Unencumbered Being

A Great Circle Inside

Rise!

In the ocean behind your eyes, a great circle inside.

Why oh why does the One before you weep?

 

Build a bridge between.  Lay to rest these broken dreams.

Let go, we’ll fall like Kings and fly into this circle inside.

 

In the field between each side, a great circle resides.

Why oh why does the world before us weep?

 

Sip from the soul of freedom; sweetly leave suffering, hands like wings.

For you, I weep and bloom all night in a meadow of sky…

 

Asking why (in a meadow of sky)…

At the feet of false kings, I’m caught between aversion and longing!

 

Build a bridge between.  Lay to rest these broken dreams.

Let go, we’ll fall like Kings and fly into this circle inside.

 

Inside,

Not asking why…

Inside, a prayer living inside,

In a meadow of sky…

 

Sip from the soul of freedom, our sweet release,

Hands now wings, the rise of fallen Kings,

Nations living inside…

 

Rise, Rise, Rise! 

 

-Amy McTear

 The Mayans prophecized in this era that ‘All kings will fall’.

We have seen the literal fall of 'kings' in recent years, particularly across the Arab world.  But what deeper, more personal metaphor lies at the heart of this prophecy? 

If we look at these 'kings' as residing within, where have we given our power to misunderstood identities and a distorted sense of Self? 

We have an opportunity to rise into a new identity and declare a new cosmology; framing our relationship to life in a new light.  Within each of us lies a true King.  May nations of Kings rise...

 

Belonging to Something Greater

"I don't sing because I'm happy. I'm happy because I sing."--Linda Bevard

Singing releases oxytocin, a neurotransmitter known as the 'love hormone' or 'empathy' chemical.  It is oxytocin that sets up a real bond and sense of trust and well-being towards another person.

Daniel Levitin, professor of psychology and behavioral neuroscience and author of This is Your Brain on Music, discusses the neurochemistry of singing and how singing in a group activates a part of the frontal cortex that's responsible for how we see ourselves in the world and how we fit into a larger whole...whether we see ourselves as alone or belonging to something greater.

Historically, and even today across most cultures the emphasis in singing has been on the communal experience, rather than the masses listening to the music of a few star performers.  It is only in the last 500 years that we've developed concert halls, which set up a separation between the performer and the audience. 

In our Summer Solstice Community Harmonic Choir, we set out to blur those lines and return to our anthropological roots.  Our core group of musicians is composed of a few friends, who have in common their addiction to the 'love hormone', and who have now hooked a few others.  Members of our choir and rhythm section are an eclectic group of brilliant beings, and regular people like you and me.  'Audience' participation makes the picture complete.  Come.  May we collectivley remember who we are and to all that we belong.

Hear more on this NPR show, 'Imperfect Harmony': How Singing With Others Changes Your Life.

 

 

'What We Look For, We See.'

'What we look for, we see.'

I invite you to ponder with me, the simple truth of that for a moment.

New Age thought leaders, like Joe Dispenza and Gregg Braden (whose work I value), give illustrative and elaborate quantum field explanations for how thought creates reality.

And yet, at face value, I find the above statement to be all I need; an indisputable truth that really doesn't require quantum field analogies.

'What I look for, I see.' 

Yes, logical. 

'What I focus on grows'.

Makes sense.

'What I tend to expect, I tend to find'.  

Yes. 

Anyone disagree?

In the bible it says, "Seek and you shall find."  The Yogis of ancient India said, 'what you focus on grows'.  Why get more complicated than we have to?

So, what if we expected wellness, happiness, support, safety, connection, prosperity...or whatever it is we wish we had?  How would that change what we see in our daily lives?

Experiment with me.  Expect ____________ (fill in the blank with what you think you don't have, that you wish you did).  Start simple with one thing, and maybe not the thing you feel the greatest lack of...or maybe! 

Spend one day.  Remind yourself, condition yourself to expect that.  Act, if you must at first, like someone who has that.  Feel like someone who expects that to be so.  Try it for a couple days, if you can tolerate it.

See how or if it changes anything.  And let me know.  This is one of my favorite spiritual practices:).

Greater Wellbeing and a Thriving World

In 20 Days from the time of this posting, on Saturday June 22nd, 2013, we will collectively gather (all are welcome!) in The Widow Jane Mine, in Rosendale, NY for the 3^rd annual Summer Solstice Community Choir.  The mine is an echoing, megalithic, earthen chamber - an inspiring place to retreat from summer heat, vocalize, meditate, bring your aspirations and exasperation, while joining with others to ignite and energize our common longing for greater wellbeing and a healthier, thriving world.

In these transformative times with so much acceleration, chaos and a looming unknown as to whether we will move ourselves collectively toward wholeness or destruction, most of us struggle to keep track, sustain, maintain and heal.   Pause around this upcoming full moon-solstice, enter the belly of the earth, and let the drum echo your own heart while hearing your own voice in the voice of the many echoing back from the cave walls.   

This is a "spiritual" event, but one with no particular ideology, dogma, or theology.  It is inspired by various realms of thought, many traditions and the path of every person present, whether Atheist, Buddhist, Christian, Naturalist etc.  This gathering is not about the classifications that separate us, rather the essential elements that bind us. 

Experience musical ritual and a chance to participate as an integral presence in an uplifting evening.   We will bring 20 or so performers, at times creating a soundscape from pure, simple tones and at other times experiencing more orchestrated musical pieces, that blend sacred phrases from various lineages, exotic world instruments like Didgeridoo, drums, symphonic gong, singing bowls and your voice.

The doors to the cave open at 5:30PM.  The celebration begins at 6PM and will continue until approximately 8PM.  We will reemerge from the cave with the full moon rising at 7:47PM and the sun to set at 8:35PM.

In the coming weeks as we toward peak light of both sun and moon, what do you want to bring to fullness in 'the great work of your life'?  How do we want to create fulfillment in our shared world?  I beleive we can utilize the increase of light as extra energy available to us, consciously if we choose.

I hope to post as much as possible until then and share my thoughts and inspirations.  I welcome your input and hope you will use this blog page to do the same.  And most of all, I look forward to raising our personal and collective joy with you in the Widow Jane Mine on June 22!

 

NOT ENOUGH ...

Most of our emotional pitfalls have their roots in scarcity, though shrouded in whatever current event or credible outer storyline.  When we pause and examine beneath the surface, a subconscious reel of bad news can be distilled, an alarming headline - 'NOT ENOUGH'. 

The key to unlocking this painful myth is to slow down and retrace frame by frame the pivotal moments leading up to the plunge.

My scarcity headline hit the emotional presses last week after a fairly substantial hiatus, providing me a chance to really dissect this process.  As is typical, someone close to me innocently did or didn't do something that triggered an almost imperceptible avalanche of thoughts and feelings firing off at light speed, which suddenly shifted me into a feeling state of lack.

There I was in full character in the most vividly painful portrayal of my life.   I stepped back to observe this one I had suddenly become, wanting to see everything about her, what she believed about herself and who in her life she had cast in what supporting roles. 

I dialogue and review with myself like I would with one of my children, careful not to dismiss, band-aid or criticize myself for my feelings.  I address it with sincere empathy like I would with a child.  "What happened?  What was said?  How did I feel when that was said?  What do I fear about that?  Under that what is my fear?  And under that...?"  I move deeper through the emotional layers until I reach the devastating root feeling.

I fully acknowledge how hurtful and intolerable it is to believe this myth of scarcity, when enough love, enough safety, security (or whatever it is) is absolutely necessary to my existence.  How intolerable scarce conditions are to the greater me. 

When this process is lived consciously, it can be experienced and moved through.  The adult you is on the scene to question, illuminate, reassure and allow space for fears and feelings, and to then suggest the innate power to move to a different emotional place; the ability to meet one's own needs by changing one's emotional state.

If we rehearse or practice feelings and thoughts of lack long enough, we adopt them as a false identity, further strengthening their presence in our reality.  Attempting to get others to behave in a way that will validate our lovableness, worthiness and security is an incredible drain and impossible to sustain.

If we try to improve ourselves, create what we want, or conduct our relationships from a base state of emptiness, we reinforce that base state.  When we are intensely identifying with not enough, we can never have enough reassurance from someone else.  In short, we cannot resolve the problem at the level of consciousness it was created.   

To counteract the feeling state of scarcity, requires that we put everything aside to practice creating the base feeling state of its opposite.  To meditate simply means 'to become familiar with'.  Carving out the space to focus on what it feels like to have an abundance of love, health, wealth, is ultimately how we create the conditions necessary for that to exist in our lives.

Trusting the River

I had a dream that I was standing at the center of a huge ark sailing upstream when it gradually slowed to a complete stop.  Looking over the side of the boat, I discovered the river had nearly dried up.  Only a bed of saturated soil with a few spotty puddles remained.  

Momentarily, the boat bucked forward and began moving ahead sluggishly as one of the male crew members had jumped out, forcing the ark into motion. 

I yelled for him to stop pushing, declaring, "We will wait for the river to fill up again!"   We proceeded into the belly of the ship, gathering around circular banquet tables to share wine, bread and intimate conversation.

If we fine tune our awareness, life will guide our movement like the river.  In those seasons when things have clearly moved on inside us and nothing rushes in to fill the space; no clear picture of what or how to move next, life invites a deep bellied pause, a contemplative in-breath and a movement 'back to the drawing board' to revise or recommit to our chosen path.  This dream precipitated just such a season for me.

Handling the gap between what has been and what is coming can be unsettling as it requires a deep faith in the unseen and unmanifest.  I have witnessed myself many times and in many arenas of my life forcibly 'pushing the boat' up an empty river bed, in a panic that something was amiss in the stillness. 

It is only recently that I have learned to heed the river's cues and in such times commit to nourishing myself on the deepest levels I can, while listening and dialoguing intimately with 'the crew' inside me. 

My willingness to contend with emptiness, to question everything I knew and change course if necessary, has brought a deepened resolve.  So much moved and clarified in the reflective space. 

Though I invested with the idea that this would be the outcome, I still find myself rapt in wonder over it all.  As the river rises and I experience the enhanced pleasure of buoyancy, I enjoy the added stability of a deeper commitment to the relationship I have with myself and my life path. 

 

Becoming

I believe we are at a juncture in our human evolution where we have an opportunity to make significant shifts in how we live, move, breathe, relate.  Our cosmology is shifting.  That is to say, we are beginning to view the relationship of the human being to the universe in a new way.  We are redefining our purpose, becoming more conscious of our power, our impact, and our infinite possibility. (read THE LARGER STORY)

There is inherent pressure in change and a medicinal power in our coming together in ways that soothe and uplift this transformation of human consciousness. 

So many people are questioning why they do what they do, how they live, who they really are.  The human spirit is becoming less and less tolerant of an obedience to superimposed  and outgrown roles.  We sense there is something more to us, some untapped potential, a possibility for a life more embodied.

While things out there in the world appear to be intensifying, I think we are inwardly sparked with wonder, renewal and a growing capacity for compassion and love.   We have the chance to forge a new path, a path of great well being and promise and I think potentially, a golden age where we witness the healing of many of humanity's wounds.

We are joining together for the Summer Solstice Community Harmonic Choir again in Rosendale, NY... An interactive sacred sound concert and vocal meditation to uplift  personal and planetary well being.  Hope you can make it...or join us in spirit.

Meeting in the heart at peak light in the solar year, we summon the healing capacity of the human voice and the power of collective intent to affirm our individual and shared purpose…of living the fullest expression of joy and compassion available to us at this time of ‘Great Awakening’ in human evolution.

Through toning, singing and being bathed in the universal song of the gong, the transcendent tones of crystal singing bowls and the power of the human voice, we will align with a consciousness that empowers us to step with conviction onto the path of personal and global wellness.

 

 

LIFE CREED

 

I AM ALIVE for the purpose of serving my individual growth, as well as the growth of the whole.
My wholehearted participation and generosity of spirit in sharing my gifts, is the promise my soul made in taking this life.
I give my highest regard to how I feel, honoring my emotions as the messengers from my Source, that they truly are.
I resolve to live in alignment with my True Self.  
I pledge to no longer abstain from Self-love.
With my thoughts, I create my world.  I aim to focus my attention on well being, rather than the absence of it.
I consider my highest achievement and my greatest success, to be a state of Joy.
My inner lover knows I am on a holy mission, a grand treasure hunt of finding out through what I love,
what I have come to offer.
Each inhale is an invitation from life, a call to union.
Each exhale is my reply, an acceptance of this invitation and an offering of my spirit.  
Before opening my eyes each morning, I aspire to open my heart, awakening and inviting the inner lover to steward my life.
I offer my life, my existence, as a sacred meeting ground for Great Love, the blessed and precious union of Spirit and Matter.

The New Year's Day Community Harmonic Choir 2012

 

An interactive sacred sound concert and vocal meditation for uplifting personal and planetary well being..celebrating and releasing the past, embracing the present and laying a positive tone for the future... through toning, singing and being bathed in the universal song of the Gong, the transcendent tones of crystal singing bowls and the power of the human voice... An annual event, held this year at the Celebration Chapel in Kingston, NY.

The Higher Ground

It used to be that my thoughts were largely negative, only I was so desensitized to feeling badly that I did not notice.  It began a long time ago as a measure of self-protection... I think.  If I were hard on myself, then I would improve.  If I thought of what could go wrong, then I would be better prepared...

It was faulty logic that exponentially increased my level of misery and vibrationally conditioned me to become the breeding ground for all the things I did not want.

I have become sensitive again.  I dislike the negative reels, replays and play by plays of what might go wrong.  I have little tolerance for my own senseless bad news, fixation on painful images, preoccupation with difficult feelings and thoughts that injure my spirit and lower my esteem and confidence. 

Through reeducation, self care, practice and reprogramming, I have noticed that what gets air time in these precious 8" between my ears, has gradually attuned to uplifted thoughts, flirtation with happiness and downright preoccupation with a healthier, more fulfilled life... Hallelujah! 

We are now 12 days into our 40-day practice.  How is it going for you?  Do you care to share what your practice has consisted of and how have you structured it?  Has it been difficult to maintain?  How do you feel?  What do you notice?  Please feel invited to share anything you care to.

The past 12 mornings for me have begun by assessing my mental, physical and emotional state, and noting it in my journal.  Then I ask myself, 'What is the higher ground that I would prefer?'  Meaning, how would I rather feel?  I name that and record it in my journal. 

And then I plunge into some of the most enjoyable moments of my day; the blissful practice of embodying the state of being that I most desire.  How near or far I am from it determines how easy or difficult it is for me to make the shift. 

The days when I am most distant, I have learned to be a child again imagining myself as I want to be when I grow up.  I allow the preoccupation with what it would it feel like to be the one I dream of being. 

Imagination yields to feeling better, and then feeling better yields to becoming.  It is at that point that I understand that the process is simply recognizing and reclaiming these disowned part of my own nature.

The Mantra of Well Being

  love rain down on me

rest deep in the well of my being

love rain down, oh holy rain

wash away harm's trace

One of the most profound spiritual practices I have undertaken to date is the practice of 'letting in love'.  Amma, our modern day "hugging saint" from India describes two kids of poverty.  The first results from a lack of food, shelter and clothing.  The second is a poverty of love.  While in the East there is widespread suffering from the first, here in the western world she observes, we suffer in epidemic proportions from the latter.

There is an infinite source of energy in the universe which has been referred to by many names - ‘God’ , ‘The Divine’, ‘Source’  and often simply ‘Love’.  We live within this infinite energy and it lives within us.  All of creation at the most fundamental level, is vibration.   

The universe is fundamentally love, teeming with love actually.  We cannot stop the continous flow of this energy throughout, but we do possess the power to block it within our own energy field.  Many of us live largely unaware that we are doing just this on a daily basis, denying ourselves the love that is available to us in abundance. 

I weep listening to all the people singing with us on the summer solstice.  We had nearly 200 voices in that cave, calling love back in that moment.  Maybe you will join us next year!

This "Mantra of Well Being" was born in a moment when no solutions could be found, seemingly the bottom.  Those moments are of great value as I had no other recourse but to make an appeal from the fundamental level of my being and invite the pure healing energy of love.

It continues to feel good, as I sing this song to myself nearly every day when I sense myself even subtly shift into holding life/holding love away.  I am amazed at the power of such a simple song.  I am sharing it with you in case you might like to add it to your personal mantras.