Feldenkrais and Qi Gong in Seattle Washington

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We are currently in an unprecedented and monumental time for opening towards and shining the light of our awareness on the shadow--our own personal shadow and the collective human shadow.

OPENING TO THE SHADOW

What does it mean to open to our shadow? One has to gently and with persistence shine the light of awareness in the dark corners and along the dark edges of what is known. All this can be done to integrate the shades of shadow into the light and enfold not knowing into knowing. The new moment then has a 'knowing' of the dark embedded within the light making a new shade of gray.

I am writing this at dusk at a high alpine lake as the waxing moonlight is growing. The massive mountain in front of me has constantly changing light on it. The snowfields that I knew during the sunlight are slowly morphing into interesting shapes and figures coming alive with a presence of their own. This is all due to the changing light and therefore the changing shadows of the rock, trees and surrounding vegetation. This vibrant diversity would not be present without this awesome continuous shifting of the light and shadow on All That Is.

It takes courage, a gentle persistence, and unconditional warmth to what is found to open to the shadow. We often find murk that we don't like or are afraid of and shining the light of unconditionally warm friendliness towards the moment can allow for a more clear being with the moment as is. Allowing this "being-ness' to hold the darkness can transmute the murk often one tiny bit at a time transforming them to the conditions for growth. There is an ancient Chinese saying that the most pure lotus flower grows out of the darkest muck with the strongest stench.

THE COLLECTIVE SHADOW

Humanity's shadow has much in it right now. Greed, disconnection from Nature and our inseparableness from Nature, a belief in hierarchical power, a loss of community as a species living interrelated with the planet and each other, and a disbelief and/or denial in the mysterious or things unseen.

Sitting with and opening towards the shadow within is more possible, gentle, and easy when we learn to open our awareness to the moment at hand without trying to fix, correct, or change it. If a difficult emotion is encountered with all of the embedded physical sensations and thoughts, we can slowly learn and then practice turning towards the moment with an open friendly, unconditionally warm awareness.

Having a non-forced but possible open awareness is like having a gallon sized container to hold one cup of water as opposed to only a one cup container to hold the same amount of water. If the cup of water is analogous to the difficult emotion and all of it's attached sensations, then allowing that whole experience to be felt within a larger unconditionally warm gallon-sized awareness is much easier than filling up the one-cup capacity with the difficulty. There is more space and allowance for expansion to experience, allow and then transmute the difficulty.

EXPANDING AWARENESS MAKES IT EASIER

With a consistent awareness practice we can grow that gallon-sized container to an infinite-sized one, therefore allowing the darkness and the shadow challenges to be held more gently. An awareness practice that leads to increased consciousness and therefore spiritual evolution requires a direct opening to and communicating with the shadow.

We all have a personal shadow and are included in and create humanity's collective shadow. We are all in this together. The path for our continued evolution (and probably for our survival as a species) requires us to open to and look at the shadow. When open awareness is combined with gentle persistence and unconditional warmth in the face of the dark shadow, the murkiness becomes more clear with the newly available insight and wisdom. When this insight and wisdom is combined with universal compassion for All That Is and mixed with the individual flame of your deepest soul's purpose and passion here on the planet, all kinds of previously unknown possibilities can arise. These possibilities that arise from this alchemical union of dark and light can bring wholeness or 'heal' previously thought of impossibilities.

The time has come for an opening to our personal and our collective shadow to occur. Can you move forward to courageously and gently face your own shadow and the collective one?

It takes building presence through an internal awareness practice of your own to find your deepest soul's passionate purpose and marry it to your shadow with the light of unconditionally warm awareness.

Start now with an internal awareness practice with Feldenkrais and Qi Gong in Seattle with Carrie Lafferty, PT, GCFP. She can be contacted at feldychi@comcast.net and more information can be found at www.movementfromwithin.net.

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