Do you ever have days when you find yourself railing against things that Just Don’t Feel Fair? —where it feels like the universe is conspiring in a Job-like way to keep you from doing what you want to do? How can you follow your passion when you hit the roadblocks, the nay-sayers or the voices of self-doubt that appear to drag you down? In fact, is all that appears to be bad really bad?
In an earlier blog, I spoke about The Law of Attraction and how, for me, the most interesting work is to hold the stance of accepting, even welcoming, all that happens as food for spiritual/personal growth and development.
I want to be very clear that when I say to accept what’s going on, I don’t mean submit or “there’s nothing you can do to change things so just buck up and deal with it.” For many people the idea of acceptance is so connected to submitting or enduring that they believe the choice to “accept” would result in even fewer choices than they already have.
But I mean something very different.
I’m talking about avoiding a pitfall, the trap of keeping your focus on what should be and so losing sight of opportunities embedded in what is. Focusing on “what is,” rather than on something more “ideal,” makes you better able to make clear choices about how you want to relate to a situation rather than getting stuck in a self-defeating, powerless state of “it is not supposed to be that way” or “it’s just not fair.”
When have you seen an undesired situation transform from a challenge into something that ended up being a gift?
Vicki Dello Joio, founder of The Way of Joy: A Spiritual Fitness Program, is a teacher, speaker and performing artist. Integrating over 40 years of Chi Kung practice with other martial arts as well as her work in Yoga, Feldenkreis, physical fitness and theater, Vicki has developed a dynamic set of tools to increase awareness, transform obstacles into opportunities and enhance creative potential. Book: The Way of Joy: An Evolutionary Process to Awaken Inspiration, Focus Intention and Manifest Fulfillment, CD: Short Meditations for a Busy Life.
Have you ever felt like you were so focused on Getting-Things-Done that you forgot you were in a body? You know, those times when you’re pushing like crazy or succumbing to the temptation of “one-more-thing-itis”?
Too often, the consequence of my brain speeding ahead of my physical body is that something’s gonna take a bite “out of my hide.” That’s sure what happened to me last night. Literally.
I was speeding along, in a pretty good mood, getting ready to walk my dog before running over to pick up one of my sister cast members, to go to the theater in Berkeley where we were performing a show with our theater company, Living Arts Playback Theatre Ensemble. I was Jazzed— freshly showered, make up on, hair gelled (Yes, sisters, that is a Big Deal for someone who is essentially kind of a nature-grrl who loves soft comfortable clothes and is not real big on mirrors).
Anyway, I was getting something out of my car and being careful not to hit my little dog’s head with the car door and, instead, slammed it right on my thumb. The next 2 seconds took about 3 hours, where my head said, “err, why can’t you move your hand…OMG…it’s jammed in the car door! (And Finally) OPEN THE D**N DOOR!”
What happened after is kind of a blur as I went into major coping mode. I gotta say that I received enormous support from my Playback Theater family (heart-filled shout outs especially to Allison, Roni, Merry, Gina, and John) including love, sympathy and even some Reiki, I also managed to bring my portable BEMER—(a pulsed bio-electro-magnetic energy regulator that is an Awesome healing device) So I got through the show and even had serious fun making people laugh or cry with the stories we enacted.
Today, as I type through the throb, I’m remembering that if, instead of saying “yeah yeah yeah later” when my body is yelling “slow down Just a little—take a moment, Vicki,” I could actually take a moment to breathe and open some inner space, it might help when I am feeling running late, over-extended or just plain crazed. I might not only avoid this kind of accident, I might even discover that I can slow time down.
So in the spirit of opening space in time, I would like to share this “Space Shake” Way of Joy practice. Shaking is a common Qigong exercise that spans many different styles. The benefits are enormous including increasing your blood flow, supporting your joints, building cartilage, and relaxing your brain.
Shake loose tension and open space in your body, heart, mind, and spirit. Brush away any energy or thoughts that interrupt your well-being. You can even place your hands on your belly and give those inner organs a little shake to stimulate their functionality.
One of my teachers, Daisy Lee, once told me that she knows a 100 year old woman qigong practitioner in China, who attributes her health and longevity to shaking for 20 minutes a day. So would you be willing to try this “space shake” with me for just 1 minute? Just stand up, or even do it as you sit at your computer? You don’t need to follow my timing, just shake it awake!
(Music: Shake It Awake: Mambo by Sherry Mouser)
When you’re done, place your hands on your belly for a moment and notice whatever you might notice…
Vicki Dello Joio, founder of The Way of Joy: A Spiritual Fitness Program, is a teacher, speaker and performing artist. Integrating over 40 years of Chi Kung practice with other martial arts as well as her work in Yoga, Feldenkreis, physical fitness and theater, Vicki has developed a dynamic set of tools to increase awareness, transform obstacles into opportunities and enhance creative potential. Book: The Way of Joy: An Evolutionary Process to Awaken Inspiration, Focus Intention and Manifest Fulfillment, CD: Short Meditations for a Busy Life.
Maybe taking a deep breath isn't such a bad idea...
Do you get annoyed when someone reminds you to breathe? Does it sometimes feel like your stress is the only thing that is keeping you together? Sometimes, I think that our lives are so hectic that we end up panting even when we are not running.
Much has been written about the health benefits of meditation, particularly in the area of stress reduction. I believe that, on an energetic level, any practices that create an internal opening—whether they be sitting meditation or automatic writing, moving Chi Kung, yoga, or prayer—create a sense of space, both in the psychological sense of “taking space” and physically inside of the very cells of our bodies, because as we breathe deeply, we oxygenate our blood. We can then open up the energy bound up in stress and transform it into something that can serve us instead of drain us.
Do you ever find that with a single mindful breath, you find life begins to flow again, regardless of how fast things seem to be going?
Vicki Dello Joio, founder of The Way of Joy: A Spiritual Fitness program, is a teacher, speaker and performing artist. Integrating over 40 years of Chi Kung practice with other martial arts as well as her work in Yoga, Feldenkreis, physical fitness and theater, Vicki has developed a dynamic set of tools to increase awareness, transform obstacles into opportunities and enhance creative potential. Book: The Way of Joy: An Evolutionary Process to Awaken Inspiration, Focus Intention and Manifest Fulfillment, CD: Short Meditations for a Busy Life.
I think of this season as “a sharpened pencil” time of year that carries a “getting ready” feeling in the air— whether in searching for the perfect back-to-school supplies, or in a growing awareness that, whether or not you like it, that the days are slowly but surely getting shorter.
Moving away from the heat of summer into the nip of Autumn reminds me that this is a time of letting go and releasing, composting what you no longer need. Like a tree losing its leaves, we too come back, on an energetic level, to our basic structure. In this way, Fall teaches us to consolidate our energy in preparation for the cold months ahead. This consolidation requires discernment, being able to make choices that are sustainable.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, (TCM) Autumn is associated with Metal. Perhaps because I grew up in New York City, where buildings were always being torn down or constructed, I often picture the bare metal framework of high-rises before they are embellished with rooms. Just as metal constitutes the bare bones of the building, Autumn represents a time when you access the bare bones of who you are, the core essence of your body/spirit.
As you might imagine, the TCM (link) emotion associated with all of this release is grief. The primary organ associated with Autumn is the lungs. Just as the wind blows through tree branches, you might find yourself letting go when you take a moment to breathe deeply and allow the feelings that arise to just move through you
The associated organ for Autumn (or the Yang partner of the Yin lungs) is the large intestine, another organ of letting go. Your large intestine rids your body of all the leftover waste material from which you extracted your nourishment. Harriet Beinfeld and Efrem Korngold write in Between Heaven and Earth: A Guide to Chinese medicine, “By dispelling stale air and excreting turbid matter, the Lung and Large Intestine separate out that which we no longer desire or need.”
Here are a few tips for natural healing to support you to release of pent-up anxiety or stress.
• When you notice that you are feeling “out of sorts” either physically or emotionally, take a deep breath, then breathe out a big loud sigh of release. Let the sensation and sound of that sigh vibrate you down to your very bones.
• As you sit reading your computer screen, give yourself a little shake. Or how about standing up for just 30 seconds and shaking out your arms and legs, or bouncing a little either in your chair or standing. Be sure to keep your knees and ankles soft and pliable.
• Good cooking herbs to support you in the cooling time of the upcoming months of Autumn include: dill, fennel, thyme, ginger root, horseradish, cinnamon, cayenne, basil, and rosemary.
• Dr Linda Berry suggests that you “get out in daylight every day. Even when its not sunny you still catch enough light to stimulate the secretion of the “happy hormone” serotonin.”
• You can increase the benefits of that sun/sky stimulation by opening up your arms as you look up to embrace the sky. Welcome the day with a loud expressive sigh of “WOW”. Or, as the heart-infused Taiji Master, Chungliang Al Huang suggests, give out a nice, big “Ah-Ha!”
