Lovers of caves

"The cave that you fear to enter holds the treasure that you seek" Joseph Campbell.

Time indeed takes on a degree of timelessness whilst in the cave itself. It is hard to know how long I had been in there. Sometimes it felt as if lifetimes had passed. Othertimes, it seemed to move very quickly although I had been in there for hours. A true sense of the elasticity of time.

For therein lies the peace and calm. Stephanie Dowrick once spoke of “intra-personal” peace. The space inside ourselves where it is no longer in conflict.  Just being.  Not the doing. Just being. Resting. Eating, nurturing talking, voicing. The parasympathetic nervous system. Where our bodies should reside for most of the time- at least 95%. And how in modern society it generally doesn’t. It often runs on adrenalin. And keeps running on adreanlin. And then we wonder why we are tired, or have nothing "left". Adrenalin is a non-renewbale energy source. The energy from the parasymaptheitc nervous system is renewable, long lasting, and easy. Kinda like the tropical island relaxation one gets when one is well and truly relaxed. It needs to be nurtured, and loved. 

How can we make our bodies reside more in the Being?

“We die containing a richness of lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we have plunged into and swum up as if rivers of wisdom, characters we have climbed into as if trees, fears we have hidden in as if caves. I wish for all this to be marked on my body when I am dead.”

― Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient

Laughing with the guests

"This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival;
A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and attend them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows
who violently sweep your house empty of furniture,
still, treat each guest honourable.
He may be clearing you out for some new delight.
The dark thought, the same, the shame, the malice,
meet them all at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each guest has been sent as a guide from beyond"

Rumi, The Guest House

It can be particularly difficult to stand in our house and laugh at what befalls us. I see around me at the moment many who are struggling. Perhaps it is again that time of year where many are tired, coming out of a long winter and not yet past Christmas lunch. There isn't much laughter at times.

When we have these happenings, often there is only resistance: No breath, stuck jaw, tight throat, tight heart. No flow, no movement. Only stagnation. Often I find that I get stuck. One way I have recently enjoyed getting out of some "stuck" is by negative practice. It works. Ok I am going to think about pink elephants. A lot. Suddenly, with permission to do so, it loses some of its power, and flow can arise again. Stuck, for me, is a sign that I am no longer in flow. That I am no longer truly connected, to myself, nor the world and not my breath. I have used this too with some clients who are dysfluent "Go on, make it the worst stutter that you have ever had!". Sometimes it turns out with full permission that it is their most fluent. 

Laughing eases....

This picture is gorgeous isn't it? It reminds me of the joy of laughter. The free expression we have when we laugh, even in the face of our misfortunes and especially in our joys. When we remain connected to ourselves and do not abandon ourselves. 

I often ask my clients to giggle or laugh to ascertain how we connect to our breath in a more "natural" way. They often look at me with a great deal of uncertainty, until usually we both laugh with the falseness of the situation and not wanting to laugh. Connection to the breath, and ourselves can then occur. For some who have been highly stressed, laughing is not a regular occurrence. And for some in "suits", it is something not usually done at all in the midst of a serious work day (!).

So today, I am going to honour the guests, respect their sweeping, and wait, in hope, for new delights to appear. xx

Synchronicity

"The areas in which we feel most stuck and most incompetent may be our richest gold mine of developing material" Free Play

This year, I had wanted to walk the Camino de Santiago across Northern Spain. I have known about "il camino" for over 20 years and it has always piqued my interest. It is something I had promised friends in France that we would do before we were 40. It is seen as a rite of passage for many pilgrims: A mark of their faith, their endurance. Many have spoken of their experiences with their inner gifts opening whilst 'on' the Camino, including Shirley Maclaine. There was a film released this year, The Way, which highlighted how special the Camino route is for personal and spiritual growth. I still managed to love the film, despite some of its cliches, especially the sweeping scenery (all minus the pain of real blisters)! The pilgrims follow the scallop shell of "St Jacques" along the route.

I decided not to pursue this path this year. Trusting that as one door opens.....one may need to stand in the hallway a while till another one opens.....but open it does...and so it has.

I found a scallop shell last week whilst walking along the bay. I saw it as a sign that I have been travelling in the right direction. Making my way slowly and surely. Making my very own Camino during my immersion in Tassie. Following my heart, following the wind and the birds. Indeed the birds had squawked madly as I had been walking the other way, and watching their flight, I had decided to follow them.

Scallop Shell on "My Camino"

Scallop shell on the Camino

A synchroncity of sorts. And a beautiful reminder that we can find meaning in our lives through symbols. It is like when we buy a new car and suddenly all we see are new cars. I often see life play out around me in symbols. I seem to get lots of signs and hints when I am travelling about my internal world. A sign will remind me of a story, a song, a memory and with that I find myself dropping into the labyrhinth of my mind where I can recall, dissect, reflect upon its meaning. It seems to bring about a new clarity, focus, meaning, and I find that the depths of meaning are multi-layered.

I see signs in real life too: Speaking recently with a friend of her dismissal of her deeper feminine aspects, we were treated to a woman jumping out of a moving car at the train station. Really. A moving car. We laughed solidly for the next five minutes at the synchronicity and the strength of the symbolism. If there is ever an image now of how we "throw out our feminine aspects" that is it. And yes, it was a male driver (with respect to the masculine in us, and her masculine at the time). We both laughed at the clarity of how the external meets the internal. For me, this is my reality. There are signs in my outer world which augment, and clarify my internal world, sometimes as if to prepare me for what is ahead.

Jung believed there were many indications of how we are connected: with our fellow humans and with nature in general, through the 'collective unconscious' or "Atman". As we venture deeper into the 'Atman' we may find that we are more and more connected to our internal environment. The Germans have a great way of expressing those who are more emotionally connected to the Atman by stating "Some of us live closer to the water than others" (I can't find the German translation, and yes, if you know it, please comment!)

The artistic journey is one of reconnecting to oneself.  Of making sense of these synchronicities. A way of delving deeply into the internal psyche. An internal journey. One that isn't concerned whether we are sitting on the couch at home or in some ritzy hotel. Although, sometimes it is wonderful to change our external environment to facilitate this inner journey. It is as though it seems to dislodge any internal matter that may be too fixed and stubborn in the quotidien life by being gently jostled from our external environment. 

And by dislodging it, we may find our best song, our most beautiful poem, our richest heart.

xx