Feldenkrais and Qi Gong in Seattle Washington

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Blessings, Carrie

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We are not separate from Nature. Magnify the view by 10,000 and you could be in the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Go 10,000 in the other direction and you could be in the zero point field of vibrating strings and the vast reservoir of all possible energy. Either direction of magnification from the center of the human being takes you to the same view–a vibrating, fluxing and constantly moving spiral of energy. We are made of the same stuff—hence our inability to be separate.

THE VAST AND THE TINY

The center of our Milky Way Galaxy is a black hole in the shape of a vortex or a spiral. The physics of a black hole are amazing and are being studied in depth. Check out Brian Greene’s ” The Elegant Universe” for fascinating reading about the relationship between black holes (the center of our galaxy) and the tiniest of all matter (elementary particles) and how they are the same………..

Both black holes and elementary particles have a spin—a spiraling spin that is constantly dynamically changing. It can be measured. We are made of the same energetic spiraling energy and can measure our own ‘spin’ through our own internal sensory system.

The physics of the miniscule and the vast are fascinatingly complicated. They are endlessly spiraling themselves through possibly many more than the 3 dimensions that we are usually aware of. Check out this Ted Talk by Brian Greene.

Brian Greene-Universe on a String

The most powerful lab to study is the one within your very own inner world. The richness, subtlety, and refinement of your sensory study will open you to the world of the miniscule and the world of the vast as they all live together within you, and all around you in the world of Nature.

Have you ever watched a sprout unfurl over time and observed the nonlinear path it takes through space? If you have a garden it is simple to do. Check out a budding tree in the springtime. Commit to watching a sprout for just a minute or two each day and create your own perspective on the graceful rounded arc of the leaves as they unfold and of the stem as it moves upward through space.

There is nothing straight about the process. The sprout intricately and gracefully unfurls through it’s own unique spiral shape into all dimensions at the same time. This is an amazing process. You can sense this if you just take a few moments each day to consistently observe the constant miniscule changes.

The unfurling

Have you ever sat at the zone of the ocean’s edge without thinking, planning or doing? Just allow yourself all the time you need. Invite the continuous rolling waves to bring their beautiful, graceful, curved roundedness to you one after the other. The shape of the universal spiral is so easy to feel and to see as the wave rolls over onto itself or as it laps and rolls onto the shore.

YOUR INNER WORLD

If we are interconnected with Nature, and with the miniscule and with the vast, then our own internal world and externally viewed movements must have the same qualities. This is easy to see as you watch a perfectly executed jump and turn by an ice dancer or a complicated multi-twisting dive by an expert high diver. We all know by sight and by internal sensation those moments we observe a perfect spiral within movement. This is because it feels effortless and graceful even just in our observation of it. Notice how you feel it–not just how you see it.

All efficient movement has this universal quality within it. Efficient movement doesn’t have to be ‘perfect’ or highly complicated or athletic. It feels like grace or ease. It can show up in any movement. You sense the universal qualities of flow, smoothness and ease that are similar to what you feel when observing the ice dancer or the diver.

These qualities of smoothness, roundedness, arc-like, continuousness, grace, connectedness, fluidity and ease can clearly be known. These qualities show up as continual movement through an intricate dynamic multi-dimension spiral. Access is made through wonder and inquiry. About any of your movement intentions. That includes those inner movements of your thoughts and emotions as well as those movements of your body and limbs in space.

UNIVERSAL SPIRALING SENSATION

The unfurling of efficient movement for us—no matter what our task at hand is—shows up within our internal sensation as a sense of graceful ease. The same way it does for us when we watch the sprout, the wave, the ice dancer, or high diver. It isn’t the task that matters but the awareness of the unfolding internal sensation that matters.

Join my upcoming retreat at Breitenbush Hot Springs Nov 13-16, 2011 to experience first hand the connection of your awareness to the universal spiral within stillness and movement. Through gentle self-exploration of your inner world you will connect to the spirals within and without. Immerse yourself in practices that will be directly useful in these transformational times. Practices will be taken from Feldenkrais ATM®, Healing Qi Gong, Vipassana Meditation, Joanna Macy’s The Work that Reconnects, and Nature-based Shamanism.

Join Carrie at Feldenkrais and Qi Gong in Seattle for a class or a workshop. She can be reached at http://www.movementfromwithin.net, 206-459-1773, or feldychi@comcast.net.

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Your choice. Always. Habit isn’t a choice–it is a reaction. Aware choice is a response. Which will you create?

Habit will likely have you creating effort. Too much effort to ‘push your way through’–Fight. Too much effort ‘to avoid the situation’–Flight. Too much effort by holding a rigid view that ‘there is no other way’—Freeze.

Aware choice will have you curious, wondering, and sensing. Always sensing. For your inner flow. Sensing for your inner world to show you flow–through a deep breath, a slightly more open and expansive sense within yourself as well as the obvious —a sense of moving in the direction of more continuous smoothness in your movements.

What do you choose?

This requires practice. Any path of awareness requires cultivation of a practice. Deep inner inquiry, gentle yet fierce persistence, courage to stay present for what shows up and much compassion/kindness for the continual requirement to practice….again and again. To choose to wake up…..again.

We are in a time of great transformation. The chaos/effort in our Mother Earth and in our global world is a direct reflection of the chaos/effort in our collective species as well as in each of us personally. The way from Fight/Flight/Freeze effort in our planet to Flow can only be traversed through the same path in each of our inner worlds.

This transformation is an inside out job. The only way to move towards Flow–having the whole operate with harmony and ease—is to practice. Cultivate this practice in your own lab–your inner world. Frequently. Notice with curiosity. Play Wonder, Notice again. Refine your noticing.

Practice Flow.....

Allow your own inner wisdom to ‘pay forward’ each noticing to a future moment. This will slowly allow your innate inner wisdom to arise in those future moments. You will begin to act with Flow. Finding yourself much closer to Flow earlier in those future moments. You will begin to feel improved ability to find grace, ease and connection–no matter your circumstances.

The amount of Flow experienced in each of us adds up to the amount of flow experienced by our collective. The amount of Flow experienced by our collective relates to how we experience our global world. Fight/Flight/ Freeze effort in the world equals the same within each of us. Practice changing your inner world towards Flow and experience your perception of tour global world and your actions within it changing. Towards a sense of increased ease/flow –no matter the circumstances.

We will only transform our world through committed cultivation of self-awareness practices. There are many available: FELDENKRAIS, Qi Gong, Meditation, Yoga, Shamanic indigineous wisdom and many others. Choose one, commit to a practice. Begin now! Our world is crying out for YOU TO BEGIN and for YOU TO CONTINUE…..to notice and to cultivate noticing again.

Are you moving from Fight/Flight/Freeze towards…….FLOW?

Join Carrie at Feldenkrais and Qi Gong in Seattle for a class or a workshop. She can be reached at http://www.movementfromwithin.net, 206-459-1773, or feldychi@comcast.net

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Humanity’s Awakening is well underway. Choosing to participate requires a clear and conscious choice—made over and over again. You will be affected over and over again by your personal and the collective’s energy patterns whether you choose to awaken to them or not. This poem speaks to the wonder of this difficult choice….

Almost anybody can learn to think or believe or know, but not a single human being can be taught to feel. Why?
Because whenever you think or you believe or you know, you’re a lot of other people: but the moment you feel, you’re nobody-but-yourself.
To be nobody-but-yourself-in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else-means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting . . .
Does this sound dismal? It isn’t. It’s the most wonderful life on earth.

~e e cummings

Awakening requires engaging with your capacity to know the present moment. There is no other. All practices of awakening have this fundamental truth at their core. There is only one Awakening. To practice awakening to presence requires inquiry. Persistent, yet gentle and curious, nonjudgemental inquiry. Inquire as to your thoughts during quiet sitting. Inquire as to the ability to welcome your emotions as they arise. Inquire as to your ability to find comfort through the sensations of your body.

THE CHALLENGES ARE INTENSE

This is all there is. Moment to moment changing sensations. Nowadays it feels like they are coming faster and more intensely. Likely the circumstances of your personal life and/or the events of the global world have brought this question up recently…..Now what?

Economic challenges, earthquakes, tsunamis, wars, increasing fundamentalism, environmental degradation; the list goes on. Now what?

Relationship challenges, health issues, economic challenges, toxins in the food, the potential of radiation toxicity;, the list goes on……Now what?

Huge uprisings of connected synchronous ‘wholes’ or people in Libya, Egypt, Wisconsin, on the internet, in your local neighborhood and community holding a unified intent to support connection, sharing, reverence for all of Life, and harmony with each other and our planet……Now what?

Both scenarios are present and also everything in between. The practice of navigating through each present moment of Now what? and any other moments IS the practice of remaining present. This requires gentle, persistent, and curious inquiry of those moments.

Your level of ability to access the fundamental qualities of peace, joy, wisdom fearlessness, gratitude, wonder, harmony, and vitality is directly proportional to your practice of being present to each unfolding moment.

FEARLESSNESS IS REMAINING PRESENT

Lately the quality of fearlessness has been forefront and center. Fear about financial collapse, fear about potential radiation exposure, fear about environmental damage; the list goes on. Now what?

I recently heard a dharma talk by Pema Chodron who said ‘the quality of fearlessness depends entirely upon being able to stay present in the face of fear’. Fearlessness is not something you ‘do’. It is an inherent quality of wholeness—it is what is there when you are open to the present moment of fear without trying to ‘do’ something about what it holds.

You are remaining gentle, yet curious and persistent to what is. Even when you don’t like it or your immediate reaction is to run, turn away, avoid, disconnect or rationalize. Staying open to collecting information with non-judgmental curiosity from both ends of the spectrum is helpful.

Take the example of potential radiation exposure for example. You can find ‘we are all going to die from radiation exposure here in the US’ so why inquire? Just give up. You can find an equal amount of ‘there is absolutely no cause for concern’ so why inquire? Just stick your head in the sand and continue on as you are. You can find anything in between pulling you this way and that. Now what?

NOW WHAT?

Sit by the lake and observe....

Spend time sitting quietly. Open in a warm, friendly non-judgmental way to what is. All of what is. The sensations that arise within the fear. The sensations that arise within the panic. Allow yourself to think of your emotions as a deep, big lake. Just come and sit next to the lake and observe. You don’t have to even put your toe in at first. As you observe and allow yourself to just feel the experience of the moment without reacting, you will come to discover that the sensation changes. Morphs. Moves into a new sensation. As time goes on, you may be able with curious and gentle inquiry begin to put your toe in the lake and go a little deeper into the sensations of the emotion of fear. Not get caught in the details of the content of the fear but explore the emotion as it arises within you. Fear will be the same no matter what the content.

Allow yourself to read the news, see the posts of others, hear the radio, listen to the conversations from all sides of the perspective, and just sit with ‘All that’ from the same non-judgmental yet curious place. Wait and listen. Really, it is wait and feel. Allow your own inner intuition and wisdom to arise and show you what actions to take. Do you prepare a survival kit and/or a plan? Do you make some changes to your diet to increase your ability to handle toxins? Do you start a daily sitting meditation practice? Do you begin another type of practice for staying connected such as Qi Gong? Do you write letters and sign petitions to your politicians? Do you continue to stay abreast of the unfolding information from all sides while continuing to stay connected to your inner world? Do you allow this inner world to guide your actions?

Wise action occurs from some place deep inside–from your interconnection with wisdom. It does not occur from either extreme but is informed by these extremes. Wise action continues to be known through inquiry of your unfolding sensations from one present moment to the next.These times are here to provide continued opportunities to open to the present—to Awaken. Through your individual sensations, in order to know you connection to the whole. As E. E. Cumings said, “When you feel—you are nobody but yourself”–that feeling wisdom arises from presence. That IS Awakening!

Join Carrie at the upcoming Interconnection Meditation on Fri, May 6 through Feldenkrais and Qi Gong in Seattle. This is a free meditation however donations will be accepted for Japan Disaster Relief at this meditation sitting. They will be donated to Oxfam. The meditation is done monthly to promote the qualities of Unity Consciousness and to promote a collective consciousness for planetary healing. Carrie can be contacted at http://www.movementfromwithin.net, (206) 459-1773, or feldychi@comcast.net.

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The recent earthquake, tsunami, and resultant nuclear crisis have been ever-present for most of us over the last 2 weeks. I write this post with an extension of lovingkindness, compassion, wisdom and fearlessness for all of the people in Japan as they walk on their path of rebuilding after their losses. The stories arising from the many postsI have read, share how much the spirit of lovingkindness and unity has held the survivors together. This, of course, has extended around the globe as we all see, hear, and feel the many images arising from Japan. Of course, my wish also is extended to the many others across the globe who also are standing up for justice, peace, and harmony.

Our world is in labor pains for birthing a Unity Consciousness Human species. Our paths as humans is to potentially know our inherent interconnection with All That Is. No separation from ourselves, each other, all other sentient beings, Mother Nature and the Cosmos. Your continued presence to your own life and your remaining present as a midwife to this birthing process is required fully. This is not easy, but necessary.

These two weeks have been powerful for myself. I have also been witness to the process of many of my students. How do we all remain present in the face of so much intense transformation unfolding? And in so many arenas—really most every facet of our existence. The forces seem gargantuan and the intensity of the sensations is very strong for many, many moments of our lives.

THE PRESENT MOMENT IS ALL THERE IS

We can only know ourselves, know our interconnection with All That Is, and create compassionate wise actions from the present moment. There are three main ways we, as humans, disengage from the present moment.

How do we leave the present moment? This week, the reactionary pattern of dislike, or aversion was pretty prevalent. I could watch this in myself in regards to budget cuts or the arising fear for the possibility of radiation potentially coming to the West Coast of the United States. This was also present in most all students relative to many different world or personal life events. Aversion is one of our amoeba-like reactionary states of our Ego mind. Our Ego mind is not connected to Awareness and views moments only from a duality perspective. Either/or. Good/bad. Right/wrong. I don’t like this or that and therefore I turn away or push away or run in fear. I am only reacting from the fear.

The opposite to aversion is attachment and of course, this arose also. Another reaction of the Ego mind–duality consciousness. I found this arising in an interesting way. I could observe my way of attaching to creating ‘safety’ in my world. Attachment and aversion always actually arise at the very same moment. If I don’t like this or that and turn away from that moment; then, at the very same time I am attached or expecting the exact opposite. Once again I am reacting. Attachment is basically when I like this or that and attempt to prolong the moment or ‘keep’ it and once again arises from fear.

The third way I can leave the present moment is by checking out of it by avoiding, rationalizing, or just giving up and numbing out. This tendency was prevalent at times this week also. In light of the huge global challenges we face as a species, it all seems so huge. Giving up and checking out by numbing out with television, computer games, exercise, food, or whatever other tendencies we may have, is leaving the present moment.

THE PINBALL BOUNCE

When we live our lives just being bounced around like a pinball between attaching, rejecting or checking out of a moment, we are at the mercy of our habits, our unawareness, and our highly reactive and habitual Ego mind. We will be in a constant state of effort, fear and reaction.

The path to Unity Consciousness is accessed by moving past these three ways. I call this the Fourth way path. The path of Awareness. The path where we dance very gently yet persistently, very wisely with passion for justice, and very much with a reverence for all of Life. This is done completely with an open heart and access to a gentle state of wonder. This is the world of ‘and’–the world of paradox. The world of Wisdom.

Yin/Yang--Duality within Unity

Unity consciousness has duality consciousness enfolded within it. The duality of night/ day, yes/no, feminine/masculine still shows up and is seen, felt, and interacted with on a daily basis. It no longer leads our game however. Instead there is a dynamic and harmonious balanc’ing’ of these duality forces within Unity. We are no longer a pinball being shot out and catapulted from attachment to aversion to disconnected and back again for each and every moment of our lives.

Instead, we choose Awareness. Unity Consciousness and the Fourth way. We still operate in and play the pinball game. However, we are fully connected to knowing when/where the ball is heading. We choose our actions from staying embodied to the present moment which makes a very non-linear path through the pinball machine. We do not live from so much reaction. This is the path of Awareness.

A NEW SORT OF PINBALL GAME

Our awareness practices are always with this same intent. With these times in our world, it is even more important for us to have body-connecting practices, mind calming and stillness practices, and practices to aid us in holding the paradoxes of the moment. The Fourth way requires a very frequent checking in with your own bodily sensations. This allows you to monitor when attachment/aversion are arising and allows you to pause and not let your pinball get shot back and froth between bumpers endlessly with unawareness. It also allows includes the ability to notice the tendency to check out within that dance. The Fourth way occurs from love, not fear. Awareness and Unity Consciousness only arise from love, harmony, Wisdom and compassion.

The question is: will you choose the Fourth way? And choose it again…..and again…..and again……and again. Not turning away from our global challenges with rejection and disgust, or disconenction and overwhelm, and not attaching to a Polyanna attitude either. Every action you make, no matter how big or small, if done with an intent for Unity Consciousness, that is your path. It makes a difference–no matter the size. Stay present. Choose Unity. Play the game of pinball but as a co-creator with reality.

Merge your special gifts to act and play your particular game from love and not fear. With a respect and reverence for Life, sharing, cooperation, harmony and interconnection with All That Is. Persist for justice without attaching, ride the flow without resisting, expand to hold the paradoxes without numbing out.

Please join Carrie Lafferty, PT, GCFP(cm) at Feldenkrais and Qi Gong in Seattle for a class or practice in order to help you choose and then remain on the Fourth way path. She can be contacted at http://www.movementfromwithin.net, (206) 459-1773, or feldychi@comcast.net.

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Last post I wrote about noticing the mundane or ‘sameness’ moments of our lives with a fresh state of curiosity. Did you try a mundane task from that stance? What did you learn? Was it possible to just remain in the sensation of the ‘sameness’ moment and find you are no less alive in that ‘uninteresting’ moment…….and then find the moment shifting to a new possible way of being?

Is it possible to apply this idea to our internal images of ourselves and the images we hold of others–those that get fixed (or remain ‘the same’) inside of us? We hold these ideas/beliefs often with the words or even just the idea of always or never. “I always am disorganized and unable to stay focused”. “You will never be able to be different.” “I know how this is going to turn out.”

HOLDING FIXED BELIEFS WITH OUR WHOLE SELVES

We hold these beliefs with our whole selves. We fix our minds, our hearts, and our whole energetic being on the rigid and unchanging statements made. We contract, close in, and literally narrow our available options. We can only experience the same repeated outcome if we hold the fixed belief from this same repeated perspective so the cycle of our believing our fixed belief perpetuates itself to continue in the same way. This can affect us directly, as well as those who are in intimate relationship with us….. and the greater collective we are also interconnected with.

This closing in contraction is physiological–a literal reduction of adaptability at all levels of our being. At the cellular level we release hormones that create increased flight or fight activity. This creates unnecessary tension if continued for too long. At the energetic level we create disharmony through over-thinking or disengagement from experiencing our true emotions of the moment. This creates frantic and chaotic energy patterns that have us unconsciously reacting to the moment. And finally at the physical body level we literally ‘over-contract’ muscle fiber patterns to create and hold in place our fixed beliefs–in order to ‘make sure’ they remain in place. Moshe Feldenkrais called this scenario ‘the pattern of anxiety.’

Ultimately it is acting from fear instead of love. Learning and therefore choosing (and continuing to choose) to act from love instead of fear requires a conscious aware opening. This opening, done with consistent warm-heartedness to the fixed ‘sameness’ of our thoughts and beliefs—our habits of thinking and emoting-is just like opening to the sameness sensations of the mundane task of brushing our teeth.

NOTHING IS FIXED…………..EVER

We have to choose to stay present to the internal sensations inside of us that embody our static and unchanging beliefs we are holding of ourselves or of another. Finding and feeling the internal qualities of the thought or emotion and allowing our experience of them with an open fresh state of curiosity can allow us to remember that nothing is fixed. All is changing—all is moving.

Sometimes this moving is so subtle however, that we believe something, someone, or ourselves are unchanging. This is when a fearless and fresh stance of curiosity is required to open from fear to love. A fresh notice at a subtle movement within. And often then another fresh noticing followed by an allowing of our ‘newly noticed’ inner state to bring us a new insight knowing and an ability to remain present to our full aliveness in this subtle changing moment.

Just as we dismiss a mundane task (such as brushing our teeth) as ‘always’ the same, we can hold an image of ourselves, our intimate loved ones, or a group of people as ‘always the same’. Whatever the patterns are of ‘holding’ in our physical bodies (ex: we tend to turn away when physically uncomfortable) then it is likely we will turn away or retreat when a thought or emotion creates a similar perception of discomfort within us. This is true whether we are in relationship to ourselves in a given moment, in relation to one intimate other, or a larger collective group.

WE ACT IN ACCORDANCE WITH OUR SELF-IMAGE

With the unconscious and unaware repetition of the above pattern in many life situations, we then create a fixed belief or internal image as Moshe Feldenkrais called it. Then we “act in accordance with our internal image” as Moshe also said. Actions that come from those fixed places are reactive, unconscious, and arising from fear.

Unawares, we project our fixed self-image onto others and often hold our interactions with them as static and unchanging. This leads to decreased adaptability in our inter and intra-personal relating. We experience loss of potential opportunities to explore a true human connection with ourselves or with another in a given moment. We close the door to possibility. We close the door to love…….to compassion…….through our fixed internal fear.

CHOOSE TO NOTICE

Similar to the last teeth brushing suggestion…… try this sometime this week. Find a moment when in interaction with an intimate relationship in your life–possibly your partner, your child, your parent, or your sibling. Watch for a moment of ‘sameness’ or a mundane moment when you recognize an arising thought and corresponding emotion within yourself such as…..”you always”, “you never”, “I always”, or “it will always be the same.”

When this moment is noticed within, pause. Just pause and feel inside. Don’t speak. Don’t think. Just sense inside with a fresh state of curiosity. Feel the patten of the ‘always or never’ statement within. How does ‘all that’ live within you? Notice any sense of heaviness, constriction, temperature, internal movements, or any sensory experience alive within you. These are commonly felt within the throat, chest, or belly.

Pause and sit with ‘all that’ sensation without forming a judgement as usual, without speaking or acting as usual. Just pause and sense the nuances alive within you with a state of freshness and…… wait. Wait with fresh curiosity. Very likely the nuances will move and change—morph into something different. Now notice if your own internal image of yourself ,of the other person, and of the situation is potentially different–even slightly? If ‘all that’ sensation is allowed to be just experienced within the space of awareness, a new way of noticing ‘all that’ arises.

Continue your interaction and consciously choose to do this again two more times (just as in the teeth brushing task). Choose consciously to pause and notice inside from a state of freshness—without judgement of yourself or of the other. Does the closed door of ‘always or never’ open to the door of possibility–the door of maybe? The door of maybe something else is possible—the door of creation? Can you also try this in a moment where you find yourself holding a fixed image of a group of people that are ‘always like that?” Maybe when you hear something on the news about a group that is ‘always’ behaving in the same way?

BECOME MORE SUBTLE—THROUGH PRACTICE AND CHOICE

Just like anything else, there is an infinite possibility to refine this skill. When we learn to stay connected to our wise, clear inner sensations that are not led by our reactive mind that is either attaching, rejecting or disconnecting from each moment, then we stay open for true authentic connection to ourselves and to others. In this way our actions arise from a universal love for the interconnectedness of all life and not from fear.

Just like anything else, our skill in doing this is directly proportional to our ability to use more and more subtlety in our own noticing. Skill in recognizing the difference between just being with the ‘sameness’ moment while allowing a new noticing to appear and a state of disengagement or indifference to the ‘sameness’ moment that is actually a very subtle inner ‘movement’ we are making from fear.

Moshe Feldenkrais said thinking, sensing, feeling (emoting), and acting were all contained in each and every moment. Choosing freshness in our sensing of how we think and feel can create endless possibilities in how we can act—and act more consciously–from love instead of fear. Imagine the possibilities when a critical mass of our species creates actions from this place of love, wisdom and compassion.

Join Carrie at Feldenkrais and Qi Gong in Seattle for a class, workshop or a private session in order to access, refine and connect to your own wise knowing within. She can be contacted at feldychi@comcast.net, 206-459-1773, or at http://www.movementfromwithin.net.

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The breeze is cool and brisk. The sun is shining brightly on the greenish-bluish indigo waters of the Sound. I hear the repeating rhythm of the crash of waves on the shore. It is a gorgeous sunny day in October in Seattle. My heart swells with gratitude and joy for the abundance in my life and this lovely moment in space/time on Mother Earth.

CONNECTING

The moment is full of connection. Most primally the connection I feel to my sitting bones on the shifting sand beneath me. I observe the connection of the white billowy clouds hanging somewhere along the middle of the Olympic range like a very long mass of down feathers inviting the slight peek of the peaks above to just ‘rest’ in their softness. I observe the connection of the countless sails in the distance at times poking up and at times laying down very near the indigo waters like leaning sentinels between the sky and the water. I observe people in the distance on the beach—families flying kites, lovers walking hand in hand, a small girl in pink leaning over just at the shore and intentfully picking up rocks and shells. I observe the two windsurfers in the water leaning back and lightly ‘dancing’ the board in the waves patiently waiting for the wind to bring them upright over the board. I observe a flock of birds flying against the blue sky changing shape gracefully as a whole like a lovely gray scarf in a breeze.

All types of connection—each evoking a different type of ‘feel’ within me. I observe my own inner state and the changing sensations as I allow each of these observations to be beholden within me and flow outward as words on this page.

How do you know connecting? Just experiencing…..just this moment. We all long to feel connected, to be connecting……to Source……to All That Is. In all of the manifestations of that being and knowing.

When I first sat down to write, leaning against the rock behind me, wrapping my legs in a blanket, and just sitting with the experiencing of the moment, I waited. To taste, feel, smell, and sense the moment. Not think ‘about’ the moment or to describe it internally but to just feel. Experiencing occurs only in the unfolding moment.

TASTE THE STRAWBERRY

Imagine the first fully ripe and juicy bright red strawberry of the season. Look at it briefly and imagine putting it in your mouth and savoring the unfolding taste, texture, aroma, and sensations that are evolved within you. Now imagine someone in your presence who is from a remote part of the world who has never seen or tasted a strawberry. How would you share with them what a strawberry tastes like? You couldn’t. Not truly–not in the realm of experiencing–that can only be brought about by them eating their own strawberry and observing what comes alive within them. Otherwise it is is in the realm of thinking or describing ‘about’ an experience which is the beginning of ‘the story’ or the labeling we begin after an initial sensing experience of an unfolding moment.

On the most primal level there are only four sensations that arise in our inner world. These sensations are pleasant, unpleasant, ‘unregistered’ or sort of ‘lost’ to us, and the fourth is a complexly simple engaging with just what is……just simply tasting the strawberry—-with awareness.

Without the fourth way of engaging with our world (inner and outer— as they are the same), we are really just like an amoeba. When we experience a pleasant sensation we reactively move towards it—leaning and grasping forwards. When we experience an unpleasant sensation we reactively move away from it–’pulling back’ or pushing away and closing in. When we experience an ‘unrecognized’ sensation we are disengaged from the authenticity of the moment and deluded or lost for a moment—once again a reaction. Only the fourth way allows a clear connecting—a clear connection with the moment arising within us. This type of moment is fully alive within us and non-reactive. We are just in the experience and not grasping towards the continuance of the moment, not repulsed by the continuance of the moment and not disengaged in the moment.

THE FOURTH WAY

We long for these ‘fourth way’ moments. The fourth way vibrant, fully awake and aware moments of our experiencing. We long for them between ourselves and ourselves, between ourselves and our outer world of experiences with things and with other people. We perceive ourselves, outer things and other people to be separate from us. In an awake and aware fourth way moment, we recognize the dissolution of that ‘separate’ border. We recognize the oneness of unity of all–we ‘just taste the strawberry.’

I am observing my own longings within. I am observing moments of connecting in my life and in the lives of those around me. I am observing friends dancing lightly the ‘zone’ of aging parents and how to navigate that emotional and delicate zone. I am observing significant challenges in the zone of physical health for numerous around me. I am observing how the dance of connecting unfolds between parents and teen-agers who cross my path in this world. I am observing the ride on the wave of financial challenges for some. I am observing the journey of delicate maneuvering of how some long-term partners can remain committed through continued unfolding connecting.

How do we dance the above ones (and so many others)? It requires more and more ‘fourth way’ moments. Awake, aware, sensing and allowing engagement with what is. Just tasting the strawberry-whether it is perfectly sweet and ripe, rotten and sour, or just plain flavorless. It is such a a delicate and nuanced way to dance the zone between our healthy ‘longing’ for knowing our inherent connecting to self, Nature and others and our grasping at, repulsion towards or just plain ‘losing’ the unfolding moments.

Just like the waves that were very close to me when I first arrived today—-experiencing them without being repulsed by the possibility of the wave crashing over me and getting me wet, or grasping at the exhilaration of the same possibility of getting wet, or potentially ‘losing’ the moments later on when the receding waves were more subtlety present and possibly unnoticeable. Just experiencing the waves………as they are.

I believe that the powerful changes that are alive in our world–globally, nationally, familially, and individually are all opportunities to know our connection to All That Is. To reclaim and rediscover the connecting that always is. It requires kindness, warm-heartedness, courage, gentle persistence, and an opening to practicing fourth way moments. It requires all of these to know the difference between the authentic ‘longing’ for connecting and the grasping, repulsing or ‘losing’ the moment—- as they sit very near and often deeply entangled together within our inner worlds.

Choose the path of awakening…..the path of connecting. Open to the the study of the Movement From Within. Join Carrie in an upcoming class or Workshop at Feldenkrais and Qi Gong in Seattle. She can be contacted at feldychi@comcast.net or (206) 459-1773. She can also be found at http://www.movementfromwithin.net.

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The new growth of spring blossoms into the full bloom of summer which recedes into the harvest of autumn and then sits in the quiet of winter germinating the cycle to restart again with the new growth of spring. We also live year after year within this cycle often not recognizing all of the little deaths that occur in order for the rebirths that follow keeping the wave of the cycle going. Do you find yourself ever resisting the change of seasons? Not wanting the cycle to flow as it is? To ride the wave of reality, we must be truly present for all that is.

The deaths and the rebirths–these are the transformations of our realities—of our lives. Finding a harmonious flow between and among the many deaths and rebirths or ups and downs of our lives is the action of finding peace. This is found in the presence of each unfolding mundane moment after the next.

In the martial arts Tai Chi Classics there is a line that says ‘invest in loss’. For a martial artist who has a deep internal arts practice this is a philosophy embedded in all of practice. During a two-person defense/offense movement energy study (known as push hands), one of the studies for beginners and experienced practitioners alike is to invest in loss. What does this mean?

Say one practitioner creates an offensive movement energy of pulling the opponent downwards and this energy (as all energies) can be countered in many ways. The habitual response for most is to stiffen and hold creating a resistance to the energy wave as is. This is often fed by a desire or a greed ‘to win.’ This sets up a struggle or a ‘fight’ between the two practitioners and no further refinement of skill can occur.

Refined skill comes from surfing the pull-down energy wave by consciously opening, softening, expanding and not resisting. If done with the right timing, the opponent who is issuing the pulldown energy is met with no resistance and throws himself or herself off balance completely by their own making.

The defender ‘invested in loss’ and in turn creates an opening or space for their own ease. Push hands practice is an intricate study of two practitioners who are continually refining their skills. One of them issues a movement energy of offense while surfing their opponent’s issuance of their own energy of softening and letting go. This letting go can slowly or more quickly change to a new issuance of offensive energy. This ‘surfing’ the seasons of offense/defense allows the wave of practice to develop sensitivity of how to let go while remaining alert and clear with your own intent.

Investing in loss and not getting greedy as an offensive energy movement is made is what creates the space for skill refinement and ease to occur. It also creates a ‘moment’ for a new possibility or a counter movement to arise within the sensation of the practitioner and not within the thinking/reacting or fighting mind. This ‘remaining unattached’ yet alert and fully sensing the unfolding movement energy exchange allows the surfing of the current ‘wave’ of movement to open to the full ocean of possibility of new experiences.

Our world today is giving us numerous opportunities to open, soften and expand in the face of countless numbers of chaotic energies present. Can you invest in loss? Can you open to the varied shades of black, gray and emptiness?

On an individual level how attached are you to your stuff? Things, experiences, moments, remaining ‘as they were’ or ‘should be’? Our planet can’t sustain our species’ unsustainable ways. Can you literally ‘let go’ of the excess—-excess stuff, things, experiences, effort and energy within the moments of your life? Can you live more simply—’lower to the ground’–more in the direct experience of the movement wave of balancing that is flowing over our planet—chaotically careening until we come in alignment with it?

In order for our own species and the multitudes of species co-living with us on our one planet to survive, we will require a more harmonious and equitable distribution of how we each live. Can you invest in the loss of some external things, experiences, moments ‘as they should be’ in order to allow the opening space to be created to more fully embody and experience your life–lower to the ground and interconnected in a sustainable way to the rest of life?

Mother Earth is bleeding and shedding in the Gulf Coast–bleeding oil and shedding fluid. I am holding an analogy of the massive oil geyser being like the shedding of the amniotic fluid that occurs with delivery of an infant. The infant is our ‘new’ human interconnected species that is so painfully being born. Our new species will no longer be able to be dependent on the oil amniotic fluid. Our new species will have to bring a much higher intuitive, sustainable, and interconnected way of ‘breathing’ with Mother Earth.

The horrendous greed and power of the oil corporations fed by our culture’s own unaware and selfish consumption has to come to an end. I personally first heard about the oil well explosion upon returning from an extended silent meditation retreat and found myself turning toward the waves of tears and sadness for the wound in Mother Earth by such blatant exploitation of greed.

Over the ensuing months (incredible to even say it has now been that long) many questions remain present. How could it happen? What happens to the countless numbers of wildlife and peoples’ individual lives that have been destroyed? What happens to the continued destruction of a very fragile ecosystem? What are we doing?

All of these deaths can, with conscious, open, and expansive awareness be transmuted into an individual and a collective rebirth. A rebirth that is born of the investment in the loss of the ‘old thinking!’ This thinking holds me separate from all others –people, things, experiences, other living creatures, nature, myself and all moments— and the container those occur within–our planet. The rebirth thinking opens to the interconnection of all of the above and requires I let go (or lose) the old way of thinking.

Mother Earth’s bleeding can be a catalyst for this shift to occur in a larger swath of the mass of humanity. Can you invest in loss–your own way? Can your specific way aid opening your own awareness thus influencing those around you? Can that open awareness and clear intent allow you to evolve–evolve to help solve this separatist way of being?

When resistance to a moment begins to rise, it is often in relationship to our ‘not liking’, doubting, or being agitated within the moment as it is. Investing in loss includes opening, expanding, and softening to exactly those moments that are difficult. Can you turn gently and in a self-friendly way toward that moment and allow yourself to experience it fully? Can you not invest in the greed of wanting a better moment–one that was, or should be? Can you not fight or stiffen to the feeling you find yourself not liking–possibly fear or anger or sadness? Can you invest in loss and let go?

We are faced with little ‘deaths’ each day. Going with reality as it is, riding the ever changing wave of change, experiencing a little death which arises to a new rebirth allows us to open to the vast interconnected expanse of wisdom within the interconnectedness of All That Is.

Begin or deepen your awareness practice through Qi Gong in Seattle, Meditation, or Feldenkrais in Seattle in order to allow you to ride the wave of change. We are all waiting for you!

You can contact Carrie at 206-459-1773 or feldychi@comcast.net for further information.

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The Mayan Calendar and it’s end date are not about an apocalyptic end of the world scenario. It is not about an event or a series of events that are just going to drop down from the sky upon us suddenly. It requires our active co-creation with it.

The Mayan Calendar depicts a non-linear evolution of consciousness tracking from the Big Bang nearly 16 billion years ago to the potential completion of that fully evolved consciousness–interconnected unity conscious–at the completion of the Calendar. Therefore, the Calendar isn’t about an end to the world but about a full completion or manifestation of evolutionary forces. This full completion however requires our active participation or co-creation with it.

The Calendar is driven by Source Wisdom held by the Universal archetypal image of a spiral World Tree that encompasses no-thingness and All That Is. This universal dynamic spiral or helix is the same at the quantum level of string theory through the spirals of Mother Nature and to the macroscopic level in the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. The same helix is interconnected between all of the above realms through us–the human species– within our own helix genetic code as well as our own dynamic neutral spiraling moving.

The Calendar can be thought of as a 9-tier pyramid with each ascending level of the pyramid going higher and being proportionately more condensed. Think of each level of the pyramid as being a passage of time and the energy of that level having a specific intent of consciousness manifestation. Each of the 9 levels of the pyramid continues along in time at their own rate all to manifest fully complete together at the end of the Calendar. All nine energy waves are concurrently being manifested and each specific level is also individually being manifested in a repeating pattern.

This repeating pattern is a division of each level of the pyramid into 13 even segments of time. Each pyramid level is divided into 13 even segments of time and each ascending level has the same 13 even divisions but they occur in a factor of time twenty times faster. Each of the 13 segments of time has a particular type of energy associated with it. The progression of the 13 divisions of time may be thought of as an archetypal passage of energy similar to how a seed germinates, rests, sprouts, rests, bifurcates, rests, puts down deeper roots, rests, creates full foliage, rests, buds, rests, creates fruit and/or flower, rests, and drops new seed to germinate again.

The energy of each level of consciousness undergoes a similar passage of 13 divisions on each level of the pyramid. During the 13th division of each level, a new twenty times faster energy wave becomes prevalent and starts the germination of the next higher level of consciousness. This same cycle repeats itself nine times for the nine levels of the pyramid. Remember that the 13th division of each pyramid level is still coming to full completion or manifestation as each subsequent level is beginning, continuing, and completing also.

The completion or end of the Mayan Calendar is when all of these 9 forces will be fully manifest and in place. The 9 cosmic forces require our human intention to align and become co-creators with for their full evolution to become manifest. Each wave shift in the 13 divisions of each pyramid level and each wave shift of each of the 9 pyramid levels supports a completely different quantum energy field and only that field. The full progression allows for consciousness to evolve from the spark of possibility at the Big Bang to fully interconnected consciousness of All That Is with humans knowing that interconnection at the completion of the Calendar.

Since the human species is the only species that can be conscious fully of our own consciousness, we are the potential co-creators to align with the cosmic forces!

Dr. Carl Calleman, the foremost scientist and scholar on the Mayan Calendar has tracked the biological and historical evidence that correlates, for the most part exactly, with each of the wave shifts of the Calendar’s 9 levels and 13 divisions of each level. His lifework since the late 1970′s has been on compiling this empirical evidence. See www.calleman.com. Dr. Calleman lives in the Seattle area.

He has given a name to each of the 9 levels or Underworlds as they are called in Mayan Cosmology. The name Dr. Calleman has placed on them is directly in line with the type of consciousness that particular pyramid level of cosmic force is manifesting or ‘bringing into’ the collective energy field. Remember from the base of the pyramid to the top, the forces depict an evolution of consciousness. From bottom to top they are as follows: 1) Cellular 2) Mammalian 3) Tribal 4) Familial 5) Regional 6) National 7) Planetary Galactic and 9) Universal.

Each of the 9 levels then has the 13 divisions analogous to the progression from germination of the seed of that particular level to it’s full bloom. For example, the first level, cellular consciousness is currently in the 13th division of it’s manifestation which began as a spark of consciousness at the Big Bang. We as a species are still undergoing a cellular progression of consciousness that has been going on for 16 billion years of time and will require our co-creation with it to fully become manifest. This particular co-creation will allow full intuition to arise for us today. This is true for each of the other Underworlds also named aptly for their unfolding consciouness!

The energy of the 13 even divisions of each pyramid level alternate between a ‘light’ or ‘active’ or ‘day’ energy and a ‘dark’ or ‘resting’ or ‘night’ energy. This sequence is the same for each subsequent pyramid level and can be studied from one level to the next as a predictor for types of events and energies that are supported and those that are no longer supported. This is the huge mass of work that Dr. Calleman has done and can be studied in depth in his book The Mayan Calendar and the Transformation of Human Consciousness.

The perceptual feel of each shift of the 13 divisions of each pyramid level and the perceptual shift of each pyramid level itself can be and is being palpably felt by all on our planet! Since the same archetypal energy of the analogy of seed to flower to seed is occurring twenty times faster with each level, the palpable feeling of the acceleration of time is very much created!

This is alive and well today in the 12th division of the 8th Underworld. The 8th Underworld of Galactic Consciousness and the 12th division of rest before full bloom drops it’s new seed for the 13th division of the 8th Underworld to begin on Nov 3, 2010. This period we are in now is a ‘dark’ or ‘night’ or ‘rest’ division and these periods support resting, closure or destruction of ‘old consciousness’ that is no longer moving forwards towards the higher level upcoming. The 13th division or 7th Day (an ‘active’ or ‘light’ or ‘day’ energy) of the Galactic Underworld will begin on Nov 3, 2010 and move to full completion of Galactic Consciousness at the end of the Calendar just like all of the other 7th Days are doing concurrently.

This will then follow with the 9th Underworld or level of the pyramid beginning on Mar 9, 2011. The 13 divisions of time in the Universal Underworld or 9th Underworld will have a quantum energy shift every 20 days! The same amount of energy will be packed archetypally into each of those 20 day divisions as is packed into the 1.26 billion year division of the 13 segments of the Cellular Underworld and each of the other divisions of the following Underworlds! No wonder the energy is so palpably chaotic in our world right now and getting ready to shift to an even higher frequency soon!

The Calendar is completely fractal and based on factors of 13 x 20. The 4 Underworlds that track human consciousness most directly as we know it today are the top four–the National, Planetary, Galactic and Universal. These four Underworlds track 5,125 years in time–approximately that of human civilization–up to what we know today!

The division of time of the 13 segments of the National Underworld is 394 years covering from 3115 BC to the end of the Calendar (historically Human Civilization). The division of time of the 13 segments of the Planetary Underworld is 19.7 years covering from July 1755 onto the end of the Calendar (historically the Industrial Revolution). The division of time of the Galactic Underworld is 360 days covering from Jan 5, 1999 to the end of the Calendar (historically coming to possibly be called the Technological Revolution). And, as already stated, the division of time of the Universal Underworld is 20 days covering in time from Mar 9, 2011 to the completion of the Calendar (possibly the intuitive, telepathic or unity Revolution). Dr. Calleman has the completion of the Calendar on Oct 28, 2011 for reasons that are well documented but too complicated to explain here. Check his website or book for a definitive explanation.

I have elected to go into this much detail on the Calendar to give a background for the upcoming Conscious Convergence which is Jul 17-18, 2010. These days are analagous to the Harmonic Convergence which was Aug 16, 1987. They are analagous as they are both pre-waves to the subsequent Underworld they are precursor to. They are prepratory waves to their subsequent Underworlds. The Harmonic Convergence of 1987 prepared for entry into the Galactic Underworld beginning in 1999 just as the Conscious Convergence is the pre-wave to prepare for the entrance into the Universal Underworld starting Mar 9, 2011.

The Universal Underworld quantum energy shift will bring in the cosmic force of Unity Consciousness–that which supports the interconnection of all beings–the transcendence of all separation (ex: between self and no-self, male and female, human and nature, ruler and ruled, east and west, etc….) and the allowance to see reality as is–fully interconnected. This fully interconnected knowing embodies the complete alchemical interweaving and complementary dynamic balancing of yin and yang or dark and light for sustainable and Unity living.

The wave shift can only fully manifest with our active intention to align ourselves or co-create with it however! That co-creation is both individual and collective. The Conscious Convergence is about precisely that. This pre-wave energy will fully support and require our Conscious choice to participate in Unity Consciousness and ask how we specifically can manifest Unity for and with the collective evolution of consciousness?

This pre-wave of the Conscious Convergence is being participated in globally at the same time. A World Tree of events in the four directions will anchor the intent with all the other thousands of events filling in the Healing Medicine Wheel spiraling across, over, around and through the planet.

The World Tree events marking the four directions will be in Norway and South Africa in the North and South and Singapore and Guatemala in the East and West. The event I am hosing in Seattle is one of the thousands in between.

The event will be very organic and spontaneous in manifestation. Please come with an open heart, mind, and intent to allow your intuition and inner knowing to speak to you on all levels as to how you are specifically here at this time and place in the evolution of Consciousness to aid it’s full manifestation in the way that only you can!! Come prepared to choose to participate in Unity. To sit, move, wait, open, and expand into that wordless knowing of connection to All That Is. Then, allowing this knowing to guide your actions and being in the unfolding days.

Please tell others about the event and feel free to invite anyone who is choosing to participate in Unity!

You may contact me at 206-459-1773 or feldychi@comcast.net if you have any questions.

Blessings & En Lak’Ech (I am another You),
Carrie

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