healing | Ascension Lifestyle

17 Oct 2016
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Whack

Did you watch or listen to a morning news show after the second Presidential Debate? It’s pretty easy to see the USA has hung their laundry out to dry!

WHACK! Suddenly an ‘aha’ smacked me into remembering what I already knew. Stay with me a moment while I tell a story.

After facilitating a large non-profit board, one of the directors asked me to help his organization, one of the oldest television stations in America. The plan was to improve their customer service and turn a much-needed profit.

We designed the all day program around half the employees on Tuesday, the rest on Thursday. Within the first 30 minutes, I realized we had to switch tracks.

“Put down your workbooks everyone. Before we can improve customer service we must hone our communications.”

“We are in the communications’ business,” I saw the indignation smoking seep from their ears.

“We are expert communicators; you don’t know what you’re talking about!!!”

They were hot! It looked like mutiny was about to erupt. All those daggers flung to the front of the room didn’t budge my calm knowing.

Immediately I put everyone into a series of interactive exercises; they were too busy staying focused on proving me wrong that I managed to keep them involved in the process. By lunch time they had begun to realize they were not expert communicators. By 5:00 p.m. they were fuming, spitting out harsh words trying to justify why they failed at simple communication games with each other.

Before departing, I met with the general station manager:

“One, I insist you fully participate along with your staff on Thursday. Two, I may feel like a voodoo doll with 500 pins stuck in my heart and solar plexus, but I am thrilled to report that we are on the verge of a breakthrough. Human beings like things moving along as usual until we get frustrated and angry. When we realize our behavior and actions aren’t working for us anymore, only then are we ready to consider a change.

“Tonight and tomorrow today’s group will insight all those that will be attending Thursday’s session. The raging firestorm will build. Trust me – this is GOOD! On the edge of chaos, shift happens. We will have a breakthrough. Hang on, and enjoy the ride.”

By the end of Thursday’s session it was clear that they may be good broadcasters, but when it came to communicating with each other, that was an entirely different story. A few months later we had that customer service workshop. The red figures soared into the black. The station exploded on the national scene.

After 25 years working with organizations ranging from small to Fortune 100, non-profits and CEO round-tables, they all had ONE thing in common: when people finally own up that their actions and behaviors are not getting the results they want they express anger. Anger always covers up fear. When they get in touch with that fear – BAM! The lights go on, and they climb over that razor-sharp edge of chaos and slide right into a breakthrough. Organizations heal, become more innovative, profitable, and conscious places to work.

People have spewed their anger in the streets and on social media. Isn’t the Presidential campaign a mirror reflection? Have Americans finally shared their prejudices, judgments, and anger openly?

WHACK! Have Americans had enough? Are we about to jump off that chaotic razor-sharp edge and slip into a breakthrough? Shift happens every day. I am smiling – are we almost there?

By Ascension Lifestyle Contributor Suzy Green

Suzy Greene has been seeing and talking to Spirit, Jesus, angels and the ascended masters since she was a young girl. You can follow Suzy on social media @TheLovingBridge. Learn more about her books, sign up for the weekly blog or request a private session: http://TheLovingBridge.com Link to her author page on Amazon. Facebook Instagram Twitter

29 Aug 2016
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The Gold Standard: Morphing Out of Materialism

“You sit here for days saying, ‘This is strange business.’

You’re the strange business. You have the energy of the sun

in you, but you keep knotting it up at the base of your spine.

You’re some weird kind of gold that wants to stay melted in

the furnace, so you won’t have to become coins.”

~ Rumi

While many of us realize this pivotal moment we’re living heralds a return to unity among all peoples and all life on Earth, visionary author Moira Timms takes the shift a step further, painting a lucid picture of how wealth and wholeness are one. As we remember and reclaim our wholeness/holiness, we elevate the concept of abundance to a “whole” new level.

In Beyond Prophecies and Predictions: Everyone’s Guide to the Coming Changes, Timms describes our emerging “true wealth” consciousness this way: “The mind analyzes — the heart synthesizes. The turning point is where the heart is awakening. The United States motto (inscribed on the banner in the beak of the eagle found on the Great Seal, on the back of a one dollar bill), reminds us that America was founded on the principle of ‘E Pluribus Unum’ — ‘Out of the Many, One.'”

Further, the inscription beneath the Great Pyramid (also part of the Great Seal) says, “Novus Ordo Seclorum” — which translates, appropriately, as “A New Order of the Ages”. Isn’t this amusing? The answer is in money, but it’s not about who can become the richest at others’ expense.

Morphing Out of Materialism

We’re morphing out of materialism. If we insist on consuming planetary resources and each other at the speed of greed, the money will not follow. By the same token, as we reclaim our heritage as Earth stewards, we’ll get funded — naturally. True wealth/prosperity/abundance flows from alignment with purpose. “Get with the program” is not a reference to the latest shopping app! It’s about tuning in to a higher frequency.

The energy of both money and sexuality resides on the second chakra (the Sanskrit word for the seven “wheels of energy” that spin from our root to our crown along the spinal column.) Located in the pelvic region, the second chakra is our “survival center,” says renowned medical intuitive Caroline Myss, Ph.D.

A disconnect in terms of our sexuality might manifest as aggression, hostility, sexual abuse or sexual dysfunction, says Myss. Disconnection in terms of money can manifest as financial loss, or fear of loss of control — which in our culture often expresses as out-of-control spending.

Consumption Flu

A fascinating description of this affliction, “affluenza,” originated with a PBS television special. The report defined the epidemic as “an unhappy condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste, resulting from the dogged pursuit of more.” (Intriguingly, “Consumption” is also the old term for tuberculosis, a disease that infects the lungs. Hard to breathe when you’re stuffed to the gills with stuff!)

Misguided by the notion that buying more equates to being more, we often end up bankrupt, literally and spiritually. “Retail therapy” is a throat lozenge, when we need the spiritual equivalent of rest, warmth and nurturing — healing salves for the soul.

Living in true prosperity requires us to replenish our emotional bank account. It lends new meaning to the term “trust fund.” Since we’ve been schooled to put our trust in a specific income stream as the source of our abundance, rather than in something beyond money, even amassing a fortune can feel hollow.

“Affluenza” substitutes for connection with others, confirms prosperity coach Joan Sotkin. Sotkin says we can’t run out of money, only people. Because money flows from our connection to others, if you’re running out of money, “you’re afraid of being left alone or of abandoning yourself. Money is the energy of relationship. How you deal with money is how you deal with your relationship with yourself and others. You have to make that connection in order for the energy to flow back to you,” she says.

Wellness is Well(th)

Myss expands on Sotkin’s observation in the first of her groundbreaking books, Anatomy of the Spirit. She writes, “Money, like energy, is a neutral substance that takes its direction from the intention of the individual. Expressions such as ‘Put your money where your mouth is’ and ‘Talk is cheap’ refer to the cultural view that what people do with their money says more about their motives than any spoken intention. Money is the means through which we make our private beliefs and goals public. Energy precedes action, and the quality of our intentions contributes financially to the results.”

Since the second chakra sacrament is Communion, according to Myss, it represents union with the Divine. In Why People Don’t Heal and How They Can she says, “If breaking bread with (someone) is the physical act of communion, Symbolic Communion is the sharing of energetic ‘bread’ with them. When the second chakra is united with the sacrament of Communion in a positive way, it becomes focused on building healthy, clean, and nonthreatening relationships to money, power, and sex. A sense of safety is always present, giving one the feeling that no matter what problems arise in one’s physical life, a way out can be found.”

We become truly wealthy by stepping fully into the lifestream. Intriguingly, all of our typical money metaphors contain water imagery: cash flow, liquid assets, currency (currents), reserves (reservoir). “Affluence” literally means, “to flow abundance”. The more we flow with life rather than fight it, the greater our own rising tide of prosperity.

Consider this: from the materialistic perspective, “sliding scale” refers to adjustable fees; as we resonate to a higher octave, sliding scale becomes synonymous with harmony, “The Music of the Spheres.” To reframe one of the most popular songs of an era: we don’t buy the Stairway to Heaven, we climb it — right up the ladder of our chakras to the stars.

The energy of the sun (fire) lives in you. Fire and water are complements, the masculine and feminine principles of life. Once you’ve been forged in the alchemical fire, how will you offer yourself to the world as coins? Newly minted, you are the currency of transformation. Spend yourself wisely, and draw the healing water you need from Life’s well.

About the author:

Amara Rose is a “midwife” for our global rebirth. Her services include transformational guidance, talks, e-courses, a digital download CD, and an inspirational monthly newsletter. She is widely published in health, business and new thought magazines, both digital and print. Learn more: http://www.liveyourlight.com

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16 Mar 2016
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The Art of Smoke Ceremony – A Purifying & Cleansing Ritual

© Gleb Raygorodetsky 2013 for Land is Life

The Earth has given many gifts for man to use. One of the major tools given to us are the plant medicines. These medicines are of the Earth herself and the aroma produced by these plants help place us in a different state of mind thus bringing us into a deeper part of ourselves. Then, as we let go of the mind and connect the body to the Infinite Now, the scent may inspire memories, awaken the soul and give a sense of direction. There is a spiritual connection that we have to smoke that draws us toward using it to represent delicateness of the soul.

If you were exposed to any type of religion growing up, you probably witnessed the ritualistic use of smoke in ceremony. As a former Catholic I was around frankincense and myrhh burning during Sunday mass. For others it might have been smoldering incense at a Buddhist Temple, or the spiraling tendrils of bukhoor in a mosque.

Many cultures and religions use sacred smoke made from the plant medicines in various ceremonies for various reasons. The ceremonial smoke tradition dates back millennia and connects all traditional cultures, from the Native Americans to the Druids, from the Zulus to the Maoris, from Aboriginals to the Mayans, from the Chinese to the Balinese, which have age-old forms of cleansing and blessing rituals. In ancient Greece, smoke formed part of the rituals to contact the dead, following long periods of fasting and silence. Their sacred smoke was born out of sulphur and minerals in lieu of herbs to part the veil between the worlds of the living and form a bridge to the other world.

One of the earliest recorded uses of ceremonial smoke can be traced to ancient Egypt where herbs were burned in religious ceremonies. It is mentioned on an inscribed tablet that was found at Giza, Egypt, in about 1530 BC. The Babylonians used smoke extensively while offering prayers or divining oracles. It was imported to Israel in the 5th century BC to be used in religious offerings. It spread from there to Greece, Rome and India, where both Hindus and Buddhists still burn it in their rituals and at festivals.

Based on this rich and long history, ceremonial smoke can be seen as a Universal truth that runs through and connects all cultures, religions, time frames and places. Only among Indigenous or First Nations peoples is this called “smudging”. The American English term “smudge stick” is usually found in use among non-Indigenous people who believe they are imitating North American Native ceremonies. While many non-Native people admire and are drawn to Native culture and ceremonies, we strongly encourage non-Natives to come up with their own, personal ceremony that reflects their personal spiritual beliefs and practices.

Healing powers of plants and herbs is universal and across all continents, the only difference is that not all plants grow in one region. People usually utilize the plants or herbs that are abundant in their region

While much is written on the use of smoke ceremony to cleanse negative energy, another one of its common uses is to bring vision, aided by the sense of smell. Smoke ceremony is also used to purify tools and people before important spiritual rituals and ceremonies. It is also used to clear sacred space and open the soul before calling upon the Spirits and their healing powers.

There are Four major medicine plants used in a majority of North American indigenous cultures; tobacco, sweet grass, sage and cedar that are used frequently in ceremonies.

In First Nation tradition, smoke is a medium between the higher realms, creating a good space for positive spirits and removing the negative ones. Smudging is a ritualistic burning of herbs and plant resins in a shell or clay bowl during which prayers of gratitude and well-being are chanted out loud. Traditionally the smoke is fanned with a treasured eagle feather directed over a person throughout a living space. This is done to wash away spiritual impurities, that are present in an individual or space.

This is often done before a ceremony or special gathering, after an argument (to literally “clear the air”), when moving into a new home, at the end of the cold season to re-invigorate one’s living space, and healing sessions.

Many Natives believe the the process of smudging enhanced their senses and in some cases altered the state of consciousness for Shamans and Medicine Men to assess and treat illness. The smoke was believed to remove impurities to allow the healing process to commence. It was believed that as the smoke rose, prayers would also rise to the Spirit World taking the negative thoughts and emotions away with it. It is said that the herbs for smudging have antiseptic qualities and the process of burning purifies the air. Traditionally, Native American smudging rituals included rites of passage such as the Vision Quest and preparations to ceremonies such as the Sun Dance. There is much subtlety to this practice, and its potency reveals itself in the experience as you work with it.

The materials involved each have their own symbolic meaning, honoring one of the four elements, which is a common recognition among many Native American Americans.

The shell or clay bowl represents water
The herbs and resins represent the earth,
The feather and wind it creates represent air
The flame used to ignite the herbs represents fire

The herbs:

Sometimes only one specific herb is burned, but often a carefully prepared mixture is created. The most common herbs used for smudging among Native Americans are white sage, sweet grass, tobacco, and cedar. These are also four of the most sacred plants in this part of the world.

“Sweet grass grows high in the Rocky Mountains. A gift from the creator, it is said this grass never dies. It is one of the great smells reminding us of the mountains and open air. Sage is the cleanest smell of the desert. It is also a present from the Creator. Tobacco is another gift. Our thoughts and prayers are carried on its smoke. It carries the two great smells of the mountain and desert. It is a visual representation of our thoughts and prayers being transported.”
– John Joseph, Chinook Shaman

A Smoke Ceremony Practice To Try:

Have a pure and focused intention while you perform a smoke ceremony. Before you begin any purification ritual like this, make sure you’re fully present.

1) You’ll need: a clay bowl or abalone shell, a stick of wrapped herbs or a few leaves of your dried herb of choice (or a blend), a flame, and an open hand or feather.

2) Gently separate any stems or buds from the leaves of your dried herbs (only the leaves or blades are used in this process) if using loose leaf. Then place the leaves into your smoking vessel.

3) If you are inside, open the windows in the space you are in, creating a flow of air from outside.

4) Using a already lit candle, ignite the herbs and let them flame for 20 to 30 seconds before sweeping your hand above them to extinguish any fire. Tendrils of smoke should be steadily rising from the smoldering herbs now.

5) It is customary to cleanse oneself first before moving on to others and the surrounding space. Using a cupped hand, draw the smoke around you. Starting from the top, bring the smoke over and around your head, down your torso, all the way to your feet. Make sure to pay attention to your breathing while doing this. Slow and relaxed.

6) Once you are finished with yourself, use your feather or hand to waft the smoke gently into the corners of the room and over any plants or pieces of furniture. As we light spirit smoke, we need to be present and aware of how it moves from one place to the next.

7) Once you have finished your ceremony, tradition tells us that the ashes of the spent herb should be brought outside and returned to the soil. Many tribes believe that the charred residue carries its own energy and must be given back to the earth.

A Native Prayer you may borrow while smudging:
Creator, Great Mystery
Source of all knowing and comfort,
Cleanse this space of all negativity.
Open our pathways to peace and understanding.
Love and light fills each of us and our sacred space.
Our work here shall be beautiful and meaningful.
Banish all energies that would mean us harm.
Our eternal gratitude.
– The Medicine Wheel Garden, E. Barrie Kavasch

Order your Ascension Lifestyle Smoke Ceremony Kit today!

Each Complete Ceremony Kit contains:

• Large Abalone Shell

• Blue Sage with White Sage Stick (hand-wrapped with hemp twine and Ascension adornments)

• Ancient Cedar Stick (hand-wrapped with hemp string)

• Sweetgrass Stick (hand-wrapped with hemp string)

This collection of powerful plant medicines was put together with the purest high vibration intentions.

Sustainably Harvested Blue Sage with White Sage is for healing. Sage is used to bless, cleanse and heal the person or object being smoked. Sage is often used to metaphorically ‘wash off’ the outside world when entering the home or sacred space.

Cedar is a protection medicine. Trees are old, wise and powerful spirits and Cedar is often used to cleanse and protect a space when first moving in. You may use Cedar to respectfully ask unwanted spirits to leave and ask for protection for a person, place or object.

Smoke of the holy Sweetgrass (Seneca grass) is the breathe of Mother Earth. It’s rich, sweet, aromatic scent is an acknowledgement of the essence of the divine feminine and a reminder that Mother Earth provides us with everything we need.

Together this Ascension Smoke Ceremony Kit will purify, protect, cleanse and give thanks. It’s the perfect addition to your alter or spiritual space. $34 includes free priority shipping in the United States.

SOLD OUT

Orders will be processed within 3-5 businesses days and sent out via Priority Mail. You will receive a tracking number once the kit is shipped. Email Ascension with any questions.

19 Jan 2016
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Fire and Water: The Deeper Meaning Of What We Unleash

When I was deep into my spiritual awakening, I had startlingly prescient dreams; in one, the words, “violent emergency” reverberated through my mind. It was a violent emergence; birth is fierce. There is an ocean of difference, however, between Nature’s ferocity and that which is deliberately inflicted by human beings with their own agendas.

Theologian and author Thomas Moore writes, “Deep in the etymology of ‘violence’ is a strong Latin word, vis. It is the power in nature that we sense in the surging sea and the growth of grass. In our experiences of violence we witness the vain attempt of life to push itself into existence and visibility. This is a sexual power. Sex is not just about making bodies but making souls as well. The people of the world need every opportunity to be creative and visible. They need to enjoy life, not just survive. Without that opportunity, they will turn to violence, in spite of themselves.”

Life’s Novocaine

We tend to go through life anesthetized against our own yearning. The call to claim our power can be terrifying, because it means accepting our invitation to the Dance — and most of us have forgotten how to dance, if indeed we ever knew. We find it easier to lash out in anger: rage, the undiscovered country. If being “outrageous” means getting the rage out, Americans are black belts. Having lost touch with the wilderness within, we savage the Earth and each other in an effort to combat our loneliness.

War is the grand expression of this misdirected energy. It’s akin to our ability, or lack of it, to harness the power of the sun. Yoked to our solar egg, we could shine on in all our ecological radiance for millennia. Yoking means union, but we’re used to living the more limiting definition of bondage. Trussed to our desperation, we sigh, “That’s life!” Since interdependence — becoming what Kenny Ausubel christened “Bioneers,” or biological pioneers, co-creating with Nature — feels so foreign, we stay (un)comfortably in the familiar, pump up the volume, and wearily watch as the world turns.

There is a way out: it’s through. The trees are gods and goddesses who in their stillness keep the Earth’s counsel; the animals are our allies. We can commune with a snake or a sea lion as easily as with the people we call kin. The key lies in reclaiming our wildness — not as violence, but as an abiding, sensuous connection with Nature. Instead of experiencing everything at one remove, we can allow it to enter us.

My Inannic odyssey delivered me deeply into this truth. In illness and vulnerability, I threw my arms around trees and sobbed out my grief, feeling their loving embrace. I began talking to crows, paying tribute to their visceral wisdom in a poem that concluded, “A coded conversation/In guttural cries/Opens my eyes/And lifts me higher.” Stunned from exhaustion, I’d never lived in such clarity. With my brain on an extended vacation, I was forced to access a more primitive part of my being, to participate organically in the instinctual world, not merely watch.

How Peace Begins

This is how peace begins: by singing the wild symphony of Nature back into our cells, feeling the music of the spheres in our marrow, embodying the feminine creative principle. By raising our resonance, we become “the vessel which can contain all blessing,” as one ancient text describes peace. This is also how we heal our bodies, and the body of Gaia: “immune” means sacrosanct, inviolate, whole. In celebrating all life, we pulse a radiating joy that resurrects our daily dance. And you can’t wage war while dancing.

We’ve entered a new era. It is only in recent memory that strong antiwar sentiment (Iraq, Vietnam) has held sway. For much of human history, war has been an acceptable means of “protecting our interests,” “keeping the world safe for democracy,” or any number of other platitudes. If thousands, perhaps millions, of innocents had to die in the process, well, they were war heroes. And the villagers in other countries, slaughtered in the name of whatever deity one invoked, deserved death because they were “the enemy.”

Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to the US House of Representatives and the only member of Congress to vote against US entry into both World Wars, once declared, “You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.”

She makes an enduring point. Did anyone “win” the Indian or Chilean ‘quakes? Are we “winning” the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan?

What’s really going on here? What is the higher purpose of the impulse to violence we all harbor within, to a greater or lesser degree?

Fire and water are complements; harmonized, they elevate consciousness and catalyze healing. I sang these words often during my own dark night of the soul. Instead of the old, tired dominator matrix, using firepower in an “us” vs. “them” scenario, we can embrace the true fire within us, and discover the myriad ways to channel this potent energy for good.

Embracing the True Fire Within

Becoming a spiritual warrior is a profile in courage (which means heart.) Spirit asks, “Have you the conviction to stand by your heart? Are you willing to transmute war in the alchemical fire?” The fire within is the perfect peace of God/Goddess/Creator/Innate Intelligence, which expresses outwardly as enthusiasm (from the Greek, “possessed by God”), inwardly as a calm awareness.

We’ve mastered communicating from our wounds. Now we’re in a pivotal age, creating a context in which it’s safe to share who we are in love, in truth, in well-being. Our collective task is to marry scared and scarred with sacred, density with destiny, jaded with jubilant; to become inclusive not exclusive. Because none of us is truly free until all of us are.

This is one of the meta gifts of these disasters (which means, “against the stars”): they bring us face to face with The Other, in our psyches and out in the world, so we can see how they’re one and the same. All anyone can do is introduce you to yourself. So as you look in the mirror of your brother’s or sister’s face, be kind to your own confusion, criticism, sadness, or fear. Acknowledging your strand in the evolutionary web is, in itself, a giant step on the path to peace.

It’s time for each of us to create a personal crucible: a safe container for our energies. Envision your inner chalice. Then place this cup, brimming with fiery potential and the waters of life, into your heart, where it will become a perpetual font of inspiration and renewal — and, in time, of unconditional love.

As the Maya say, In Lakéch: I am another yourself.

###

About the author:

Ascension Lifestyle author Amara Rose is a “midwife” for our global rebirth. Her services include transformational guidance, talks, e-courses, a digital download CD, and an inspirational monthly newsletter. She is widely published in health, business and new thought magazines, both digital and print. Learn more: http://www.liveyourlight.com

06 Dec 2015
Comments: 0

The Evolutionary World Inside Our Brains

It is true that the greatest miracles generally go unnoticed. This is certainly the case for most of us when it comes to the complex function of our brains. Like every other body part, we mostly pay attention to it when it hurts or quits working. Just to give you a few ideas to help increase your appreciation of the amazing stuff that happens between your ears:

Modern physics has established that the world around and within us is made up of energy, rather than “things”. Even the smallest particles, such as electrons and photons, are “quanta”(meaning a certain amount) of energy. These quanta can appear out of, and disappear into, nothingness. And even if they were “things”, the empty spaces between them are vast. If the nucleus of a hydrogen atom were the size of an orange, the only electron of the atom would be the size of a cherry circling the nucleus at a distance equivalent to the length of a football field.

So modern physics has to agree to some extent with the ancient Buddhist teaching that form is emptiness, emptiness is form. No-thing-ness is the basis of existence.

It does not feel that way, though, when you hit your thumb with a hammer. So what is actually there? Electromagnetic forces that strongly repel each other. They give us the very convenient appearance of solid matter.

Your skin has built in sensors that respond to their electromagnetic interactions with “things” and report them to a specific part of the brain through electrio-chemical nerve conduction. The brain now creates an image of hard, soft, hot, cold, rough, smooth, and so on, out of nothing more than impulse computations.

What you see is what you get, but it’s not what is actually there. What the sun provides us with is light rays, vibration, radiation. Only a very small spectrum of this radiation is interacting with the sensors in your eyes, which translates into electrical impulses sent to another specific region of your brain. Color, shade, 3D depth perception, recognition of shapes and faces, finding meaning in little black scribbles on a piece of paper as “writing”, “seeing” a big black bird in your mind’s eye when you recognize the 5 letters on your computer screen that add up to RAVEN, all of that is a function of the brain’s perception.

When a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to hear it, does it still make a sound?

Actually, it does not. What it does is create shockwaves in the air. Only when some ears are present to translate the shock waves hitting the eardrum into electrical impulses sent to yet another highly specialized region of the brain, can we reasonably speak of “sound”.

And naturally, it is the brain that allows us to convey meaning through consecutive noises we make and call language. If you don’t believe me, travel to a country with a language completely foreign to you and ask where the bathroom is. Even understanding universal body language requires very complex brain functions.

To sum things up, the world “out there” only exists as we know it because our brains make it so. As humans we generally perceive the same events “out there” because “in here”, our brains are built and wired in roughly the same way. We have different filters that decide subconsciously what is worth noticing and what is mere background noise, but we generally agree that a tree is a tree.

A bee creates visual images by processing the ultraviolet radiation spectrum. Its world looks vastly different, and we can barely imagine how our tree appears to a bee. A bear has very poor eyesight but one of the most sensitive noses on the planet. Its reality is made up of entirely different sense integration skills than ours.

Creating a meaningful experience of the world “out there” is only half the task of our astonishing brains. There is also the world inside our skin that needs to be monitored and coordinated. Our conscious thinking comprises only a minute fraction of the brain’s information processing at any given moment. It is truly a blessing that we don’t have to make decisions regarding our blood acidity levels for effective oxygen bonding and release into the tissue, for example. It would be difficult to concentrate on reading this article while simultaneously having to focus on micromanaging our liver functions and hormone cycles.

Think about the inconceivable amount of computations the brain has to accomplish for a tennis player to hit the ball across the net. She has to perceive the speed and movement arc of the ball while rushing to the right place at the right time to hit the ball back with the most efficient muscle action of her upper body, and she has to calculate the exact angle, speed and force to connect the center of her racket with the ball to get it over the net to a location within bounds but preferably out of reach of her opponent. Her split second visual computations have to create an instant response of extremely fine tuned muscular coordination, balance, heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, internal heat regulations, and much more. All of our most advanced supercomputers combined could not handle a task like that.

Since our conception, our bodies have grown from one single fertilized cell into a complex community made up of roughly 50 to 70 trillion individual cells. By the time we are born, these cells are specialized and functionally grouped together into most of the basic structures necessary for life on land: Bones, muscles, skin, connective tissue, organs, glands, blood and lymph vessels, body fluids and the immune system. But the nervous system requires another couple of years to fully develop and master skills like the ability to walk upright and language development.

Keeping our inner maintenance up and running non-stop requires so much information processing that it would be too slow and inefficient to do it all in one fairly remote location. Therefore our internal organs have nerve plexuses connected to them where functional monitoring and self-correction takes place on the spot. The heart itself is actually not just a muscle but is made up of 60% neurons like those in the gray matter of the brain. So we speak of a heart brain, a gut brain, and immunologists speak of the immune system as a mobile brain.

However, if our individual organs only look out for their own function and growth, without consideration for the needs of the whole, what we get is cancer. So it is absolutely essential that the activities of all of our body parts are connected, monitored and coordinated. That is what our central nervous system does.

The survival of the individual entity we call a human being depends on the willingness and ability of the individual cells and organs to communicate and cooperate for the good of the whole. When the whole dies, so do the cells and organs. This is not rocket science, but it is something the cancer does not know or chooses to deny.

Just a thought: what would happen if we applied the body’s wisdom to the whole of the human race?

In the past 100 years we have had two competing economic ideologies.

Communism was all about absolute, central control. This lead to a huge, bloated head and atrophied, non-functioning organs. The body was ultimately not able to support the head, and it fell.

Capitalism is all about the individual organ-(ization) taking whatever it needs to grow and prosper without regard to the consequences for the rest of the body. “Off with the head! It only gets in the way!” Has anyone seen the headless rider lately?

There is a third option. Our body proves it. But we have not seen it in action yet. Could it be that the human race is still so young that the nervous system of our collective body is still growing into its full function, and upright gait plus communication skills are just around the corner? In our previous attempts to get on our feet we fell on our behind more than once, and throwing tantrums has not been very effective in communicating our needs. But considering the age of our universe, the human race was only born a few seconds ago. So there is hope.

There is one more admirable capacity of our brain that I still need to mention:

Our ability to dream, imagine and visualize possibilities that have yet to be created. Our head-, heart-, and gut brains are capable of receiving information – inspiration directly from the Field. What is the Field? It cannot be described in terms of space and time, it cannot be measured, and it is an inescapable necessity for our most up-to-date observations of quantum physics to work. It is a concept that tries to explain the inexplicable: How can information travel faster than the speed of light?

It does, and not at random.

Switching from physics to metaphysics: there appears to be an Intelligence or Collective Consciousness that is in charge of our personal, collective and universal evolution. I am convinced that it is this omnipresent Intelligence that allows our individual Consciousness to inhabit a complex body grown from a single fertilized cell. It is also in charge of the growth and maturation of the human race as a whole. It has purpose and patience. Yes, we are facing a crisis, and the growing pains are profound. But the Intelligence that came up with this brilliant way of expressing Consciousness through physical form is certainly capable of guiding our continued journey from evolution of consciousness to Conscious Evolution past the present crisis. It is a journey worth taking!

Shana Dieterle, PT, CST, is a CranioSacral Therapist practicing in Missoula, MT. She has trained with the Upledger Institute International and is presently working on her Diplomate certification. It is her pleasure to explore the amazing health benefits of light touch therapy to optimize brain function and self-healing.

For further information and contact information, go to www.ShanasHeartofHealing.com