Awakenings

What phrase in this speaks for you today?

How brave you are for slowing down. For not finishing that to-do list.
How courageous you are for not crossing that finish line, because your body said “enough.”
How fearless you are for choosing the quiet of your soul over those voices driving you always towards more.
How bold, how rebellious -
you, out there,
honoring your own natural rhythm,
going against the culture’s breakneck speed.

We tend to make heroes of those hungry with ambition, relentlessly doing, producing always more.
We applaud those who refuse to stop or rest, sacrificing sometimes their heart and soul in the process.
Those who push themselves so hard in the name of achievement
that they ignore their own body crying out.
We celebrate those who are ill or aging but never show it, never slow down, never reveal a moment of vulnerability.
This drivenness can be heroic, at times. It can, at times, be necessary for our survival or the greater good.
But,
I want to make heroes of those who slow down.
I want to make heroes of those who listen to their bodies, and do not strive for more than what the soul truly needs.
I want to make heroes of those who do not force or push, but surrender to each moment as it opens.
I want to applaud those who may not be driven towards success as we know it, but instead are nurturing something deep and subtle and needed.
I want to celebrate those brave enough to cease all doing, even for a second, and sit with the ache in their hearts. A task many find harder than summiting the highest peak.
I want to make heroes of those who honor their limitations. Who are unable to keep up with the busy-ness of our times, yet show up to each profound, necessary moment.
Truly, it is an act of courage and rebellion to do any such thing,
in a world demanding you resist your own self, your own rhythm, your own soul.
The paradox is that often when we cease our incessant doing, even for a minute, and listen to that quiet voice within, we discover what it is we absolutely must do, and what instead can fall away.
We finally hear the call towards what serves our soul,
and what then will serve the world. Nothing more, nothing less.
A hero is simply someone brave.
So come, be softly brave.
Be a new, quieter kind of hero.
Few may applaud, it’s true, but your soul certainly will.

Author : Leyla Aylin

Artwork: Barbara bargiggia

https://www.facebook.com/100044567163571/posts/913868536775377/?app=fbl

At any time you can ask yourself: At which threshold am I now standing? At this time in my life, what am I leaving? Where am I about to enter? What is preventing me from crossing my next threshold? What gift would enable me to do it? A threshold is not a simple boundary; it is a frontier that divides two different territories, rhythms, and atmospheres. Indeed, it is a lovely testimony to the fullness and integrity of an experience or a stage of life that it intensifies toward the end into a real frontier that cannot be crossed without the heart being passionately engaged and woken up. At this threshold a great complexity of emotion comes alive: confusion, fear, excitement, sadness, hope. This is one of the reasons such vital crossings were always clothed in ritual. It is wise in your own life to be able to recognize and acknowledge the key thresholds: to take your time; to feel all the varieties of presence that accrue there; to listen inward with complete attention until you hear the inner voice calling you forward. The time has come to cross.

JOHN O'DONOHUE

Excerpt from his books: To Bless the Space Between Us (US) / Benedictus (Europe)
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/store

County Clare, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill

Yes those are brain parts. So happy to be attending craniosacral therapy training again. Meditation, community, anatomy and healing, transforming bodywork. Affirms my approach to include nervous system regulation as part of all my sessions.

This.
From my shamanic energy medicine teacher.

In the Andes and valleys of the Quechua tradition, the health and well-being of a person or an entire community is intimately linked to their feelings, thoughts, and actions in relation to others and to the Earth.

When a person is kind in his heart, in his mind, and in his work, that person is in Ayni with the world, and life recognizes him by bestowing upon him vigor and prosperity. Ayni means reciprocity: just as one gives, one receives. But beware, as there is a very powerful subtlety in the conditions of this reciprocity. A heart that thinks about what it is going to receive in return when it gives, is not pure. The thought and action are not in Ayni.

It is through selfless and unconditional help and devotion that one accumulates health and spiritual solvency. In our materialistic and individualistic culture, we operate in opposition to Ayni. It is always about “me” and what I am going to receive.

At the other end of the scale, Ayni is not about becoming a martyr who gives freely from his own blood and for that reason feels holier. When you are in Ayni, you simply offer to help when you know help is needed and you trust that when you are in need, life will pay you back. The image of a flowing river helps us to understand this.

Like a river, we allow our help to flow forward without expecting to be nurtured by those we have helped. We trust that help will come from the direction it needs to flow from, just when we need it. This is how one cultivates unconditional surrender and trust in life.

The Quechua community practice Ayni by making offerings to the Pachamama or Mother Earth, to Inti or to the Father Sun, and to other forces of nature that give us life. They give thanks for the body and for everything that sustains it; everything that allows our soul to enjoy this Earthly experience.

Today, I invite you to begin to practice Ayni; to begin to practice kindness without fear or suspicion and to allow abundance to flow. As we heal, a feeling of prosperity is born from the depths of our selfishness and sooner, rather than later, the Universe offers reciprocity in the form of unconditional love.

Timeless practices steeped in modern awareness help us with this!
I will announce new group opportunities to learn and grow soon.

As always, I am available in person and virtually to assist you with your journey. ❤️

Listen, oh beautiful soul.
Every day a new feast
comes running into your life.
Always a new experience.

Your body is like a guest house,
receiving company from the hidden world.
Some are positive,
some are tragic,
and still others who are frantic.

All mirroring your needs.
All showing you ways to expand.
All challenging your beliefs.

Whoever that comes from these unseen lands,
receive it without regret.
Welcome all that come to you,
with no judgment.

Remember, every visitor,
here a short time,
meant only for your growth.

Rumi 🧡
Translated by Shahram Shiva

Art Credit: Freydoon Rassouli

I love assisting healers with thier own healing journeys! To be of service as a healer is a sacred gift and it also asks a lot of us. We all can benefit from assistance to cultivate our own healed self , be the bright light we are, be the best presence we can for those we are serving. It’s a treat for me when I work with clients who are also healers or working through the transition to offering thier services.

I’ve been working with some particularly strong women lately. It’s always humbling and a sacred experience to assist and witness another’s healing.
Here’s to all who pursue thier strength.

Looking for a space to reconnect with self, nature and your true sense of “home”? This is a perfect time of year. I have space available by day or week for personal retreat just 10 minutes from downtown Marquette. Meditation and qigong instruction and support for your own retreat is also available.

Each one of us is alone in the world. It takes great courage to meet the full force of your aloneness. Most of the activity in society is subconsciously designed to quell the voice crying in the wilderness within you. The mystic Thomas a Kempis said that when you go out into the world, you return having lost some of yourself. Until you learn to inhabit your aloneness, the lonely distraction and noise of society will seduce you into false belonging, with which you will only become empty and weary. When you face your aloneness, something begins to happen. Gradually, the sense of bleakness changes into a sense of true belonging. This is a slow and open-ended transition but it is utterly vital in order to come into rhythm with your own individuality. In a sense this is the endless task of finding your true home within your life. It is not narcissistic, for as soon as you rest in the house of your own heart, doors and windows begin to open outwards to the world. No longer on the run from your aloneness, your connections with others become real and creative. You no longer need to covertly scrape affirmation from others or from projects outside yourself. This is slow work; it takes years to bring your mind home.

JOHN O'DONOHUE

Excerpt from the book, Eternal Echoes
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/store

Connemara Cottage, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill

This.

~ This year, dear friends, may we all lose weight!

The weight of expectations. The weight of self-criticism. The weight of disconnect that fills us with a deeper hunger. The weight of not always loving. The weight of a worn and weary world. Of not always accepting, seeing and inhabiting this precious and sacred body, that we're in.

~ This year, dear friends, may we all exercise!
..our holy will! Our sacred sense of purpose. Our vision and hard-earned wisdom. Our discernment and our shining hearts. In ways that enrich connections, with our bodies, our souls and those we love. And even to the world. ❤

~ This year, ah yes... may we all start the work of quitting...
..that collective Kool-Aid. The negative self-talk. The small-a**ed living. That cacophony of cockatoo-voices that drown out our souls. And old habits: Those used to stop us hearing our pain, our disappointments, and all things much better loved, seen and accepted right down to the very bottom ~ and to find true freedom, through a connection with our deepest souls.

And...

~ This fine new year, (well, here's the best...) May we all be rich!

Yes, utterly and completely rich. Wildly and unapologetically. Rich in love. Life. Connection with one another and all that really matters. Filled to the brim and bubbling over; more again and spilling over that. Full of laughter, acceptance, joy, and less of worry. Less of sorrow ~

Rich in renewed experience, of a whole new year! ❤

Happy 2023, dear friends!

~Rachel Alana (R.A Falconer)
Midwives of the Soul

art | John Collier

#2023

Couldn’t say it better than this message from my teacher. Happy New Year!

A New Year. Another 365 days to walk the path of unconditional love, to connect with Spirit, and to dream a new world into being. See you all, dear friends, in 2023.

I have some news to share:
During the time we were all in our homes, I completed an extensive Shamanic Energy Medicine Practitioner training program with Four Winds Society. I had wished to do this ever since I attended a workshop with Alberto Villoldo and Marcella Lobos in 2010.

I have been working with clients virtually and in my Marquette office for the past two years. It is an honor to share this powerful and joyful work. Contact me if you would like to pursue this together.

Having completed a couple other big projects and life transitions, I have space to share this with more of you.

I am creating a personal retreat space for nature immersion and meditation. It is available by day or week beginning July. Stay tuned for details.

Some days I am just keeping the pilot light lit. ☀️😎

One of my favorite ways to tap into a more expanded hopeful view- noticing the sky.

In honor of the recent passing of Thich Nhat Hanh. We are blessed by his life.

Oneness by Thich Nhat Hanh

The moment I die,
I will try to come back to you
as quickly as possible.
I promise it will not take long.
Isn’t it true
I am already with you,
as I die each moment?
I come back to you
in every moment.
Just look,
feel my presence.
If you want to cry,
please cry.
And know
that I will cry with you.
The tears you shed
will heal us both.
Your tears are mine.
The earth I tread this morning
transcends history.
Spring and Winter are both present in the moment.
The young leaf and the dead leaf are really one.
My feet touch deathlessness,
and my feet are yours.
Walk with me now.
Let us enter the dimension of oneness
and see the cherry tree blossom in Winter.
Why should we talk about death?
I don’t need to die
to be back with you.

Published in Call Me by My True Names, Thich Nhat Hanh (1993)