Starwood

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Last weekend, my hubby and our 7 and 5 year olds and I went camping at the Starwood Festival. We stayed in a tent, sleeping on the ground in sleeping bags, camping rustic w/ no electricity. I had been invited to teach Distance Healing and Reiki for Parents, which I felt very honored about. The Starwood Festival is a Neo-Pagan clothing-optional festival which was a two hour drive from here. I had never heard of it before being invited, but spent some time on their website learning about it before we went. Needless to say, it was an experience.

Although we knew the clothing optional aspect, nothing quite prepares you for the reality until you see folks taking advantage of the optional aspect. We gave the kids a hasty lecture not to point and stare, and told them that after the festival, these same people were going home to put on clothes and go to work again.

As far as my classes went, well, one was scheduled at the same time as the ironic Church of the Subgenius lecture, so that meant that two people came while the rest of everyone went to that other event. Two interested people, yes, but not as many as I had anticipated (and prepared materials for). My second course had one participant. She, too, was interested in what I had to share, but I had hoped that more would've shown up. The weather was wet, rainy, and very muddy. I think that may have affected the turnout. So professionally speaking, it wasn't what I had anticipated.

There was a great set of concerts at night, though! Alex Bevan played, followed by the amazing Raquy and the Cavemen. We stayed until the kids begged us to put them to bed. Then we huddled in our sleeping bags while the all-night drumming went on just down the road from our tent. While drumming is cool, there was not a lot of sleep to be had that night.

We did enjoy hanging out and talking with other ...clothed...people during a potluck meal time, and over breakfast. The kids also had a blast, just being in a new environment.

We also came home a day early because huge thunderstorms with hail were being predicted and we didn't want to deal with the weather and more mud. It was a good call. We drove through three thunderstorms on the way home.

So how was it? As far as family experiences and getaway adventures go, pretty great. As far as professional contacts and teaching goes...less so. But the most telling part about the success of the weekend was when my husband said yesterday, "You know, if we go again next year, I could teach Morning Yoga."

So there ya go.
Peace.

Trying Not to Try

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In my last post, I was experiencing some computer difficulties, and mentioned that I would be spending the weekend away for some R&R, friends, family & energy work. I also mentioned that I had been feeling a little "stuck" lately and hoped that would resolve itself soon. Here's an update.

The computer issues are resolved. Glad about that!

I had a really great weekend, and began to get inspired about how to nurture my own intuitive development, how to encourage it to flourish and move ahead. One of the things I need to work on is grounding. Another is patience. Once I can increase my ability to ground my energy and be still, I will be more able to be patient and be open to receiving new insights. Sounds logical, I think. In practice, more challenging.

There's a concept of trying not to try that I need to get my mind around. (Or not, because thinking about it too hard could be considered "trying.") Being grounded, still and open requires letting go. What am I supposed to let go of? Effort, for one. So the first challenge is to simply BE.

BE in the moment. BE still. BE quiet. Not just quiet from talking, but quiet in my thoughts. That takes effort - (uh oh, not supposed to be making an effort. That's trying.) I have read that during meditation one should either 1) count to give your mind something to focus on, or 2) allow thoughts to pass like clouds floating by - noticing them but not giving them attention, and releasing them. It's easy for me to get distracted by my thoughts as one chains onto the next. I may have more luck with counting.

There's also the idea of visualizing. Imagining energy coming in the crown chakra, meeting energy that comes up from the Earth at the heart chakra. I can do this, and feel quite tingly when I do. Then one can release any anxiety or worry down into the Earth again. This is a technique for grounding. I need to make it a part of my day, several times a day.

I assign many of my Energy Healing Mentoring students a week of daily meditation practice which includes a meditation and a grounding exercise. They all come back to me reporting how valuable that week was, and that they intend to continue making meditation and grounding parts of their daily practice. I think I need to assign it to myself as well. It may be time for me to heed my own words here.

When giving Reiki healings, it is important for the practitioner to "get out of the way" of the energy, just allowing it to flow through him or her to the recipient. I find that if I think too hard about where it should go, or if I focus on trying to receive information I start to get a headache. It's a cue that I'm trying to hard. Don't try. Just BE. Let it flow. It will get where it needs to go, and information either will or won't come. It's important not to try to control it, but just BE the channel for the energy. It's kind of like being in one of those automatic car washes where the car is moved on a conveyor and you just sit in the car while it drives itself. You have to set the car there at the start of it, and then keep your hands off the wheel and let the mechanisms take over. If you try to steer or push on the gas or brake, you'll cause a problem with the process. I think same goes for Reiki healings. Set it up, then let it happen. It will work best if you don't try to make something happen.

So what I'm going to do this week is:

• find time to meditate and ground each day
• mindfully let go of thoughts, worries, and effort
• quiet myself and be in the moment as much as possible
• observe and note the changes that may happen

Wish me luck.
Peace.

Crazy Days

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The last few days have been kind of crazy. For two days, I had weird computer issues. First, Twitter suspended my account. Mine was one of a large number of accounts mistakenly suspended for no reason. Twitter corrected it and apologized but it brought to life how much I really rely on my involvement with Twitter. I have a lot of contacts there, students, friends, and colleagues. Suddenly not being able to access or post from my account was rather freaky. The good news is that my husband has a Twitter account, and we were able to get the word out to my friends that there had been a mistake. Their support was impressive, as they passed the word along via "Retweets."

Next, my gmail chat was hacked by a "middle man attack". The perpetrator actually butted into a chat I was having and started typing insulting things, making it look like it was coming from me! It was almost funny but it really wasn't because it was so confusing, and then I felt really out of control of the situation and even a little violated. I went through the process of logging out, changing my password from another computer, adding protection to my computer, purging all possible culprits from my computer, and emailing Google. It took several hours. There seems to be no lasting damage, except to my sense of well-being and security. I also changed passwords to most everything else I log into.

Then my car started acting funny. The seatbelt light on the dash started coming on even though I was wearing my seatbelt. It even beeped continuously, which was very annoying, all the way to and from my destination! I took it in for service. A wire was severed and it will be fixed next week sometime when the part comes in.

I went to use my cell phone and the number buttons wouldn't respond to my presses. Removing and resetting the battery solved it, but it was enough to make me wonder what was next.

Next was that when I got home, our Internet connection was down. I found out there was an outage in the area. It took a couple hours to come back.

None of these were big, horrible problems. But it really made me wonder just what is going on. Emotionally, I feel a little off too - like it's hard to say the right thing, and I'm sensitive to criticism from anyone. Is the world tilted at a strange angle?

I found out that there was a lunar eclipse early yesterday morning. Could that be the catalyst for this rash of incidents? I don't claim to have the answer. But I have some thoughts.

I know that I've become more sensitive to changes in energy around me. For instance, I can tell if someone is sending me energy, or even "feeling" or "scanning" my energy. Maybe as a result of an increase in sensitivity, the things around me also respond to changes in ...whatever energy shifts during times of astrological change (such as a lunar eclipse).

Or maybe it's just a series of events that has nothing to do with me or the cosmos. I don't really know.

All I know is that I'm trying to make sense of things, and putting them into a context helps somehow. Some people say "there are no coincidences" meaning that everything has a reason for happening, even if we don't get the reason yet.

I suppose that searching for the meaning behind my technological issues could lead one to say it's a message for me to get off the computer for a while. I did bike to the library with two of my kids today (during the Internet outage) and found a good book to read. (Awakening Intuition by Mona Lisa Schultz, M.D., Ph.D.) If I hadn't had the Internet issue, I might not have gone there and found this book. Perhaps there is a message in the book for me.

I have been feeling a little stuck lately, in terms of my own intuitive growth. This book could be where I find the means to move forward again. I'm taking a weekend vacation this weekend, to visit friends and my sister, get some R&R, do some energy work, and have a break. I think there are possibilities here too for adding some wind to my energetic sails. I'm going on my own - a rarety for me. (Big thanks to my awesome husband, who encouraged me to take this opportunity and will hold down the fort with the kids.)

What's the bottom line? I guess it's that I don't really know the reasons behind the craziness that attacked my technology and emotions lately. But I'm embracing the opportunities to grow that may have arisen from them.

It's the best I can do with what I've got!
Peace.