Inspired

Deida: In the Spirit of Love

.....I will quote David Dieda from his newest book, "Instant Enlightement: Fast, Deep, and Sexy."

Praise
"Imagine praising the next person you see. Praise him or her as fully as possible, so you are embarrassed that you are so praiseful. What praise would you give? Picture someone you know - anyone - and feel what is the most magnanimous praise you can offer them.

Remember your mother and father as you offer this praise. Imagine doing so now. How do you feel?

You have probably chosen a career and sought an intimate partner in reaction to the praise you never got from your parents. Take time to remember what you didn't get from (them), and look at what you seek through your career and intimate relationship.

What do you wish your parents had told you more? Really feel into your childhood. Feel, as a child, what your parents said or didn't say to you. What do you wish your parents had given you more of? What do you wish your parents had said to you?

To the next person you see, silently give the praise you didn't get enough of from your parents but wish you had. Give this praise silently to everyone you see for the next three days. In your imagination, give this praise silently to your parents, right now. How does it feel to offer the praise you never got, but wished you had?

Holding back praise limits all the love you are willing to give - through speech, sex, and touch. It also restrains the love you could offer through your life's work. Give the praise that you wish your parents had given you more of. Give it silently to everyone, and give it out loud to your lover, whether you feel they deserve it or not. Find out what happens when you do. Discover the full offering you were born to give, as a gift, to everyone."

Happy Love Day everyone. May your heart be opened more deeply.

Quan Yin: art and healing

This gorgeous carving of Quan Yin from the Portland Art Museum has every element of beauty and healing I strive for in my work, from medicine to art.

~proportion & balance~

+ pure presence +

>^ compassion ^<

*elegance*

)sensuality(

/ calm /

! JOY !

7 is an auspicious number in all spiritual practices, including yogic and martial arts. Did you know 7 is the number of stages of healing as well?

1. acknowledging the need for healing
2. finding a practioner as guide
3. making a committment to the process; establishing personal healing goals
4. following the prescribed protocols and practices
5. periodic self-reflection and re-committment to self-trust
6. opening emotionally, psychically, and physically to being well
7. peeling away layers of illness towards transformation

Finding an image that represents your ultimate wellness, whatever form that takes for you, and gazing upon it while reflecting on it's power to transform you, is a wonderful jumpstart to being on your path.

(Just don't get caught with your camera out in the museum.)

Homeopathy reorganizes your genetic expression

Homeopathy is an "energetic" or vibrational medicine that corrects the way you take information in, process it, and then express that trans/formation. Medicines, or "remedies" as they are called, are made from plants, animals, and minerals. New remedies are even made from pharmaceutical drugs, to treat the children of parents who used certain drugs that have produced problems in their children.

How does this work?

Bruce Lipton, PhD, has written an amazing book >*< based on many years of research called The Biology of Belief. In it, he provides the science behind the "new physics" of energy medicine. You can read online about how fetuses' cellular development is intimately shaped by the feelings, thoughts, and hormone signalling that occurs during a woman's pregnancy. This programming, says Lipton, affects the way we develop our bodies and minds -- particularly in the first 6 years of life. The way we express our genetic code still has a wide girth, apparently, paying heed to the concept of nature + nurture.

So how does homeopathy reorganize genetic expression?

Dr. Lipton speaks about how we can use information (homeopathy being a medicinal form) consciously - to shift the way our cells respond to life's journey. Homeopathic medicine addresses an individual's pain (mental / emotional or physical) according to the particular way that pain is shaped by that particular person. It's the opposite approach of conventional medical practice, where you are "pegged" into the same catagory as other people with your general symptoms. The right medicine will resonate with your belief system and give you a shift in perspective, as though you've gone up in a balloon and are now looking down on your life. It's an incredibly empowering experience to realize you can change almost anything about your life by changing your beliefs.

Is not true medicine really the thing that moves energy in some part of us that has become stuck? Looks like the new science is on the road to proving *how* we hold the power to heal, regenerate, recover, and reclaim.

Happier After Cancer?

This article ( ~ ) really rang my bell today, on being happier after having gone through treatment for cancer. I also thought it was a nice follow-up to the launching of my fall workshop series for women survivors. If you or someone you know has had cancer, you're hip to the fact that nothing really comes close in terms of re-evaluating your life. When a part of you dies, there's a rebirth. That rebirth can take various forms and for me it was all about expression with paint. For others it's about words, song, music, dance, creating community; the list is endless. But you'll never see life the same way again.

Amen!

Loving Your Body, Women!

Check out the fabulous interview with Christiane Northrup, MD, in the May/June issue of Alternative Therapies. In it she discusses how the ideas within "alternative" healthcare can empower women to make friends with their bodies rather than hate them; to know themselves and read their own body's language, to trust their intuition, to learn awareness of the relationship between thoughts and how pain gets expressed through the body. Essentially Christiane speaks from the knowledge of an M.D. and a Naturopathic Doctor; someone trained not only in surgery and pharmaceuticals, but also in physical medicine, therapeutic foods, herbal medicine, homeopathy, and nutritional supplements. She just happens to be an M.D. who was a visionary woman not afraid to teach her patients what she knew was the truth. Don't you love that?

Return to Venus

3 days at Breitenbush Hot Springs: spirit renewed. body rested. soul peaceful. clarity of mind. creativity inspired. just look:

What does beauty mean to you?

Is it a pretty face, a piece of lace, a mountainous Seattle landscape complete with streams of light pouring through the clouds? Is it some object you pick up to hold in your hand, rolling it over and feeling it's coolness (or hotness?) Or maybe it's the feeling you get when you are at peace with your heart...and for a moment you revel at the endless mystery that life is.....

If you find yourself depleted at the end of the day even after you've practiced the Four Agreements, create something that brings immediate joy and sensual pleasure to your life. For example, make a simple, delicious meal and light some candles. Sit down and give thanks for the nourishment you are giving yourself. Share your food with your Love or a friend and take your time. Turn off the TV, put down the book, no radio, nothing. Just food, you, and your senses.

Then take some time to find one thing in your home that delights your eyes. Turn off the computer. Walk away from your email. Put away the bills. Maybe you'll look in the mirror. Hold your baby or child. Walk outside to your garden...and find the first crocus of the season. Perhaps it's your favorite painting, or some gorgeous sweater or pair of boots you found in a boutique in Europe. Or at the Goodwill. Spend at least a half hour taking it in; seeing becomes perceiving. Feel it in your pores, in your solar plexus, in your heart, all the way to your soul. Drink it in like the aroma of a rose in June.

Take it in, take it in, take it in deeper. Beyond the fatigue, beyond the dissapointments, beyond the confusion, misunderstandings, and anger. Find your joy and make it a point to slow down, take a huge breath, exhale, and smell the roses.

The Secret to Everything

I finally got it on the full moon: the Secret to Everything!

You know how you can try, try, try, at times, and never get the effect you're going for? Even if you've watched The Secret 16 times already and you're still not enlightened?

One of my wise friends told me about a wonderful ritual that I'd like to share with you. So for the purposes of this exercise, there are three ways of Doing Things. There is the Effort/ Struggle/ Sweat, or E.S.S. (which is close to esse, the german word for "be") Then there's the lessez-faire, I'll-do-it-later-after-I-have-another-beer. Idilaihab? Hmmm, not very catchy. Then there's the graceful approach: to do your best and then surrender the results.

It's not that you haven't been introduced to this concept a hundred times already...but perhaps you get carried away once in a while and forget that almost nothing you want shows up if you're always pulling the seeds out to see if they're growing.

So make a God Box.
It doesn't have to be fancy.
Just write down whatever is driving you crazy (PMS-enhanced) and drop it in the box. Give it to God.

I did this a couple of days ago and since then I've had 3 invitations to teach and two invitations to show my paintings. Coincidence? Well, for those of you who believe in coincidence and accidents, just pretend for a minute that there is no such thing. Carolyn Myss would agree with me.

Try it; you'll like it.

And then write and tell me what happens.

The Mighty Yoni: Gateway to Creativity

“Bindi” in Sanskrit represents the absolute moment that precedes the birth of the world: infinite potential. Like the moment when sperm meets egg; two loves first meet eyes and sense an indescribable kinship; when the first brushstroke caresses the canvas; when the new writing journal is cracked open, steaming mug of tea in one hand and pen in the other; when you first walked through the gateway to your place of worship….Giving birth to new ideas, new relationships, new beings, and new creations is a process that begins with a moment. The moment of infinite potential. The unformed, shimmering-with-anticipation, glittering twinkle in the eye of the Creator (Creatrix?)

The Yoni, house of birth & nadir of sexuality, is a place of such potential. Yoni is a Sanskrit word that translates as “source,” “womb,” “origin,” and “female genitals.” In it lives millions of eggs, housed within a miniature center for hormone synthesis that can fit in the palm of your hand. Out of that place has evolved the entire human race; has so for millenia, and will continue on ad infinitum. We as women are carriers of the future.

The physical organs responsible for procreative potential, the uterus, ovaries, and organs of pleasure that meet the outside world…..are still mysterious and powerful beyond our ability to comprehend. Science has accumulated reams of data about the pelvic bowl and its mechanical function based on double-blind placebo cross-studies, experimental surgeries, and laboratory blood testing that present the “ facts.” As if that IS what IS SO. However, we still don’t understand why thousands of eggs, developing in the fetus during gestation, have dissapeared by the onset of puberty. We don’t know why things that don’t belong such as endometrial tissue outside of the endometrium, cysts, and fibroids, grow inside the pelvis in and around its organs. We still don’t completely understand the intriquacies of hormonal interaction between the ovaries, uterus, thyroid, and adrenal glands.

What role does the Mighty Yoni play in the way we create our world?

How we walk, the position of the pelvis: tucked under, arched back, or balanced between the two directions, says hello to the world. Out of this place arises the spine, ending at the base of the head. How we move our pelvis is intimately and unendingly related to movement of the neck (and is the basis of Craniosacral Therapy). The neck is the support for the throat, from which we make sound so as to communicate with the world. So the second chakra, house of yoni, is the energy center that resonates with how we relate to people. Says Dr. Christiane Northrup, a highly respected Gynecologist and author, the health of this part of the body is “affected by the degree to which our relationships are based on issues of control, blame, and guilt.”

Another way of saying this is, how responsible are you for what you say, do, and manifest? If you relate to the world as a victim, the result of things happening to you, there is a good chance your monthly cycles are painful. If you attempt to control people and events around you to the degree that you are unable to allow things to follow their natural course, your mind will be filled with tension that affects hormonal signals. Refusing to express your desires and needs often results in the formation of abnormal growths such as fibroids and cysts. What connects these thoughts and the physical manifestations that follow? The brain sends chemical messages to your reproductive organs. Authors such as Carolyn Myss, Christiane Northrup, and Candace Pert have written about these phenomena.

This holy center of creativity is constantly ebbing and flowing, it’s tides intimately connected with the moon. If you pay attention to her messages, you’ll soon notice that your mood, energy, social interest, and need for sleep fluctuate on a daily basis. Resisting these messages is to go against your own nature. And going against your nature makes it very difficult to take in nourishment: food, rest, information, love. To be receptive is to honor the divine feminine energy, or Shakti. To worship the Yoni is to worship your higher Self.

Ways to honor the Yoni

1. Respect your body and her needs. It’s normal to feel an increased need for sleep near the onset of menstruation and in winter; greater hunger near ovulation and in Spring. You may want more solitude or nurturing during certain periods of pregnancy or menopause, for example, and may need to ask friends or family for support.

2. Practice self-massage focusing on the abdomen. Mayan Abdomenal Massage is a thereutic approach that teaches abdominal self-care as maintenence for health digestion and reproductive organ vitality.

3. Sitz baths are helpful to increase circulation to the pelvic area and promote the movement of blood and cleansing of residual metabolic waste products. To do a sitz bath, fill the bathtub with hot water, and a basin with cold. Sit for 3 minutes in hot, then 30 seconds in cold, switching back and forth 3 times, ending with cold. It is easy and inexpensive and creates a powerful stimulus to the lower body.

4. Castor oil packs gently stimulate peristaltic activity while encouraging movement of lymphatic fluid, cleansing and enhancing immunity. For more information please email for directions.

5. Eat foods that feel nourishing. Experiment with what you are attracted to, choosing live foods by color, aroma, and vibrancy. Pay attention to cravings and what might be needed on a deeper level. Drink water to keep hydrated and flushing your system of waste products.

6. Exercise in whatever way connects you more to your body. Practice feeling pleasure from the care you take for your body and mind.

The care you take with your center of creativity is the foundation for all that you manifest in the world. Take time to reflect on how you want to honor your body and practice with intention on a regular basis. Your body will thank you!

The Fascinating Pineal Gland

I decided to write about the pineal gland today because so many people around me seem to be talking about Seasonal Affective Disorder, depression, and how much the winter weather affects mood. And besides, I did mention the subject in my last post. This little gland is one of the most important parts in your body and impacts your hormonal health (and therefore fertility), immunity, sleep, and emotional state.

The pineal gland is a tiny organ that in various ancient cultures has been referred to as the "third eye" and site of the "6th chakra." These references elude to the function of the pineal gland as the seat of our higher self, intuition, personal expression, and connectedness with a Higher Power.

On a chemical level, the pineal secretes melatonin. You've probably heard of melatonin as a sleep aid when taken in synthesized form. In order for melatonin to be produced, your body depends on total darkness. Normally, during our sleep at night is we experience the greatest darkness. However, if you sleep in a room that has artificial light streaming into the room, or if you have clocks and other things that light up, you aren't in total darkness. The pineal gland and it's secretion of melatonin set the sleep/wake cycle based on the sun's rotations. So if you're not in total darkness, your pineal doesn't get the signal as well and may be making less melatonin. This in turn can exacerbate a problem with insomnia...and if you're depressed that can be a double whammy. In wintertime we in the northwest get much less sunshine, which also affects pineal functioning.

If you aren't synthesizing and secreting enough melatonin you are at risk for upsetting the entire hormonal balance in your body. Your balanced hormonal system depends on a sophisticated dance of communication between glands and organs that tell the body when to increase, when to decrease certain signals. These signals affect ovulation, menstrual cycles, sleep/wake cycles, the amount of serotonin and stress hormones available in your brain and body, the ability of your immune system to fight viral and bacterial invaders, the sensitivity of your nervous system--just to name a few. In studies of people who died from cancer, the pineal gland was found to be calcified in 85% of subjects.

St. John's wort has an interesting relationship to some of these conditions: it has been prescribed for mild to moderate depression, for wound healing, for nerve pain, and as a sleep aid. Aside from it's mystical lore (being an herb that removes darkness and allows light in--what a metaphor!) St. John's wort turns out to contain melatonin. It has also been found to fight viruses and bacteria and has even shown promise in treating HIV and cancer.

Interesting how we come full circle. Third eye, connection to the higher self, hormone regulation and sleep/wake cycles, emotional health, immunity, and cancer. In my practice of energy-based medicine, I talk about the importance of keeping the pineal gland "open" and the "emotions fully expressed" in order to allow an individual complete freedom, and movement towards the most vital health. This speaks to the spiritual practice of regularly connecting with your deeper self; the one beyond your intellect and habits. Giving yourself enough time for rest, reflection, and pleasure will go a long way in keeping your pineal gland stay open and keep pumping out that melatonin.