I am writing today from Vancouver, BC, where I am
helping my mother prepare to move out of the home she has been in for many
years. I am touched both by the precious opportunity to have some good
mother-daughter bonding time, as well as the bitter-sweet process of letting go
of the old and preparing to move into a new life.
I am so aware as I assist my mother in sorting through articles
representing a lifetime that transition seems to be the name of the game for so
many just now. How do we maintain our balance, our sanity, our health and sense
of well-being in the midst of constant, accelerating change?
I am currently reading an inspiring book from the Heartmath institute,
called Transforming Depression: The
Heartmath Solution to Feeling Overwhelmed, Sad, and Stressed. The writers
talk, as many people these days do, about a planetary shift. They write: “The
accelerating pace of the speedup produces a shift
energy, which sometimes can feel like riding a wave but at other times
feels like being tossed around or caught in an undertow.” Feel familiar? The
writers recommend a simple tool they call “Notice and Ease, “ which simply
involves being aware of what you feel and befriending it by holding it in your
heart. Thinking about ease as you focus on your heart can give the issue or
sensations more space to resolve.
This reminds me of the process of augmentation we use in Biodynamics.
Here we are holding an awareness of what is present, while orienting to the
natural increasing of space or potency occurring in the inhalation phase of
primary respiration (a subtle rhythmic expression of our source, what we call
in Biodynamics the Breath of Life). This serves to remind the client’s system of
the space or potency available in which to resolve whatever pattern it is
holding. In that we begin essentially as fluid space, and only gradually
solidify into more differentiated form, we are really returning to our origins.
We might say our source is space.
Awareness enables us to be present with whatever arises, rather than to
identify with it. When we become the emotion or reaction, we limit our options.
When we step back enough to be present with it, change can happen in the
spaciousness. We can then return to our natural fluidity and creativity.
I believe this is the essence of waking up. Awakening, by the way, is an
important transition whether it be waking up from a night of sleep (or trying
to sleep) or waking up to full presence in this moment.
Our first major transitions in life often set deep imprints for how we
encounter later transitions throughout our lives. If our birth was challenging,
we often perceive and react to other life transitions as if they held the same
challenges. This includes littler transitions, like getting up in the morning
or leaving the house to go for a walk. This means we have the opportunity
numerous times a day to re-visit our early patterns, either reinforcing them or
meeting them with renewed awareness, space and potency.
On a last note for today, I would like to share with you a poem that
emerged from me as I was waking up one morning last week.
Waking up
This is the time of year the seagulls meet for their
regional conference
Right above our house
Starting at 4 a.m.
And continuing until just after the time everyone else had
planned on starting their day.
They must discuss very important things
Hundreds of them
Each with their own significant, very significant, opinion
Which must be voiced
Louder
Louder
Louder
Than the last.
At least the sheep were able to get some rest
I woke them with my camera
On a late afternoon stroll
Perhaps they, too, had been awakened
Too early
And were catching up…
Do we ever really catch up?
I had a friend once who became enraged at the idea
He had read somewhere that lost sleep is truly lost
We never get it back.
I’m not sure why this was so important to him
But, personally, I sometimes really want my sleep back.
On the other hand,
Do we ever really wake up?
