The Man Of Steel

Okay so the whole “I’ll blog during the de-armoring process” didn’t really work out. Here it is a full two weeks after the end of the two-week ceremony and I have absolutely nothing ready. I’m okay with that however because lots of great things have risen to the surface to share with you and I now once again have the motivation along with the desire to share it. My motivation was the missing component before the De-armoring ceremony but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It seems that all I wanted to do before the event was sleep as much as I could and since I blog in the quiet early morning hours, the two were in conflict and sleep always won. I can be very lazy.


In truth, my motivation was the missing component for doing a lot of things in my life. It felt like so many things in my life required me to push myself so hard to get it done that everything was a chore. That feeling that it was a chore caused me to build up a lot of resistance to doing it and that just made getting anything done even more of a challenge. Without realizing it, I was becoming my own worst enemy to accomplishing anything. I have a to-do list that is always full of things I want to do but desire alone doesn’t accomplish much.



SHAMANIC DE-ARMORING

I remember when I first heard about the Shamanic De-armoring experience at the Association of Sexual Energy Practitioners (ASEP) conference in Mesa, AZ a couple of years ago. http://peacefulmichael.blogspot.com/2009/09/synchronicity.html  The leader of the Sweet Medicine Sundance Society, Thunderstrikes, spoke at the conference about the ceremony. One of the leaders of the De-armoring ceremony, John “Spinning Coyote” also discussed the process and something about their words let me know that I needed this. I wasn’t exactly sure why. It felt right but the timing wasn’t right for me just then. A year later, one of the guys I go to for massage went through it and his experience inspired me and I felt like “YES, I WANT THAT!” But again the timing wasn’t right. Finally this past September a dear friend went through it and I thought “here it is again…3 times this has been presented to me…I better move on it.” The timing was finally right for me and so in I went.

I won’t spend a lot of time going over the armoring/De-armoring process because it’s probably best to read their site for info on that. That is www.ShamanicDearmoring.com. It’s really a beautiful site. It will speak to some who read it and others will write it off because it is too “out there” for them in their life or the timing isn’t quite right. Our Spirits always make the things that we need to do attractive to us. Those things which we do not need will also become unattractive to us. That simple act is how our Spirit works. It’s not about words, voices, thoughts, detailed discussions, visions or anything complex like that. Our Spirits are pure energy and energy doesn’t have words or images. Those things are products of the mind, not the Spirit. Our spiritual energy works like a magnet and attracts and repels what we need and don’t need. It’s far less complicated than our human minds want to make it. It is time that we all wake up to that knowledge.



OUR ARMOR IS OUR DEFENSE SYSTEM

I will share a tiny bit about the shape I was in when I went into the ceremony because it fits within the context of the sharing I’m doing here. I guess you could call me the “Man of Steel” because my armor was layered, shiny, polished steel. It really makes me smile to think of that because after breaking it off, I feel like Superman. The armor that we choose to create as a protective barrier is of course energetic. None of us are walking around with visible armor but we all “know” it’s there especially when we are honest with ourselves about our behaviors and “our stuff”. We choose to begin creating this armor from the moment we enter the world because we have no other defense systems in that helpless, infant state.

This energetic armor helps to shield things that we are not equipped to handle from reaching the core of our being. The skin and muscles also function as shields but they aren’t incredibly effective at the energetic level. We are born helpless and trusting and we don’t possess the verbal skills or knowledge to defend ourselves so we have to rely on our Spirit and energy field to shield us. In response to our surroundings, we begin building defenses to the environment as well as the people in it, even our parents. Despite the love that they had to bring us into this world, they too were wounded and armored beings and began projecting those wounds onto us right away as part of their drama.



ARMOR BLOCKS ENERGY

Now that I have completed the de-armoring process I can feel the difference between having the full suit of armor and having a body which is free of it. If you think about how our energy system works at the most simple level, you can see how this armor affects us. Our life-force, or sexual energy, begins down in the lowest part of our bodies at the base of the spine and wants to move upward through our system and out the crown of our head. As this energy encounters each of the armored plates surrounding our body (see the graphic of that on the De-armoring site for reference http://www.shamanicdearmoring.com/produced.htm), the armor restricts the flow of that energy. Whatever amount makes it past the first plate, hits the second plate and is again restricted. As each plate is encountered more and more energy is blocked and unable to continue upward to the higher spiritual centers of our energy body. Is it any wonder then that we feel so cut off from our true spiritual nature?

During the Dearmoring process, as each plate was cracked open and eventually destroyed, I began feeling more and more sensations in my body. Of course as each plate was opened all of my old “pain tapes” held in that armor were brought back up to be played again. The pain tapes are our memories of all the times we caused ourselves pain either mentally, emotionally, physically or spiritually. Fortunately the things which seemed too traumatic for me to deal with as a small child were either no longer an issue in my life (people, places, events) or as an adult I was able to see them from a more mature point of view and realize that those were the fears of an uneducated child. I was easily able to release those issues without them even needing to be processed. There were issues however which were more current and that needed to be dealt with. The armor we create isn’t just from early childhood. It’s a lifelong process that we continue as long as we are unconsciously moving through our lives in victim mode.



WHY MAKE ARMOR?

Below I’ll share one of the things which surfaced for me as I worked on cracking my pelvic plate because I believe it might help others, especially those reading this blog. The pelvic plate protects our life-force and our sexuality. As children, exploring our bodies is natural and beautiful and we hold no shame around this. Once the adults in our lives begin projecting their own sexual wounds (which have a base in family, religious, cultural and societal taboos imprinted upon them) onto us we begin to feel shame around our sexuality. Add the extra dose of hatred which is projected onto gay children about the expression of their sexual desires and the plates really begin to thicken. If there is sexual abuse, especially during our childhood when we are ill equipped to handle it, the shame and fear we feel about our sexuality not only leaves deep emotional wounds but also causes us to create layer upon layer of protective armor to try and stop the pain.

We are taught to feel shame. Shame for our bodies. Shame for our emotions. Shame for our sexuality. Shame for our desires, our needs, our thoughts and for our deeds. Is it any wonder then that we judge ourselves so harshly and punish ourselves so cruelly? Shame is the result of judgment. One must evaluate the object against some set standard to determine worth or value. This is how we determine if it is right or wrong, good or bad. All of that judgment comes from the summary of what we have been taught, what we have experienced, what we believe and how we see the world. Based upon some ideal criteria (that we choose), we judge ourselves and those judgments rarely seem to go in our favor. If we believe that we are not good enough, that belief will color our entire world and we will never allow ourselves to love ourselves fully enough because we are not worthy.

The truth is that we are all worthy and capable of infinite amounts of love. Only our beliefs separate us from that truth and that doesn’t mean it isn’t true, it simply means we won’t allow ourselves to believe that it true. Change your thoughts, change your beliefs. Change your beliefs, change your life. Change your life, change the world. Be the change that you want to see in the world.



DENYING MYSELF PLEASURE

As a young man I went through the youthful years of rampant sexual desire and moved into a more tempered state. As an adult, my sexual desires are less urgent and consequently my orgasms are less frequent. Somewhere along the line I bought into the belief that one ejaculation a day is all that I can handle “because I’m too old”. Since I do erotic work for a living, I receive a lot of sexual stimulation during a day and have developed techniques to limit that as much as possible in order to prevent an ejaculation while still being fully engaged with my body. Having that “I’m done” feeling during my first session of the day has made it challenging for me to be able to engage others erotically for the rest of the day. As a way to avoid too much sexual stimulation directed at me I have often said to my clients “During your session it’s not about my pleasure, it’s about yours.” That phrase has actually become an anthem for me…unfortunately.

When I began working on the pelvic plate in the De-armoring ceremony, it became painfully clear how much I was denying my own pleasure. In an effort to control and prevent an ejaculation, I have avoided and dodged contact with clients and my partner, devised many techniques and excuses and done lots of schedule juggling. If an ejaculation occurred early in the day, I’ve cancelled appointments, judged myself harshly or felt very stand-offish with clients and promised to work harder to prevent that from happening again. I’ve even experienced extended and repeated episodes of erectile dysfunction because on a subconscious level that was a defense mechanism that my body thought I needed to avoid too much stimulation and pleasure. All of this was done based upon the false belief that I’m too old to have more than one ejaculation a day. I’m totally not and I knew that because I’ve had days where I’ve had 2 or 3 ejaculatory orgasms in a single day and felt fine. Actually those were amazing days when I look back on them…thus the number of orgasms. I felt like a kid again!

Yet it just never clicked until that plate started cracking and I had to look at my stuff. Most people don’t do erotic work for their job so you may be thinking this couldn’t possibly apply to you. I invite you however to look at the ways you deny yourself pleasure in your life. Do you limit the free flowing expression of your sexuality because of dogma placed upon you by religion? Do you hide behind the wounds of past sexual experiences? Do you judge yourself for being a sexual person…especially if you are gay? Do you believe that you can’t be spiritual and sexual at the same time? Are you so disconnected from your body that you don’t even feel sexual desire any longer? Do you choose not to feel sexual because it might lead to engaging another person and that could lead to heartache?



A HOUSE OF CARDS

Perhaps, like me, you’ve created an elaborate scheme of excuses and processes as a way to justify your behavior and it’s all based upon a false assumption which may have seemed true for you at some point in your life but is no longer the case. This happens when we live in the past (“I was wounded sexually in the past so now I’m damaged goods.”) or in the future (“I want to be a better person so I have to give up my sexual expression” or “I’m too old to be loved”.) and not in the present moment. When we really do the work to look deeply at our beliefs as expressed through our words, thoughts and actions, we can see how we limit ourselves in so many ways. As I’ve said time and time again, our beliefs shape our reality. Change your beliefs, change your life.

Changing your beliefs start with opening your mind to the present moment and being willing to look at things as they are now without the coloring from our wounded past. When we change even just a single thought about how we see the world, we open ourselves to newness. Opening ourselves to newness is the gateway to a world of infinite possibility and potential. With the problems we face in our personal worlds, nationally and globally, we have to be willing to let go of our old, limiting ways of being. In letting go, we can own our power and co-create a future unlike anything that we ever seen before on this planet.



JUST GETTING STARTED

So that was how the Shamanic De-armoring ceremony started for me. All this was just from the first three days and then it really got good. I can now say that I highly recommend this experience to everyone. You don’t need to be on a Shamanic path or an erotic worker but you do need to have a desire to release your old wounds. Your past is what created your armor unconsciously. When you begin to live a more conscious life, you will find that you don’t need to lug around all that old baggage and constantly replay those old pain tapes. Once you make the choice to step out of victim mode and choose to co-create with the Universe to make a life that works for you now, the armor just gets in the way. Armor keeps stuff out but it also keeps you locked inside.



How do you limit your power? How do you deny your pleasure?

Kicking off 2011

Greetings dear readers. I hope that 2011 is treating each of you well and bringing you more and more opportunities to evolve and grow. As you may have noticed things have gone quiet here for the last couple of months. Much of that is because of my own personal growth and some general laziness on my part.

I enjoy the process of writing and doing it really helps me to understand and view the information I have in a new way. The best way to figure out what you believe is to teach it. Since I chose to keep this blog free however it really has to take a lower priority in my life. Over the last few months I’ve been working to develop a new area of my professional practice and that has really taken the bulk of my focus. Remember that birthing process I spoke of in June, well it’s all related. (http://peacefulmichael.blogspot.com/2010/06/preparing-to-give-birth.html) I’m almost done with the setup that I need for it but not quite yet so things may still be a little slow here for a while especially based upon what is in my immediate future.

Tomorrow morning my beloved and I will leave for 10 glorious days of sun, fun, rest and relaxation in beautiful Puerto Rico. Neither of us has ever been there and needless to say we are both very excited about it. When we return, after a couple days of rest I’ll begin a two-week shamanic ceremony that will really shake things up for me. I had hoped to write a couple of postings on some topics related to the ceremony (shamanism, armoring, energetic defense patterns and Sacred Ceremony) before I told you about it but since we leave for Puerto Rico in the morning, obviously that won’t happen.

The ceremony is called Shamanic Dearmoring and information on it can be found here. http://www.shamanicdearmoring.com/. The thing with shamanic ceremonies is that once you commit to them, you go into ceremonial space then and the energy of the ceremony starts working on you. I signed up for this at the end of November and can truly attest to the truth of what I just shared with you. This ceremony, along with a smaller ceremony that I experienced as part of the energy class that I’m in, has really shaken my foundation. December was a very challenging month for me because of these two events and the general holiday drama which comes along with it. At times it felt like my whole reality was about to crumble and that seems to only be intensifying as the date of the physical ceremony draws nearer.

I am fortunate that I’ve been able to watch two friends who have gone through this process and I’ve seen the beautiful and powerful changes it has made in their lives. It is my hope that I’ll be able to share my experience with you not just after I’ve gone through it but as I’m going through it. I’m not making any promises but believe that creating the blog entries will be a lot like journaling and can help me make sense of the experience for myself. Only time will tell on that.

Needless to say the next 4 weeks are going to be intense and exciting for me. I’d like to ask that if thoughts of me (or this blog) pop into your head, especially between 2/6 – 2/20, that you send me good thoughts and love and know that it will be returned in kind. I know the laws of physics will take care of that because we always get back whatever energy we send out. The thing with going into a transformative ceremony like this is that I know I’ll be different, not better or worse, but just different because I am choosing to consciously engage change through the process. As with all things in life, I welcome change because even though it’s scary, growth and evolution require change to keep them going. We can’t grow and evolve without changing. It’s just not possible. The nature of our reality is change so any struggle against that is simply resistance and as such is a waste of energy.

Thanks for not giving up on me or this blog. Your comments are always welcome and your support and encouragement is always appreciated. May the Universe always nurture and support you in all that you do and may you always find true peace and love from within.

The Basics - Step 3 - Bind

The third step of “The Basics” is called “Bind”. This process will help set our personal energetic boundaries.


In the second step of the series, we cleared the energy field surrounding the physical body known as the Aura. Now that we’ve cleared the field, we want to define the edges of it. We also want to ensure that we are getting all the energy that we need from within and not from others at their expense.



EARLY DEPENDANCY

When our physical bodies begin manifesting in the uterus, the umbilical cord becomes our feeding tube from our mother. This is where we receive nourishment during our gestation period in the womb. We begin our lives in the physical world by learning to feed off of another. After birth, when the cord has been cut, we move to breast feeding and are dependent upon others to bring us the nourishment that we require to survive and grow. This process is often referred to as “bonding”. This process continues at various stages in our lives until we reach the point where we can become self sufficient and are able to care for our own needs.

The learned behavior of depending upon others to nourish us is deeply set at an unconscious level by the time we reach our late teens and begin our adult lives. Unfortunately in American culture we have lost the ancient rituals and rites of passage into independent adulthood and so these unconscious patterns don’t get broken. In Native American traditions, the ceremonies used to celebrate our transition from childhood to adulthood help us make the energetic shift from dependence to independence. They are physical acts to accomplish an energetic purpose of breaking the bonds to allow for liberation of both parent and child.



CUT THE CORD

In these ceremonies, the energetic fibers which have formed from parent to child are cut and the child is taught to become self-sufficient. We might think of this as cutting the final energetic umbilical cord. As our culture has lost sight of these rituals those connections are not being severed and we have generations growing up who are still energetically feeding off others because of their unconscious patterns. This is detrimental to both parent and child at an energetic level. The parent’s energy is slowly and continuously drained by the child who is energetically (and often physically and emotionally) dependent upon them. This can lead to physical ailments in the parents which eventually get transferred to the child via the energetic feeding tubes and are often explained as being hereditary ailments or dis-ease. (Dis-ease is anything which disrupts our natural and easy energy flow. This is separate from disease which is an actual infection, virus or physical ailment.) The child also suffers in this situation.

It may feel harsh for the parents to cut their children off and that is often why it doesn’t happen. In the long run, the parents are doing a grave disservice to the child. As the child moves away from home and begins forming attachments to others, unconsciously they begin feeding off of them as well. This happens at such a deep energetic level that most of us aren’t even aware of it and certainly not conscious that we are doing it…but still it happens. If we have friends that leave us feeling drained emotionally, physically and mentally whenever we’re around them, we can be sure that this is the underlying energetic cause. These people are often referred to as “energy vampires”.



ADULT FEEDING TUBES

The energetic attachment we make to others is accomplished by our “fibers”. These fibers are non-physical and become feeding tubes of sort. To get a visual idea of what they look like, imagine them as dozens of small ropes or tubes that extend from our abdominal area and reach out beyond our Aura. The ends of these ropes can have suckers or hooks on them, depending upon the need trying to be fulfilled. Unconsciously we send these fibers into the energy field of others in an attempt to get our energetic needs met. Where then do these “energetic needs” come from?

We are all non-physical energy beings inhabiting physical bodies. We are force coming into form. Our physical bodies need energy to do all of the tasks that they have evolved to do. In every moment our bodies are doing an almost infinite number of tasks and these processes require fuel. Even when we are completely still, our bodies are handling countless numbers of tasks such as digestion, assimilation, elimination, respiration and circulation. At the cellular level, in every moment our bodies are in the process of renewal. As one cell dies another replaces it. In fact, by the end of every seven years, every cell in our bodies has died and been replaced. We literally have a completely different physical body than we did just seven years ago. How’s that for our amazing capacity to change?!

Within each of these physical processes there are three components of the process. Each has an input, an action and an output. For example, in digestion there is the input which is food that is to be digested. Second is the action, in this example it is the physical act of digestion which transforms the food we eat into the nutrients that our body needs to survive and grow. Third is the output of the process, the nutrients derived from the food and the unused waste. This is true for every system in the body. The action part needs energy to function and this energy has to come from somewhere.



ENERGY ALLOCATION

Our physical bodies can hold a finite amount of energy. They are physical in nature and while they can expand and contract, ultimately they are limited in size. So let’s say that we have our 100% allocation of energy. This energy comes to us from the environment through our energy system. Now, we have to begin allocating this energy to each of the countless processes going on inside the body…digestion, elimination, fat storage, fat burning, cell creation, circulation, respiration, etc. Each of these involuntary processes needs energy to do their work and so each of them chip away at our total energy allocation.

Then we move into the voluntary systems such as communication and locomotion. All of the physical acts that we do with our bodies require energy to function as well as the fuel to burn. Each of the muscles which comprise our bodies and all of the organs within all of our systems also require energy to do their work. Each of these things takes another portion of our overall energy allocation until eventually it is all divided out into our bodies as needed.



ENERGY SUPPLY

All the energy which is needed by our bodies has to come from somewhere and since it is constantly being used it has to be constantly replaced. Our bodies are major consumers of energy but fortunately our environment provides all the fuel that we need. We get it from the air we breathe, food and water we consume as well as from the Earth. In the first part of this “Basics” series, Grounding, when we connect with the Earth we are also connecting with its energy field to receive more of the energy that we need to survive. In essence, we established our energetic umbilical cord to the Mother Earth and use it draw in the energetic nutrients that we need.

Most of us however don’t access the environmental energy which is freely available to us. Due to all of the physical, spiritual, emotional and mental issues we are dealing with, we don’t feel connected to our bodies and even less connected to Life. Despite that lack of connection, we still need energy to function as described above. To get the energy we need, we use our energetic fibers to acquire this energy and often at others expense. In a perfectly healed and whole state, an individual can obtain all the energy that they need by simply connecting to the environment.



VICTIM OR VAMPIRE?

So how can we tell when we’re feeding off others or being fed off of? On the physical level this happens when we’re with someone that “dumps” all their issues on us. They constantly focus on their problems, how bad their life is, their needs and the injustices that they believe they suffer from on a daily basis (victim mentality). If they don’t do that then they disguise this behavior as an unhealthy attachment to someone who they make the center of their world and expect that attention to be returned. “Look at all I do for you” becomes their identifying catch phrase. At some level they try passive-aggressive guilt as a way to get the energy they need. If we see these things being done to us or we find ourselves doing them, having an energetic understanding of what is happening allows us to make the decision to stop the unhealthy process.

Our attention (or focus) is where our awareness is. The physics of what happens is that “Energy follows awareness”. When we give our attention to someone or something, we send some of our energy to them. This is true whether the person is physically present or not. When someone is doing something and trying to get our attention (even with what we label as “negative attention”) this is them throwing their fibers at us trying to get the energy that they believe they need. Often times this can be so draining to us as the “host” that we’ll immediately turn to someone else and complain about the experience in an unconscious attempt to drain energy from them. This can all be avoided by ensuring that our Basics (Ground, Clear, Bind and the next one in this series, Core) are in place and our boundaries are maintained appropriately.



STEP 3: BIND

This process sets our energy field so that we aren’t sending our fibers out to someone else and draining them. All the energy that we need comes from within through our connection to the Earth and the world of energy available to us in the environment. As with most things done in the energy field, this is a physical act used to accomplish an energetic purpose.

After grounding and clearing are complete (step 1 & 2 in this 4 part series) then you’re ready to bind. Focus your awareness at your navel and imagine that your fibers extend out from your body at that point. Imagine that they are at least two main ropes (tubes, vines or whatever visual works for you). They can also be seen as a large number of smaller tubes as well. Just notice what visual comes up for you when you put your awareness on this and trust that. There is no need to make it anything other than what works for you. One way is no more or less correct than the other it simply is what is true for you.

Once you have the image of the fibers, physically reach down with your hands and surround your navel with your palms facing each other. Imagine that you are gathering half of them in one hand and half in the other. Pull them out directly in front of and away from your body the way you would if you were going to tie a rope around your midsection. Swing your arms wide and around toward your back where they would meet again. Feel like you insert the cords into your body again right through your spine and they come back out in the front. Now take each half in the front and then tie them together the way you begin tying the laces on your shoes. Just a simple over and under knot (twice, to form a square knot) and then cinch them together as if you were tightening a belt around your waist. 

Visualize and move as if you are forming a circle around your body with the fibers. You are sending an image to your subconscious by doing this visualization and physical action. Take your time with it and really focus on the action as if you actually had two ends of a rope that you were wrapping around your body. The end result of this is that you want to contain your energy field and these grasping fibers so that you rely on energy from within. You made that connection in the grounding process. This process teaches your energy field to use that connection rather than draining others.

Update 7/6/13: Another important thing that this process does is protect you. These fibers are actually connected directly to the "soul" energetic. They are our energy field reaching into the physical world to manifest our bodies to explore this realm. When you tie them together the way I've described above, it causes a protective dome to form around you. This dome will prevent others from throwing their fibers with hooks or suckers into your field. The tie, or as the Deer Tribe calls it "The Master Tie" activates your aura and gives you an extra layer of protection.



KEEP THEM TIED

As you move through your day, if you find yourself seeking unnecessary attention from others by your actions, stop and repeat this process as if the fibers had become untied (and they will until you change the habit). The basics process is about learning better energetic manners and defining your boundaries rather than relying on others for what you need. At some level it is like the child growing up and leaving home. Becoming an energetic adult requires taking more responsibility for your own actions and becoming self-sufficient. This necessitates moving beyond habitual patterns and making your own way.


Click on the following link to go directly to The Basics - Step 4 - Core

The Basics - Step 2 - Clear

The second step of “The Basics” is called “Clear”. This process is to help you to make sure that you are the only one occupying your personal energetic space.



THE AURA

This process involves scanning your physical body as well as the energetic area surrounding your body. Imagine that there is an egg-shaped bubble that surrounds your body. This bubble is known as your Aura. This is actually part of your energy field and typically extends approximately two to four feet away from your physical body in every direction. Its shape and size is dependent upon the individual. This field is pure energy and responds to your awareness and intention.

This energy field is invisible to the naked eye but through a process known as Karlian photography we are able to actually make photographs where this field can be seen. In the photographs it looks like a multi-colored cloud of smoke that surrounds the person in the picture. Some areas may be red, orange, yellow, green, blue or violet. You might think of this field as an energetic extension of yourself. Based upon your needs in any moment this field could expand from the size of your body to the size of a stadium or contract to accommodate the needs of your body, mind or spirit. I’m including a sample of what one of these pictures looks like since I can’t find my own unfortunately.

ENERGY SOUP

When you ground, the energy that you pull up from the core of the earth, moves through your body and spills out into this energy field and fills it up. If you can imagine what your Aura looks like when you come into close proximity with another person you’ll begin to see where the need to “Clear” comes in. The Auras of the two people mix with each other in sort of an “energy soup” process. When you separate again, each of you could be left with some of the other person’s energy in your Aura as a natural byproduct of that interaction.

If you’ve ever been around someone that you think of as negative or draining, you will notice that after you are away from them you may still feel their negativity. Conversely if you are around some who is spiritually or energetically advanced or very charismatic, you may notice that you still feel excited and happy for a while after they leave. These feelings are partially due to the fact that even after they are no longer near you physically you are still holding on to a part of their energy. It is also partially due to how you allowed them to affect you energetically when they were near. It’s important to remember that they too are still processing a small portion of your energy. Now imagine what shape your energy field is in after a busy day at work or after attending some sort of large gathering especially where the people are packed in so tightly that you can’t move without pushing past someone. Talk about energy soup!

The process of clearing allows you to reclaim your scattered energy as well as release any energy from your field which is not yours. It’s a very good idea to use this technique after emerging from crowds and after dealing with unpleasant people or just anytime that you feel like you just need an energy bath because of your personal interactions with others.



STEP 2 - CLEAR

After you have fully grounded yourself, begin this process by calling back your scattered energy. To do this, simply call your name slowly and consciously. I do this at least once for each of the four cardinal directions. This can be out loud or just mentally. Use whatever name you most identify with. This can be nicknames, your birth-name or assumed names. If you aren’t sure what name to use, use them all. Just call each one four times. As you call them imagine that you are calling to someone out in a field and wanting to have them come to you. Feel like you are calling your scattered energy home to yourself. Feel a longing and desire for this energy to come home to you.

Next, mentally scan through your body and Aura and see if you sense energy there which is not yours. This is a very subtle process so trust your intuition. If you think there might be something there, trust that inner knowing and know that you can’t do this wrong. If you detect foreign energy, use your imagination and gather this energy up. You might imagine that you take a butterfly net and scoop it up. You might create a small fan and blow it out of your energy field. You might reach out and pull in a vacuum cleaner hose and suck the energy out of your field. You might even just grab it with your hands and toss it out. Go with whatever visual works for you and allow yourself to be creative with this process. The one thing I recommend you NOT doing however is using any type of violent visual for this process…blowing up, killing, shooting and things like that. Let this be a loving act of release.

As you are clearing your energy field, feel and intend that you are sending this energy back to its owner for them to process. This energy could have come to you through the Aura overlap described above but it could also be there because someone has sent this energy to you because they were angry at you or wished you harm or ill will. It is not important that you determine who’s energy is in your field or why it’s there or why it is in some certain spot on you. Simply gather it up and in some way send it out of your field with the intention that it return to its energetic home. Your energy is for you to process and theirs is for them to process.

Once you believe that the energy has been cleared from your field, call your name again four times and repeat the clearing process for any energy that you feel remains in your Aura that is not yours. What you want to do is feel like you are making more space in your field for you and you only. The more space you can make for that, the more you will begin to feel at peace within your body and feel more complete.



A RETURN ON YOUR INVESTMENT

As I mentioned above, some of the energy in your field could be from where someone either consciously or unconsciously directed this energy at you. Most of us have done this from time to time without an awareness of what we were doing. If you have found yourself stewing about someone and in some way wishing them harm or just negative feelings, you’ve sent this energy to them. Remember that eventually this energy will be coming back to you…but it will be increased significantly. Think about when you toss a rock into a small pond. The ripples on the water move out and grow as they move further and further from where the rock hit the water. When these ripples hit the shore they begin bouncing back. Now there are more ripples than just the initial impact and they’re coming back from every direction.

Energy works the same way. You are the rock. Your intention is the rock hitting the water. The ripples are the results of your actions. Now that you have this knowledge you can no longer plead ignorance. Be careful what you send out. If you are wishing harm to others, eventually that harm will come back home to roost with you. However if you are sending out love and compassion, imagine how amazing it will feel when this expanded energy returns to you.


Click on the following link to go directly to The Basics - Step 3 - Bind

Karma

From the very earliest stages of our lives we are taught that we are being judged. The older we get, the longer our list of judges seems to become. Our first judges come in the form of our parents. As we gain motor skills our parents have to begin keeping a closer eye on us. To keep us safe during this phase of exploration parents alert us to danger through verbal cues like “NO!” or a smack on the hand. We subconsciously learn during this stage that our actions are being watched. When we move into the verbal communication phase, a shift occurs. As we develop language skills our parents tell us they are watching us and begin teaching us what they believe to be “right” and “wrong”.

There is a very subtle shift between these two phases. The former is about safety and protection while the latter is about judgment and control. Our parents begin to imprint their belief systems on to us at this stage just as their parents did to them. We are taught what our parents, our gender, our family, our society, our country, our culture, our race and religious organizations believe to be acceptable behavior. Each of these comes with their own set of judgments upon our actions and plenty of people willing to judge us, consciously and unconsciously, for those actions.



UNSEEN JUDGES

In early childhood most of us are introduced to our next judge, Santa. We are taught that beyond the visible watchful eyes of our parents there is a magical being who watches us from the North Pole. He knows what we’re doing and knows when we’ve been “good” or “bad”. When Christmas arrives we are given “rewards” if we were good or “switches” if we were bad. The difference depends upon Santa’s judgments of our actions throughout the year. It doesn’t matter that he’s not real, what matters is that we are taught to believe that he is real and that he is watching us every moment.

As we grow into childhood we learn about our next supreme judge, God. We are taught that yet another mythical, magical being is able to remotely observe our actions and behaviors and pass judgment upon us. Interestingly enough, if we behave according to the rules of all the layered entities I mentioned above we are on God’s good side. When we step out of line however we are taught that punishment is on its way in the form of bad things that begin happening in our lives. By this same school of thought, if enough of us are seriously misbehaving then we will receive larger punishments such as accidents, disease and any form of natural disaster. Above all this we are led to believe that this incredibly judgmental super human who is keeping tabs on our every single thought and behavior and will administer the ultimate coup de grâce after we die in the form of an eternity in “Heaven” or “Hell”.



JUDGE NOT LEST YE BE JUDGED

With all the judgments being placed upon us at every level from our parents on up the line to God, it should come as no surprise then that we become deeply judgmental of ourselves and project that judgmental attitude out onto others. These judgments then become the filters with which we view the world. We no longer see just the action but rather we judge and label everything as “right” or “wrong”. As long as we hold these self-judgments upon ourselves we can never truly feel the full measure of unconditional love that the Divine has for us. It is not possible to sit in judgment and feel love at the same time.

Ultimately we end up with a world full of people unable to fully love and accept themselves because of their own judgments. If you can’t feel unconditional love yourself, how will you give unconditional love to the world? You cannot give what you do not have. Projecting our judgments out into the world and on to others does not mean “I am right and you are wrong” but rather it says “I have a need to judge”. It is not possible to sit in judgment and feel love at the same time.



KARMA IS ENERGY IN MOTION

The above is actually an example of karma in action. Most people hear the word karma and believe it is the product of a judgment. If I do something good I get “good karma” and if I do something bad I get “bad karma”. Karma is frequently misunderstood and equated to the Hindu version of the Christian view of God’s system of reward and punishment for each of us based upon the summation and judgment of our Earthly sojourn.

In truth the term karma originates in Hindu philosophy but it has nothing to do with judgment. Karma is the term for the process of balancing of energy. It is more closely related to Newtons third law of motion which states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Karma is simply the balancing of energy which has been set in motion. In conjunction with the laws of physics, energy naturally seeks to balance itself unconditionally.

When we come to understand the non-judgmental workings of karma we begin to see that whatever is happening TO US now is the consequence of our past actions. In the example above we see that when we teach others to judge themselves and others, ultimately these judgments will come back on us and we will feel judged and rebel against it and proclaim it wrong to judge.



CLAIM YOUR POWER

To move into a space of healing when we feel judged we have to own the original cause within ourselves and not blame the other person for judging us. “I feel judged…therefore I must be judging others” is the enlightened approach to balancing our karma. By owning our actions and reactions, which we have full control over, we can learn to stop judging others and ourselves and thereby free ourselves from our own judgment. Our own judgments are really the ONLY ones which have a direct impact on us. Any judgments that I might hold against you, are my judgments and only affect me.

Each of our actions sets energy in motion. Once we acknowledge this for ourselves and are willing to own the consequences of our actions, we learn that by controlling our actions we can begin to create positive outcomes for ourselves. As long as we deny our power to create our own destiny we will remain nothing more than powerless victims in our own self-constructed karmic prisons. This shifts us away from the notion that we must please an angry judgmental God in an effort to win favor with him and it puts the onus directly on each of us. It’s not about being judged at all but rather acknowledging the basic physics of energy. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. You get back what you send out.

When we are able to remove the judgmental aspect from the essence of karma, we begin to see how we are moving into alignment with the deepest teachings of every major world religion. Judgment belongs to the realm of the egoic human consciousness and is not a quality associated with true Divinity. Therefore judgments pull us out of alignment with the Divine. Karma is not judgmental or selective but it is exacting because it simply is our own energy balancing itself. It is the process by which your consciousness, or what the Yogis call your Atman, is stabilizing itself in the physical realm.



LAYERS OF KARMA

Karma occurs on many levels. Individually we create our own karmic consequences. When we belong to larger groups (and we all do) we also begin to generate collective karma. The actions that we take as clubs, teams and organizations have a noticeable impact on our lives. The actions that we take as a society, culture, race, religion or nation have a much larger impact on our world. Most importantly the actions that we take as a species have a direct result on our planet and ultimately our existence as a species.

Individually I may believe that my actions have very little impact on what we do as a nation but that doesn’t mean that I get out of the karmic consequences of our nations actions. I may disagree completely with our nation going to war with another country but energetically I will have to accept the impact this action has on our planet and on me. In owning this I will be more motivated to seek more peaceful solutions to each of the challenges I am presented with. When love and peace are what I want to receive, I know that loving and peaceful actions are part of the steps I must take to achieve it. I know that I will never receive love by propagating hate even if I am doing it in the name of God.



NO HIDING FROM YOURSELF

It is important to note that while karma is always just and exacting, it is not always evident. For example let’s say that I become angry at something you say to me and I chose to punch you. Odds are that you will then become angry with me and punch me back. That’s instant karma where I can see the immediate consequences of my actions. The smaller the disturbance in energy, the faster the response and the smaller the resulting return impact is.

If I generally tend to be an angry person, people will tend to not want to associate with me because of my attitude. Eventually I will realize that I have no close friends and certainly can’t hold down a loving relationship and so I am all alone. In the depths of my anger I will of course blame it on the fact that “everyone else” is cold and mean because they won’t be my friend. Everyone’s coldness will of course make me angry. With deeper, personal introspection I might finally see that I am the source of my own misery. Accepting that allows me to chose to be friendly rather than angry and in return receive a friendlier welcome from others. Remember, emotions too are just energy in motion. (http://peacefulmichael.blogspot.com/2009/06/energy-of-emotions.html)



WE’RE ALL IN IT TOGETHER

When we move up to the karma that we create as a nation for example, the consequences of our actions are often greater but more difficult to associate with the initial action. If we do not have knowledge of our history then it is very easy to place the blame for the unfolding of major karmic events on others. For example, we could look at the events of September 11th, 2000 as “we were unjustly attacked by those opposed to our freedom and our liberties.” This would seem to indicate a belief on our part that we had nothing to do with these “unprovoked attacks”. Nothing could be further from the truth.

If we take the time to examine our history, including the secretive and manipulative actions of our government, we see that the events of 9/11 were just another punch in an ongoing conflict with those that we have deemed to be “unlike us”. Our nation and in particular our government are not the keepers of “truth, liberty and justice” for the entire planet the way we like to believe that they are. Our fear-based actions of the past motivated us to destabilize foreign governments, overthrow elected heads of state and generate atrocities of massive proportion all in the pursuit of “freedom”. When viewed from a still larger perspective it was just one more event in an unending battle that has been raging since before recorded history when one person (group or entity) tried to assert power over another. At this scale we can see that we are in essence paying the karmic consequences for the actions and reactions of our ancient ancestors.



TEMPORARY BODY/ETERNAL SOUL

At the most subtle level however there is individual lifetime karma. This is part of our individual soul’s karmic destiny. For every action that I generate personally, energetically the results of that action will come back to the source of that action. Imagine that you toss a pebble into a small pool of water. The ripples from the impact of the pebble with the water will radiate out, hit the edge of the pool and reverberate back to the center of the pool. No other pool of water is disturbed by this action.

Now imagine that the above pool was the size of the Pacific Ocean and the pebble grew in direct proportion to the increase in size of the pool. When this pebble is dropped into that ocean, it will take much more time for the waves to reach the shore and make their way back to the site of the impact. They would eventually make it back but it might take so long to happen that I would probably lose the association between the waves at that site and the original impact of the pebble.

This is the case with lifetime karma. Lifetime karma is the result of cumulative actions which I generate which are so constant that I may not experience the consequences of those actions in a single lifetime. To understand the inner-workings of karma at this level, we have to explore the concept of reincarnation. That topic however is far too broad to discuss as part of this posting so I’ll save that for a future posting on that specific topic.



OWN IT

Once you understand that you alone are in complete control of your karmic destiny, you empower yourself to generate desirable results for yourself. In that empowerment you step out of victim mentality and into self actualization. No one can create our actions for us and no one can save us from the consequences of those actions. It has nothing to do with judgment, fairness, reward or punishment but rather it is simple, basic physics in action in the world of energy in which we exist. We are beings of energy at every single level of our existence.

When you begin to understand the workings of karma and move in accordance with it, your life will transform. Despite religious myth to the contrary, no one can be born for me, live for me, suffer for me or die for me. These are all actions which I alone must experience. When I awaken to the fact that my own actions create my own destiny, I can moderate my actions to receive more desirable outcomes. I do not need to judge and blame others, nor depend upon them to save me. Reclaiming that power is just the tip of the iceberg. Imagine the positive outcomes that you can achieve for yourself by simply moving from victim mentality to a fully empowered co-creator with the Universe, the Divine, God, Great Spirit.

So what pebbles will you toss into the ocean of existence?

The Basics - Step 1 - Ground

All of life really comes down to two things, energy and awareness (or consciousness). We are beings of awareness inhabiting bodies made of dense slow moving energy which we call “physical”. We are force inhabiting form. If we shift our belief that we are physical beings trying to become spirits and begin to see ourselves as spirits choosing to manifest in the physical realm, life will take on new context and dimension. It is a very subtle difference but opens us up to the deeper truth of our existence. That shift in consciousness will also help you more fully integrate the teachings which are ahead in this series.


To honor the process of manifesting in the physical realm, there are some “energy basics” which we need to learn and keep in place. I’ll begin this series with instructions on these basics. They are:

• Ground

• Clear

• Bind

• Core



SPIRIT MANIFESTING

Each of us is an eternal energy being that inhabits a temporary physical body which enables us to manifest in the physical realm. Our spirit, or soul, is our direct connection to the spiritual, energetic realms. As an energy field it is more fluid than our physical body and is able to move beyond the physical limits of our bodies. Most of us function under patterning, or unconsciously repeated actions, and limiting beliefs passed on to us by our ancestors which holds us in the “we are humans trying to ascend to Heaven” paradigm. As we journey deeper together, I hope to help you see how you already are that “heavenly being” trying to manifest on Earth.

Each night as we sleep our spirit is able to reconnect with the spiritual realms and journey to other places. This happens when our awareness shifts from our conscious mind into our subconscious mind. When we awaken our awareness returns to our conscious mind. As we disengage our consciousness from our dense, physical bodies, it withdraws up and out of our bodies. When our awareness returns to the body however sometimes we do not reconnect fully with our bodies and are ungrounded.

Our natural energy home is in the energetic or spiritual realms and physically manifesting requires a great deal of energy but not all of the energy that we have available. We are so much more energetically than just our bodies. If our bodies are experiencing physical pains, if our lives are chaotic or unfulfilling or if we’re highly stressed, our spirits are more attracted to the loving, peaceful non-physical energy realms. When this happens or when we are too caught up in thought or fantasy, we are not grounded into our bodies and this can cause problems.

Most spiritual practices and organized religions in particular draw our awareness up into the upper energy centers in the body. They keep us focused there and direct our awareness to the non-physical. If we don’t ground that awareness and energy into the body then it remains nothing but energy. Many believe themselves to be focused on their spirituality but yet are almost completely disconnected from their body. The body is our “ticket to ride” in the physical and grounding helps secure a platform for that energy to come into. Later in this series, I’ll be showing you techniques for increasing the energetic capacity of the body to enable you to pull in even more of the spiritual energy, but first we have to create a platform for that experience to occur.

Think for a moment of how you feel when you are daydreaming or just really focused on something which requires a great deal of thought. Typically when we do these things, our bodies become very still and quiet. If you tried to suddenly move across the room, you’d probably stumble, crash into something or even fall because your awareness was on your thoughts and not the body. For various reasons, including physical and emotional trauma, this is how most of us go though our daily lives and why so many people feel disconnected from life and their bodies. This can lead to feelings of depression, the inability to connect with others and a whole host of physical dis-eases.


WHY GROUND?

In order for us to be fully present and able to engage energy in the physical realm we need to be fully grounded into the physical body. I’d like to offer a technique for you to work with that will help you become more grounded as you move through your day and through life. This technique is especially good to use for starting your day after waking up, during times of high stress or after periods of intense mental processing to help you reconnect with your body.

Grounding helps us to stay “in the body”. If you find yourself bumping into things, having silly accidents, dropping things or just generally unable to focus this is an indication that you are ungrounded. Many people live such highly stressed lives or are just so generally disconnected from their bodies that they are almost constantly ungrounded. People who deny their physicality and only focus on the spiritual aspects of themselves will typically be very ungrounded. Trying to focus on deeper meditative practices for example without being fully grounded in the body is like building the roof of a house before you build the house and wondering why you aren’t getting anywhere. With a strong base firmly anchored into the Earth, greater heights can be achieved.


SHARPEN YOUR FOCUS - TAKE YOUR TIME

The main key to this technique is to do it consciously with your full focus on the activity. While you are learning to do this process it will initially take a bit longer than it will once you are comfortable with it. Gradually the process will become almost automatic and can be done in a matter of seconds once you know what you are trying to accomplish. Being able to be in a constant state of groundedness can take years to fully develop and that ONLY happens by beginning the process and staying with it.



STEP 1 - GROUND

Begin by sitting comfortably upright and relaxing the body. Take three slow conscious breaths and really focus on the movement of air into and out of the lungs and abdomen. Next take a full, slow, deep breath and as you do gradually increase the tension in the body by squeezing the muscles tighter and tighter as you inhale. At the top of the inhale, your body tension should reach its maximum. As you consciously exhale, slowly allow your body to relax until you reach the bottom of the exhale where your body should be fully relaxed. Coordinate the clenching with the inhale and the relaxing with the exhale. Repeat this for at least three cycles. Do not retain the breath for more than a second or two at the top or bottom of the cycle.

The next part of the process will involve some visualization. We all process energy differently. Some of us “feel” it, some “hear” it, some “see” it and others just have a “felt sense” of it. If you don’t consider yourself good at visualizations, begin with just allowing yourself to “think it” and trust that it will be occurring. Over time your ability to visualize the process will increase as you work this energetic muscle. Don’t worry if this doesn’t happen easily for you right away.

Our energy system responds to our thoughts or awareness. We communicate between our unconscious (or subconscious) mind and our conscious mind with images or visualizations. Language is the product of humans and is not an energetic vehicle. How our energy system will actually accomplish our request is far more complex than any visualization that we can use but the visualizations are how we communicate our desires to our subconscious mind to begin that process. Non-consciously created thoughts or visuals that come back to us is our subconscious communicating back to our conscious mind.



Grow roots

Focus on the tip of the base of your spine, known as the coccyx. Now imagine that one thick tap-root begins to grow from this area down towards the Earth. See (feel, intend, imagine, will) it go down through your chair, through the floor and into the Earth. Really think about each part of the structure above the Earth that it would have to grow through to reach the Earth. You will have more detail on the upper layers because we are familiar with this area. For example: the chair, carpet, flooring, perhaps the ceiling below, then the room below and next floor (if you live over others), and finally to the physical ground, deep into the soil.


Continue to imagine it growing through the ground, through the outer layers of the planet, the deeper layers and all the way to the core of the Earth. You’ll have less detail here as most of us can only imagine how far down we’re actually traveling through the Earth’s crust. Once there, focus on the entire connection from you down to the core and allow the root to fully connect (grow into, surround) into it.

Next feel like you’re drawing energy up through that root as you continue to reach down with the roots. Feel the energy moving up the root from the core, up through the Earth, the housing structure, the floor and back to you. Allow this energy to be visualized as a zesty deep red as it makes its way to you. Imagine it coming up into your system as if it were filling you up from the bottom. Let it fill you up until it spills out the top of your head. Imagine that any excess energy flows out through your body, surrounds you and radiates out to others to help them ground.


Focus on this connection for at least 30 seconds or more. Really allow yourself to focus on the visual of all of that and hold your awareness on it. Research has shown that it takes about 22 seconds of focused awareness for the subconscious to engage and continue the action. Intend (affirm, decide, think) that this process will continue without your conscious mind being focused on it and it will happen.

Once you complete it and get a sense of how your body feels after doing it, check in on that feeling 1000 times through the day. You really cannot do this too much for you can never be too grounded. Ultimately what we’re after is being able to constantly feel grounded while engaging our regular activities. That only comes with repeated practice. If you feel it missing or just think about the roots for some reason during the day (especially after stressful interactions with others or high-stress periods), mentally feel that you are reconnecting those roots and drawing that grounding energy up. The reconnection process can be as simple as just getting a quick image of that root going to the core of the Earth from the base of your spine. Your unconscious mind will do the rest from there with that image...but start the day with the full visualization to set that up.


EVERYTHING IS AN EXPERIMENT 

Feel free to experiment with this technique and allow yourself to be creative with it but just be very conscious with what you’re doing. You should notice a decided difference in how you feel before doing it and after. When we operate from a centered and grounded place, we’re able to make better decisions, move more confidently and react more calmly. We also begin to become more connected to and comfortable in our bodies.

Click the following link to go directly to The Basics - Step 2 - Clear