Figure 8 group work

Here is yesterday's  Figure 8 exercise done in a group .  I love to practice it in a group like this because the energy is so stronger when we practice together .  We begin by working the energy flow as in the solo exercise and once  we have established this,  we then expand our awareness  and   imagine and feel the energy circulating  through   everyone in the group , imagining the thumbs directing energy in the top of everyone's head down through all our hearts etc.   This is a great way of expanding one's energy and connecting with each other.

Double Figure 8 Exercise

Here is one of John Kells Figure 8 exercises . In this exercise we work both hands simultaneously , drawing  ' earth's ' energy up through our body filling the heart and as it spills out like a fountain we direct it up to
 ' heaven  '  imagining that it reaches to eternity and beyond. We then turn the hands over and direct
  ' heaven's ' energy down through the top of our head  once again filling the heart with energy  ( this time heavens energy ). The hands turn over and direct the energy out from our heart and send it down into the earth to complete one cycle of the energy circuit. The energy can be imagined as a light  ( white or gold ) which cleanses and recharges the body as it passes through.  One can also feel it as a flow  through the body just like an internal shower.

How beautiful  from my dear tai chi friend and companion Pat  I just had to share it.

 " Do you know Yeats's translation of the Upanishads?  According to the introduction, the same Sanskrit word for essence, being, served for honey, and Yeats, being the poet he was, chose 'honey' to use in his translation.  I've attached the section where he uses it,  which is one of my favourite bits.  The book ends@

This is perfect.  that is perfect.  Perfect comes from perfect.  Take perfect from perfect;  the remainder is perfect.
May peace and peace and peace be everywhere.


The Ten Principal Upanishads
put into English by Shree Purohit Swami  and W B Yeats

Book V

This earth is the honey of all beings;  all beings the honey of this earth.
The bright eternal Self that is in earth, the bright eternal Self that lives in this body,
are one and the same;
that is immortality, that is Spirit, that is all.

Water is the honey of all beings;  all beings the honey of water.
The bright eternal Self that is in water, the bright eternal Self that lives in human seed,
are one and the same;
that is immortality, that is Spirit, that is all.

Fire is the honey of all beings;  all beings the honey of fire.
The bright eternal Self that is in fire, the bright eternal Self that lives in speech,
are one and the same;
that is immortality, that is Spirit, that is all.

Wind is the honey of all beings;  all beings the honey of wind.
The bright eternal Self that is in wind the bright eternal Self that lives breath,
are one and the same;
that is immortality, that is Spirit, that is all.

The sun is the honey of all beings;  all beings the honey of the sun.
The bright eternal Self that is in the sun, the bright eternal Self that lives in the eye,
are one and the same;
that is immortality, that is Spirit, that is all.

The quarters are the honey of all beings;  all beings the honey of the quarters.
The bright eternal Self that is in the quarters, the bright eternal Self that lives in the ear,
are one and the same;
that is immortality, that is Spirit, that is all.

The moon is the honey of all beings;  all beings the honey of the moon.
The bright eternal Self that is in the moon, the bright eternal Self that lives in the mind,
are one and the same;
that is immortality, that is Spirit, that is all.

Lightning is the honey of all beings;  all beings the honey of lightning.
The bright eternal Self that is in lightning, the bright eternal Self that lives in the light of the body.
are one and the same;
that is immortality, that is Spirit, that is all.

Thunder is the honey of all beings;  all beings the honey of thunder.
The bright eternal Self that is in thunder, the bright eternal Self that lives in the voice,
are one and the same;
that is immortality, that is Spirit, that is all.



Air is the honey of all beings;  all beings the honey of air.
The bright eternal Self that is in air, the bright eternal Self that lives in the hollow of the heart,
are one and the same;
that is immortality, that is Spirit, that is all.

Law is the honey of all beings;  all beings the honey of law.
The bright eternal Self that is in law the bright eternal Self that lives as the law in the body.
are one and the same;
that is immortality, that is Spirit, that is all.

Truth is the honey of all beings;  all beings the honey of truth.
The bright eternal Self that is in truth, the bright eternal Self that lives in this body.
are one and the same;
that is immortality, that is Spirit, that is all.

Mankind is the honey of all beings;  all beings the honey of mankind.
The bright eternal Self that is in mankind the bright eternal Self that lives in a man,
are one and the same;
that is immortality, that is Spirit, that is all.

Self is the honey of all beings;  all beings the honey of Self.
The bright eternal Self that is everywhere, the bright eternal Self that lives in a man,
are one and the same;
that is immortality, that is Spirit, that is all.

This is the honey that Dadheechi gave to Ashweenikumars.  A sage said to Ashweenikumars:  'As a reward for cutting off his head and substituting a horse's head Dadheechi gave you this honey, daring man!  I proclaim this news, as thunder proclaims the rain.  Dadheechi kept his word;  though this honey was his secret, he gave it;  gave this secret of creation.

'He made the two-footed;  He made the four-footed.  He, the great god, became the bird, entered into its body.  He is the God who lives in all bodies.  There is nothing that does not fill him;  nothing that He does not fill.

'He wanted every form, for He wanted to show Himself;  as a magician He appears in many forms, He masters hundreds and thousands of powers  He is those powers, those millions of powers, those innumerable powers.  He is Spirit;  without antecedent, without precedent, without inside, without outside;  omnipresent, omniscient.  Self is Spirit.  That is revelation.

First Lesson of the Short Form for Blackrock beginners

End of term at ARC House

What a great term we had at ARC . The other day I was writing about great teachers but great students are just as important.
In my role as teacher I have been blessed by meeting and sharing this practice with truly amazing students , many who have become companions on this inward journey of self discovery.  People  who like me aspire to having a  " Beginners Mind  " always curious for new insights , new connections, and most importantly a bit of fun along the way.

Words have Power

Words have great power.

 It was  my teacher Steven Moore who first drew my attention to the power of words.

 He would invite us to think of words such as Relax as we did our warm-ups , and asked us to notice how including the repetition of the word helped the relaxation process.

What a gift this teaching has been.

Words affect us they awaken responses in our bodies.

Take a few minutes to check this out for yourself .

Here are some Power words ,

 Love , Peace , Silence, Space, Harmony, Joy , Serenity .

Read the list slowly  notice which one resonates with you right now.

Now close your eyes and slowly repeat that word for a few minutes. .  .  .

  .   .  .


Notice how you are feeling ,  if you are like me you will have noticed a shift in your internal feeling , you will be feeling calmer , more connected , more at peace.

The reason this works  ( I believe ) is because  these words are close to our true nature and when we repeat them we tune in to that nature which is always  present.

All these words work for me , sometimes Space feels right often Love is the one. Play with them and find your own favourites.

 With Love Ann

Great Teachers

I have  been pondering  on some of the the great teachers in my life,  thinking about what they share in common.
Passion for and love of their work come to mind. All of these teachers are completely devoted to their work, it is not a 9-5 pursuit.
 They live and  breath the work , so it becomes ' them '. Every cell of their body knows the work and so their work radiates from the inside out.
 This means the energy of their work  in the space around their body it radiates out from them.
. This I believe is why we learn so much in their company, both consciously and unconsciously through  a resonance that occurs between us.
 The more we as students tune into the work the more we resonate with the teaching and teacher and the more we are nourished in and by their presence and teaching.
To recognise a teacher one must be awake to their work this I feel is why some people 'get' a teacher while others are unmoved in their presence.
 Neither person is at fault , it is just that they are on different paths.
 A teaching which is perfect for one person is not necessarily correct for someone else.
 We all come here to grow and learn .
 I believe when we  ' ask ' we are given , given directions to the teachings and teachers who will point us in the right direction for our growth and evolution.
 Each one of us has an inner compass and so we can recognise our teachers, it is our job to use our compass and  keep it close by so we stay on track.

One of John Kells pushing hands exercises.

John's   'T'ai Chi '  in italics because John always said that the T'ai Chi was just the foundation for his pre celtic energy work ,which is all about connection .

John's exercise are often based on spirals or figure 8 exercises.

Wang style T'ai Chi  is the groundwork and the spirals and figure8's are a refinement of the work which (my opinion ) increase the frequency of  energy  vibration in and around our bodies.

These two ways of engaging the body compliment each other very well.

The Yang work develops a calm , focused , strongly rooted body.

John's magical work ,  helps to develops 'short energy ,quickens the
spirit ,  livens the mind, and takes us into whole new realms of reality.





In this version of John's exercise I have added stepping to give it a twist !

Tai Chi Lessons for this week

Love

    "  With our thoughts we create our world. "

       I've read and heard this often and now it feels true to me too. 

       So with this in mind let us take some time to 'create ' more love in our lives. 

     

      Give your self a few minutes to go inside and remember times when you felt 

        really loved or really loving ( gratitude also works as its vibration is very close to love ). 

     Go on close your eyes and recall some of those happy times of love.

    Now that you have found some ,  close your eyes again and dwell in those memories for a few 

    minutes  ( at least 3 to 4 minutes ).

     Dwelling in those loving feelings nourishes body mind and spirit , not only that, those high vibration

    of love   will radiate out from your body and nourish your world. 

    

    What better service could we be to this world than to live a life of love.

Here is a T'ai Chi  'warm up '  that I have adapted into a partner work exercise. It can be done  in pairs and once people get  to know how it works it can be expanded to 3 people or 4 as shown above.
It is a great exercise to develop awareness of the energy moving between and around people as they practice. Even watching the video one can get a sense of the flow of energy.

Exercises like this one that are simple and repetitive are a good way into the feel of T'ai Chi energy.
 There is so much going on in the T'ai Chi form , so many twists and
 turns , so much coordination that the mind is kept very busy and people  are usually unaware of the flow of energy in and around their body.

Energy awareness is also easier to develop in partner work  ( my opinion ) because of it's nature , what I mean is, when there at least 2 people involved there is a way more energy, not only that but once the partners become attuned to the exercise  and  to each other a resonance often occurs which further  amplifies the energy.

The conscious awareness of energy while practicing the form happens once one is very familiar with the postures and can widen ones focus to include more subtle feelings that up to that point were subconscious.
As with the partner work the form  energy is easier to access in a group
 ( once one has some experience and can practice in a relaxed way ) again this is due to the amplification of the energy and resonance within the group.

The energy was always there , the energy begins to move as soon as one begins the first posture.  The teacher can feel this energy in the room , as can others who have learned enough to be open and relaxed.
All a beginner needs is patience and plenty practice of the form and they too will become  aware of this wonderful  energy flow.

Mysterious T'ai Chi

I often marvel at the mysterious nature of T'ai Chi and wonder how it captured and held my attention for over 20 years actually almost 24 now.
  My scientific mind tries to explain , it examines the physical benefits, increased joint mobility and  fitness, much greater spatial awareness, an ability to work physically with another person.
Those aspects are all on the ' solid ' physical level. But there is so much more . What about the subtle energies  that Tai Chi teaches or rather reveals to us.  these ' strings ' of connection that hold us all in ways that are mysterious and enthralling  These are the aspects that keep me working on this Art .
We all try to understand  them in our own way, and search for words to express aspects that are completely beyond words because these ' strings are working on levels of consciousness or dimensions way beyond this physical level. When we practice together we enter new dimensions and meet on levels that our ordinary mind mostly knows nothing of. Yet these  ' meetings ' leave traces in our energy that affect our physical body.
We  ' know ' this on some level often unconsciously and this is what impels us to practice .

The Quantum Nose

New research shows that strange quantum phenomena are responsible for our sense of smell.
The conventional wisdom is that it's a molecule's specific shape that allows our noses to distinguish between one smell and another. But there is new evidence that it is the frequency of the molecule's vibration, a quantum effect that's all important.
Olfactory  scientist  Dr Luca Turin  of the Alexander Fleming Biomedical Sciences Research Center in Greece, has set about gathering evidence of quantum phenomena up our nostrils.  He created a smelly molecule  cyclopentadecanone , specifically for the job. The molecule comes in two forms - both are the same shape but vibrate at a different frequencies . He found that volunteers were able to distinguish the two versions.
But Turin faces an up hill battle to get his theory to take hold - other olfactory scientists have been sniffy about the idea. Asked  if this new evidence would change things. Turin said, " I don't think so, I take the Max Plank point of view - people don't change their mind , they just die.
I found this story interesting because once again it demonstrates our resistance to change , our resistance to seeing things in new ways. It is always a battle for us to let go of beliefs even when they limit us and block us from more interesting and rewarding lives and work.
This just confirms the importance of work like Tai Chi , meditation etc , modalities  that open our minds to the possible , rather than the expected .

Wednesday Morning in the wood.

 This little wood calls me whenever I am feeling blue.

 The well worn paths tell a tale of  other visitors . 

                      Who come nourish their souls.

                                  

                 Or just for fun.

                                       

  I ponder on the aches and wounds that these woods have healed.

    

Through the sound of running streams. 

And time spent . . . .

In quiet but cheerful company.

Mini Form with Monday morning class.

Memories of My Mother

My mother is in my mind and not just because it's Mother's Day.  I read Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife by Eben Alexander  a while back and since then I seem to come across more books on the NDE experience. What has this got to do with my mother ? You might wonder. So let me tell   you her NDE story.

When Mam was about seventy she became very ill and spent some time in hospital . I used to call and see her most evenings after work.
This Friday evening when I came by she was in a very distracted state couldn't focus on chatting shewas in a lot of pain.  Not  being one to complain she just said nothing but I couldn't rest easy and when the time for me to leave I just couldn't go. I waited and waited hoping things would improve and that this bad bout of pain would subside. Eventually I called a nurse and insisted she get Mum a doctor.  When he arrived and had no idea what to do I got even more insistent and demanded a specialist.

When he arrived and examined her it was decided that they had better operate immediately.
My  sister Mary had arrived by then so we kept each other company during the seven hour operation.
When the Surgeon came out he told us that they  ' almost  ' lost her.  That our mother  had gangrene of the intestines and that if he had operated a week earlier he wouldn't have known what to do, however he was just back from a seminar on that exact subject and so knew exactly how to remove her intestines and replace them with a "bag'.
This was amazing and we pondered on how synchronous her timing had been.

She spent the next few days in intensive care and had very little energy for talking , however as soon as she could she told us of her experience .

" Jesus came to me and took me to the Islands ( my brother The Columban Priest had  been transferred to teach in a seminary in Suva ). Jesus showed me all around the Islands where Donal works . And reassured me that this was the right place for him.  "She said that the peace and love she felt was beyond words. The only other experience that came any close was when she had  ' morphine ' during a previous illness. However she said that the experience with Jesus was millions of times more blissful.
Following that experience there was a change in Mum , she had always been " holy " however before the NDE her prayers seemed to come from a place of fear. She was very much afraid of not being good enough to get to heaven , anxious that she would die in 'sin'.  And while she was still concerned about being "ready' for death . Now she was no longer afraid. Her prayers seemed  ( to me anyway ) to be more about spending time with her ' maker '. There was a peace and joy in her prayer. She got a little easier on me about my  alternative beliefs.  It was more about love.
 She found her colostomy very difficult to deal with, she was always fastidious about cleanliness and just never came to terms with the ' bag'. We were lucky to have her around for another few years. When it came time for her to die she was well ready , and spoke to all of us about it .
This is what she said to me.
She told me that the only regret she had was that she hadn't listened to my advice on changing her diet years earlier,  that she would miss watching her grand children grow up, and  she said  ( and I felt she found this difficult ) you are doing your right work Ann you have healing in your hands.
There was a big group of family and close friends present at her death we all found it an uplifting experience .
As my brother and uncle led the final prayers she simply said AMEN to each one . It felt like a Big Amen to her life . We all felt blessed to be there and witness her parting.

Waking Up

We are not as solid or as material as as we appear to be. We are in fact multidimensional beings of amazing light and beauty.
This light and beauty is our true nature always present, however we are mostly unaware of  this nature due to the heavy baggage of conditioning, the physical body which tends to weigh us down, but primarily because we are not paying attention to this aspect of ourselves.

 We are mostly paying attention on the physical level so this is all we know.

 However it is possible to live on more than this level . It is possible to  ' Wake Up ' to our  multidimensional nature and live in an amazing multidimensional universe.

To do this one needs to have some method to awaken ones awareness to these other dimensions.

T'ai chi , open focus , and meditation, are tools I learned and have found invaluable in awakening me to other ways of experiencing this life journey.
 Reconnection it seems to me is another method . What I find interesting and different about reconnection is it seems to accelerate ones awakening. I can only speak from my experience and the feedback I have received.
 The other aspect of reconnection that I love is that people do not need to have learned to meditate or practice tai chi etc to benefit.  Again in my experience all one needs is an open mind  and a willingness to ' let go ' . Reconnection will do the rest.

We are living in interesting times when inner dimensions of our nature are being revealed in new ways.

I strongly feel it is time to speak out my truth and let know how I feel about this gift foe our time.

Ps  Why not get Eric Pearl's book  -  Heal Others Heal Yourself and get started.

Happiness

Contrary to popular opinion the pursuit of happiness is not for wimps. Neither is this  pursuit a cop out, rather it a radical choice.  it demands  effort and persistence , a willingness to face ones blocks and ones conditioned beliefs .

 Choosing happiness means  accepting  responsibility for my feelings , no long can I blame anybody else or any external events for the  state of my  mind. This is a big step to take, to acknowledge that my happiness is my business and that it is not up to  not anybody else  to ' make me happy '.

Once the decision is made my internal compass is reset and in my experience help arrives. I notice an article with an exercise that helps to lift my mood.

" Remembering Joy opens  you up to better relationships, deeper understanding, and a greater appreciation of life. "  -  Jean Houston

 I  recently came across this joy  exercise by Jean Houston which is really fun and very uplifting.

Jean's Exercise

Remembering Joy.

Take just 1 minute of time to remember an incident from your life that gave you considerable joy.

Use all your senses, all your imaginative faculties , and live in that place of remembered joy as if you were still there. Stay in that state of joy for an entire minute .

Have you found a memory ?    ( It is nice if you can get  someone to do the timing for you or set a timer so you can completely give yourself to the exercise. )

   Proceed give  yourself a minute to relive that joy.

How do you feel now ?

Rehearsing joy is a marvelous way to build a sense of appreciation. Jean says she uses this exercise when she gets down and it gives her a much richer truer perspective on her life.

I  found it to be a really uplifting exercise. Hope you enjoy it too.

Still dissolving boundaries

Boundaries are still on my mind . I have noticed that whenever I resist something the boundary between us (me and whatever or who ever ) I am resisting gets stronger. This strong boundary only serves to increase my resistance , my feeling of being cut off.  When I recognise what is going on inside myself it is time to stop and bring up all the thoughts and feelings that I have been keeping out or down. Gently look at each one, welcome them and comfort myself as I do this, being the kind ' parent ' who wants to hear all about the fear insecurity and  the and pain.
Slowly the boundaries soften I relax and allow all my feelings and thoughts to arise naturally , I have faced the demons and found them to be but tigers painted in my mind. Peace returns , Love returns, this is the joy of inquiry.

Dissolving Boundaries

Slow right down for a few minutes come with me on an inward journey to dissolve our ' boundaries'.
Allow yourself to Relax a little more and bring your attention to your fingers. Really feel right down to the tips of your fingers.

 How do they feel ? Are they warm or cold ?

 Close your eyes and feel for a little while.

Already you are relaxing becoming more present.

Now that you are more relaxed feel into your fingers again . This time being your attention to the index fingers on both hands. Feel right to the tips of the index fingers, feel the skin all around the  index fingers.

 Now S L O W down even more,  pay close attention to where your fingers finish and the air begins.
 Close your eyes ( if you need to ) and spend a few minutes investigating.the  sensations you find there.

Notice how you are feeling now , more relaxed more present .

 Like me you too may be amazed that the apparent boundary  between your fingers and the air is impossible to find once one really pays close attention to the sensations at the ' boundary'.

I find this fascinating , investigate this phenomenon at other places in the body , it holds true no matter where one pays close attention.

And so it seems to confirm that we are not separate , not separate from the  outside , we part of a whole continuum , interconnected to everything and everyone.

This feeling of non separation or oneness brings up great feelings of LOVE in me.

  A release of resistance to life , it allows me to welcome this moment fully knowing that it is a perfect expression of Now.

The Most Subversive Invitation

                                                               


Humans have an uncanny ability to domesticate everything they touch. Eventually, even the strangest things become absorbed into the routine of the daily mind with its steady geographies of endurance, anxiety and contentment. Only seldom does the haze lift, and we glimpse for a second, the amazing plenitude of being here. Sometimes, unfortunately, it is suffering or threat that awakens us. It could happen that one evening, you are busy with many things, netted into your role and the phone rings. Someone you love is suddenly in the grip of an illness that could end their life within hours. It only takes a few seconds to receive that news. Yet, when you put the phone down, you are already standing in a different world. All you know has just been rendered unsure and dangerous. You realise that the ground has turned into quicksand. Now it seems to you that even mountains are suspended on strings.

If you could imagine the most incredible story ever, it would be less incredible than the story of being here. And the ironic thing is that story is not a story, it is true. It takes us so long to see where we are. It takes us even longer to see who we are. This is why the greatest gift you could ever dream is a gift that you can only receive from one person. And that person is you yourself. Therefore, the most subversive invitation you could ever accept is the invitation to awaken to who you are and where you have landed. Plato said in The Symposium that one of the greatest privileges of a human life is to become midwife to the birth of the soul in another. When your soul awakens, you begin to truly inherit your life. You leave the kingdom of fake surfaces, repetitive talk and weary roles and slip deeper into the true adventure of who you are and who you are called to become. The greatest friend of the soul is the unknown. Yet we are afraid of the unknown because it lies outside our vision and our control. We avoid it or quell it by filtering it through our protective barriers of domestication and control. The normal way never leads home.

Once you start to awaken, no one can ever claim you again for the old patterns.

by John O'Donohue

Love

Some thoughts on Love one of  life's great mysteries.

Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire
. ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

The moment you have in your heart this extraordinary thing called love and feel the depth, the delight, the ecstasy of it, you will discover that for you the world is transformed.
 ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti



You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.
 ~ Henry Drummond