back to the center of your forehead.

What a great cleansing!  It is really releasing judgment towards everyone and everything.

Feeling so light and empty now.  Try to keep this stance throughout your day.  You can be discerning, you can observe.  Watch when you go into judgement,  see how your body clenches up.  Let it go when you feel it.  It is often an unnecessary reaction.

What will you have more room for, I wonder?  Calmness, delight,  clear seeing?

Breathe again now and feel the space in your body filled with relief, appreciation and compassion for yourself and others.  Namaste.

Recommendations

There are many people I would like to quote, but blogging I think, needs to be original.  That said, I would still like to recommend some others' works that have inspired me.

It matters what you read and watch.  Notice your dreams after watching a violent show.  Not as pleasant as going to sleep after reading a spiritual book.  To receive those "big" dreams you need to have a relaxed, clear mind that is already heading toward insight.

So I recommend:

                                         The Widening Stream: Seven Stages of Creativiy     by David Ulrich
                                         The New World of Self-Healing                                 by Bente Hansen
                                         Spiritual Growth                                                         by Sanaya Roman
                                         A Brief History of Everything                                    by Ken Wilber
                                         CDs                                                                             by Bohdipaksa

A couple of these authors talk about their guides in a very personal way.  Don't let that prevent you from getting to the real book, because the information is good.  I probably couldn't have an  intelligent discussion of Ken Wilber's book, but I read it fast and I "got" it.  I often do that with books.  I know I need or already know the information.  It seems like I can just put my hand on it and download it.  But, of course , I can't. So I may re-read and certainly intend to read other books the authors have written.

There have been many, many more over the years, but these are a few of the best. Anything that hits you in the head at a bookstore is probably something you should read, too.

So, have fun learning and becoming inspired!

What is this kind of meditation?

What is it that I do?  I suppose it is a combination of meditation, creative visualization, hypnotherapy,centering prayer and self-healing techniques.

It takes you into a place David Ulrich calls "depth consciousness."

Mainly I listen to my guides, staying open, listening and asking to be a channel for love.  In other words, asking how may I serve with the gifts I have been given,  then getting out of the way to let love come through in what I am recording or writing.

Always helping others to empower themselves in their own healing.

I work alot with the body and mind together.  We are lucky to be in this sacred vessel for awhile.  Not suppressing emotion, but moving emotion into a flow that is healthy-

In deep meditation, the body heals itself so much.  I take the same approach with the mind. See where it is going, follow it and open to its innate wisdom.

Consciousness is fascinating, especially your own!

Then letting all this go and becoming one with all energy, can be ecstatic.  Coming back from your meditation with more compassion for all beings.

Meditating with a group magnifies this energy, which we can then use to make the world a better place, sending healing where it is needed, receiving healing and understanding the depths of what we have been given.

Life is hard,  but it is also the greatest gift.

Creating an Environment for Meditation

Creating a sacred space for your meditation helps you move into a different mode than your everyday reality.  It lets your mind know you are leaving behind all your busyness and going to a quieter, still place.

This can be as simple as sitting on your favorite pillow or chair and lighting a candle.

You can also create a space for a group of meditators.  I have various scarves or cloths I put in the center of where we will be sitting.  ( You could also have this on one end of the room on a table.)  I use fire-safe candles in sturdy containers, usually one large one in the middle and two smaller ones on either side. The colors I choose reflect the season, subject matter or my mood that day. 

Have fun with it, make it beautiful! As your group goes on, each person could bring a stone, favorite crystal, flower, or totem meaningful to them to place on this altar.

It is sort of like sitting around the campfire, telling stories or doing ceremony.  You are inviting Spirit in to participate. It denotes a reverence for life, a reverence for your journey and that of others' journeys as well. 

Music-

I find I can't really go deep with any kind of melody playing. Instead, I use
recordings  of Tibetan singing bowls or bells.  You can find cds on the internet, such as Golden Bowls by Karma Moffett, Seven Metals by Benjamin Iobst, Liquid Bells, or Singing Bowls by Xumantra.

The sound of these bowls is very healing and puts you in an altered state pretty much right away if you listen.You can also download  whole meditations with music from http://www.meditatewithfriends.com

Food-

I never eat anything at least on hour and a half before meditating.  I don't offer food afterward either, except tea or chocolate, something small.  It's really about feeding our souls, not the body, at this time.

Letting go- a meditation for you

Begin to run your energy, bringing earth energy up your legs, into the lower chakras and then down your grounding cord (located at the base of your spine, connecting you to the earth). 

Letting  go of of little disturbances in your energy, flushing them out, easily, down  into the earth.

Open up your seventh chakra ( at the top of your head) and let some llight in.  Let it run down your spine, flushing out any blockages.

Now let it become a circuit,  running up your spine in the back, all the way to the top of your head and then down the front of your body, releasing all you need to into the ground and out your legs and feet.Do this for a few minutes.  It feels good!

Begin to really feel connected to the Earth.  Almost like you have huge feet and they cover alot of space on the ground.

They are your anchors, keeping your body on earth throughout the meditation.

So, take a look at your own energy for a minute.  With your eyes closed, look behind your eyes at your energy body.  What do you see?

A color, colors, a shape, movement.  You may see your own aura.

This is your energy body at this time.  It will vary, depending on your stage of development and events in your life. 

Know that you can check in with yourself by getting in touch with this energy body, looking at it, sensing it. even asking it questions about what you should do to keep it  healthy and strong, vibrant and centered.  It will help you to use your intuition in relation to the environment you find yourself in.

Practice looking at your own energy, develop an affection for it so you can give it love and care.  See what makes it glow or recede.

.  No matter how far you travel in meditation, your body is safe, here, grounded to earth, so you can alway come back.

Moving on, now, relax, feeling all your muscles drop down a notch.  Breathe, gradually letting your breath slow even further, almost like you are in a light sleep.

Let yourself begin to dissipate,  into the air,  into the sunlight

into the leaves in the sunlight,  the light in the leaves, moving, rippling, scattering in a gentle way,  through the sunshine, through the moving leaves

and it is ok, it is such a relief, to let go, to expand into the ripple of light

no longer having  to keep yourself solid, no longer battling,

you are movement,  you are the light

you are letting go into the light,

color, light , shadow

rest in the arms of the light

the love that is you is still intact

letting go into the shimmering love of all that is

freeing yourself, releasing all

becoming one with all

becoming one with the scent of the flowers, with the moisture in the air, with the gentle breeze,

you  are safe, you are floating molecules of light

and your consciousness is free to be this love that surrounds you..Rest here awhile.

           ***


And now, in the air, there is a change, a light rain begins to fall, through the sunlight,

you feel the gentle mist, then the gentle drops and you are falling, in gentle rain, back into your energy body.

you can see it now, welcome back, and you; are falling with the rain drops back into your physical body.  Easily, welcome back.

You; are new, you are refreshed, like a spring rain, you can smell the fragrance of the earth and sky meeting togetherr as the rain falls on the earth, and you are grounded again in earth and connected again to air, to resume your walk on earth at this time.

On this day we thank God and Goddess for this day of life. Namaste.

Thoughts

Most of the meditations are nature-based. The Earth and her seasons have always been a way for us to measure the passage of Time, to be aware of what we will need in terms of food, clothing and shelter. 

Our emotional lives, too, ebb and flow with the seasons.  We joyously welcome the first breath of Spring,  the warmth of a baking summer, the brisk slap of Autumn and the deep chill of Winter, encouraging us to turn inward.

In our present world, however, we are often too busy to pay attention to the cues of nature and Mother Earth.  We run about in our buildings and in our heads, holding our breath in tension, barely aware of the change of leaf or the first snowfall.

As we distance ourselves from the Mother, we distance ourselves from our bodies, our emotions and life itself.  It is time for us to get back in touch with the Earth and our response to Her.  It may, in fact, be vital for our survival and Hers.

Our world now reminds me of the story of Atlantis. Many wonders have we created, but our own machinations may be what ultimately kills us off.

I have things, like everyone else, but I think maybe I don't really need them.  All we really need is each other , the Earth and a sense of the Sacred.

Taking care of the Earth is not just facile.  We are becoming more conscious of protecting our environment,  thankfully.  We have a long way to go.  When we touch the Earth, she graciously heals us.  I hope we can return the favor and nurture the Earth and all her inhabitants.  All of us will be the better for it.

A healing technique

Here is a simple healing technique for you-

Lie down on the floor or on your bed, as if you just finished a yoga session and are relaxing.  Begin to breathe, releasing any need to do anything else but be with your body.  Starting with your feet, release fear from your body.

It is surprising , when you do this, how much fear you find that you were unaware of. You don't have to give a name to the fear, just the feeling of fear in general. 

Release fear from your lower legs, your knees, your thighs.  Let the fear go into the ground beneath you.  Don't worry, the Earth will neutralize it and take it away.

Move to your first chakra, at the base of your spine, release.  Slowly and thoroughly work your way up your spine and release the fear from each chakra, and also from each organ or muscle group you want to.

Second chakra, 2 inches below your navel; third chakra, solar plexus area;  heart chakra and shoulders;  throat area; and all the way up to the top of your head.

Relax your face as you do this and take a deep breath once in a while to further dissipate any energy you don't need.  Keep clearing until you are empty.

Rest a moment with that empty feeling.

Now, open your seventh chakra at the top of your head and let Llight come pouring in.
It will rush in and flow to all the spaces you have cleared, like an unblocked stream.

Bubbling, moving, healing light that will free your body to be vital and happy again.

See the light as golden sunshine on a river, flowing into you, bathing all your cells with healing Llight.

You can take an hour or ten minutes with this, whatever you feel like.  When you are through,
place your fingertips together and come back to your regular consciousness.   This will spin your aura and seal  the healing.  While you are at it, spin your house if you like, allowing any negative energy to fly off.  Then bring Llight in from above, making your space clear for all good things to come in.

Namaste.

About Meditation:

Delicious to sleep and dream.  Dream like a child, sleeping without worry, knowing you

are taken care of.  All is right with the world,  you are safe and you sleep deeply, turning over to

sink back into another dream.

Meditation can be like this, to go into a dream, surface slightly and go back for more revelations

of a deeper world.

It can also be almost impossible.  The mind jumping through all that happened during the day,

avoiding the descent.  Instead of being peaceful, you find yourself making a grocery list.

Your back is sore, your neck has a crimp, you knee twitches.Some days all you get with

perseverence seems like 5 minutes of nothing.

But still you feel better than not having sat.  Any contact with the void is calming , renewing
 emptying.

Other sittings are magic, like jewels pouring into your lap.

Most of the meditations I offer you are jewels.  I experienced  them spontaneously while meditating.

I then adapted and expanded them for others.

Everyone who journeys with these meditations will have a different experience.  This is as it

should be.  As you get in touch with your inner self, you will find treasure more precious than

any you could gain in  the outer world.  And that is part of the Mystery.  We are individuals

with unique gifts  to develop and share and we are also One. 

V. More in July!

IV- Receiving

In order to receive, we must first empty.  There are so many ways to do this important first step.
Clearing your chakras( a million ways to do this.), grounding, breathing, toning, stretching.

Letting go of your day, getting out the kinks, clearing your mind, releasing all the gunk we have picked up from others and the gunk we make ourselves. 

Purification, if you will.  It is not hard and fun really to see all the stuff go flying off your aura. It is like exercise, which clears toxins and tension, afterward leaving you so relaxed.

The first section of most of the meditations are clearing and relaxation so we can be open enough to go where our souls are leading us.

For an example of one type of clearing, go to http://meditatewithfriends.com  the products page and click on free sample. (After that is a free meditation for students, which anyone could use, really)

I also often clear my chakras at night as I am falling asleep, or even in the middle of the night, and then send prayers and healing to those I think of.

All  of this comes down to working on yourself, becoming more conscious of where your body and mind are, and making  room for your Higher Self to show up.

III. The Story continues

I was meditating with a group of women. We were toning- no words just notes - it was beautiful.  We
had our eyes closed. I felt a presence on my right.  The only way to describe the feeling was bright, joyful, ecstatic.

I sneaked a peek. There was no one there that I could see with my physical eyes.  I closed my eyes again and felt/saw the angelic presence again which stayed with us until we ended our toning.

It was a surprise and a privilege to feel this participation in our group. 

This happened many years ago.  There have been other times, but not exactly like this.  Sometimes, when meditating, the presence might come in the form of a fragrance, a word coming to mind, or a touch on the shoulder.  Others have experienced similiar things at times in their own journey. It is always magical.

Before I lead a group meditation, I ask that our guides and angels of light please be present.  If we go deep, with healing intent, I believe there is an exchange of energy between us.  We receive Llight and we give Llight back. Somehow both sides helping the other. Creating a channel between the worlds

May Spirit bless and protect you on your journey.
.

MeditateWithFriends.com: the story continues

II.    After I heard those words and that voice ( which I never heard again in that way) I started waking up in the middle of the night with  meditations flowing through me.  I had to get up and write them down or they would fade.

Then it dawned on me that I was living with two musicians-  they recorded in our home studio all the time.  Aha! we could record these meditations.  They recorded my voice and also got into putting music behind the words and some sound effects.  The result was beautiful, although now they seem almost symphonic- but hey, it was the late 80's so it was fitting.

The meditations all had a theme of a different animal, so I called them Totemic Meditations. I was teaching pre-school and had a young daughter  and so we made some for children with dolphins, unicorns and whales.  We were having alot of fun.

I decided to start a group for women.  I saw so  many new mothers stressed out and I knew this would help. I asked those I thought would be interested.  They were.  We met in a church, then at a community center and finally at my house.

The first group stayed together for about 7 years.  I would lay down to meditate after school, asking for guidance for that evening.  A meditation would come to me, I typed it up and gave it that night.
So often the meditation corresponded to issues one of the women was struggling with.  And of course we all could relate.  We learned so much from each other.

All of  us grew in strength and openness of heart. We took healing methods and techniques home  to use with our families.  We all felt truly blessed with the presence of the Goddess and our angels on our spiritual journey at that time.

The Beginning of MeditateWithFriends.com

Somehow the three of us met- It might have been walking the neighborhood with strollers, I don't really remember.

We decided we would meditate and so we did.  We met at 7:00 at night, after hurriedly throwing some dinner our family's way.  We met at 10:00 in the morning while the kids were in school.  We hiked up into the hills behind our houses, sat on a plateau and meditated while the sun set.

Anyway, we were having a great time while trying to create a calm space inside ourselves to help manage the rest of our busy lives.

Meanwhile, we were having other kooky spiritual adventures with other groups when we could.  Among them:

Receiving an aetherial sword, walking a labyrinth, planting crystals in a circle on a mountain top with good wishes for the Earth, meditating for 4 hours on a Saturday afternoon presided over by an archangel's energy.

We took our 7-year old daughters to a dance and tone gathering designed to open the chakras.  ( They loved it, particularly when one of the guys started speaking to them in dolphin.)

We even gave each other healings while my friend's son and daughter chased each other around the house.

We meditated together in silence, to drumming, to various tapes, Lyn Andrews and one we called reverb woman.  ( She was very good, really.)  We chanted.

Then one day my friend asked me to record a meditation she found in the book,"Ask Your Angels."
I had a small recorder, so I said yes.

When it came time to record, ( I was sitting on the floor of my living room with the recorder in front of me) I thought, " I don't want to record this, I want to record an idea I have."

I wrote out the script, went back to the living room and recorded "Flight."

I finished it and right then, clear as a bell, a voice said  "You Have Come Home."

I am not kidding, it was that clear.  I had not expected it, I had to hear it and right then I knew this was what I was supposed to be doing.