Celebrating Our Uniqueness

   Last Sunday, Dec. 12, 2010, I offered a lecture at Britten Memorial Church on "Awakening the Creative Spirit".





   What really came to me during that lecture and on reflection afterwards was how incredibly beautiful and unique every single human being is. Every one of us (regardless of race, gender, etc.) looks different, speaks differently, moves differently, thinks and sees the world differently, dreams differently, experiences differently. Many of us are frequently wondering,  questioning, exploring, trying to figure out what our true life purpose is.  Maybe all we really have to do is to fully embrace and express and celebrate our own uniqueness.

   Just as every snowflake that ever falls to Earth is different from every other snowflake that falls to Earth, so it is with human beings. All the individual snowflake does, on its journey to earth, is to express its incredible, unique beauty and then it unites with all of the other millions and billions of equally unique and beautiful snowflakes to cover the earth in  their (united) glistening white magnificence. A fresh snowfall can create a picture of beauty and harmony and peacefulness over the land that it covers. There is nothing quite like seeing the barren December trees covered by a coating of fresh white snow. All of those individual snowflakes originate from the same source. They come to Earth floating, sometimes gently, sometimes with an almost "vengeance" depending on the winds, as separate unique beings or creations.  Then they re-unite, as One, to cover the Earth. 

   Imagine if all of humanity could come to Earth expressing the full potential of each individual human being's unique beauty and  qualities, and then we (the individual human beings) could unite and cover the Earth in beauty and harmony and peace.

   Many of us who are on a Spiritual Journey or who are questing after Spiritual Awakenings, work very hard through meditation or other Spiritual Practices to feel and express our "Oneness" with Source, our "Oneness with all of life. And that is extremely important work -- to realize our connectedness with all that is. In order to fully develop compassion and love for all, we need to understand and feel that we are all from One Source (whatever our individual expression of the Source may be) and that what happens to one, affects all. In order to move past all of the ego trappings of fear and separation and greed and conflict, it is important that we each know and experience our interconnectedness, our Oneness. Once we know ourselves to be one part of the "Greater Whole", then I believe it is important to step back and look at and honor our individual gifts and beauty and uniqueness. 

   Our time on Earth is a time to know and experience ourselves as individuals who have come to express our individuality. If we could all see the special beauty that is in every face; if we could appreciate the unique and special sound of every human voice; if we could embrace, with wonder, the uniqueness of every human body, then each one of us could not only feel much more comfortable with who and what we are, each one of us could then proudly step forward to express our own magnificence and our own creativity -- in whatever way it wants to show itself. That will be different for every single human being, just as every snowflake shows itself differently. I believe if each one of us could be more fully who and what we really and truly are, then there would be peace and harmony and love on  Earth. If each one of us is totally embracing all parts and aspects of ourselves, we would automatically accept and embrace all aspects of "the other".

   I hope this is not sounding "too preachy" but allowing ourselves full expression of who we really are deep inside is something I feel very passionate about. Our culture and our institutions have  put way too many restrictions and expectations on how we "should" think and be and experience and even what our bodies should look like. Many of us grew up, or are still growing up, struggling to fit into society's norms. That struggle to fit into an image or way of living that isn't authentic to our individual nature is Soul Destroying. It completely blocks the Creative Spirit and turns life into a struggle for survival. There is no joy or purpose in that kind of living.

   This is a "very hot" topic for me right now because I recently had a healing session that brought me back to myself as a young teenage girl when I struggled so hard to fit into the image of what a pretty, popular teenage girl was "supposed" to look like. Of course I failed miserably to "measure up". Those kinds of unfair, unrealistic, unhealthy expectations end up destroying one's confidence -- often for a lifetime (and maybe longer!). And that meant, as a young teenager, when life should be full of new discoveries and explorations of one's talents and dreams, I had no opportunity to discover and develop the gifts that I did have. All I could discover, in that kind of atmosphere of unrealistic expectations, was what I was lacking.

   The good news here is that it is never too late to reconnect with any part of ourselves from any past age and we always have the opportunity to explore and develop our gifts and talents. They (the gifts and talents) don't go away. They wait patiently until we are ready to go back and embrace them.

   When we can each find the courage to move out of "the box" that society or various institutions have tried to lock us into, then we can take that next step to celebrating all that we are. When we can know our "imperfections" to be perfection; when we can embrace our emotional "woundedness" as our creative inspiration; when we know for certain that nothing is "wrong" with us because we think or react differently than someone else; when we can know and see our own special uniqueness as the gift that we can here to free and express, then we know our purpose on this planet. That's what I think!



Done July 17, 2007 as I was just beginning
to recover my eyesight



   I'll just add one more thing -- I really believe that those longings, those cravings, those desires that we feel deep in our Hearts and Souls are simply the Creative Spirit's way of trying to get our attention so that we will express and create in the way that we, each, individually, came here to do. The Creative Spirit wants to flow and create throughout this World. The Creative Spirit is (to me) like the umbilical cord that connects us with our Source, our Creator. As we allow this Creative Spirit to flow through us, it will connect us to the Source of all Creation, and then just think how much more Creative Energy we can tap into!! In other words, cravings and desires are good. Let's pay attention to them.

   I could carry on about this for some time, but for now, I'll say Adios. To be continued...

  May we all liberate the Creative Force that is trying so hard to wake up through each of us.

   Barbara 

PS The very "unique beings" you see here throughout this blog are images that came to me during various stages of the healing process of my eyesight.

Shamanic Images and Creating a Container of Safety and Love

   I said I would begin to share some of my Shamanic drawings. Last blog you met my very powerful Medicine Woman Friend. This one is my Shaman/Magician/Clown friend. He brings with him a lot of magic.
    I was thinking about how I differentiate between my "Alien Friends" who have appeared in previous blogs and my "Shamanic Friends" who suddenly are demanding my attention. There is no rational answer. It is just a gut feeling. When I draw these images, I seldom begin a drawing with any intention of what I want to draw. I simply tune in to what colours, what lines and shapes, what combinations may want to happen and out come these wonderful beings. Once the drawing is done, then I just know if it is Alien, Shamanic, Spirit Guide or sometimes it is simply a reflection of part of me. Each has a distinctly different feeling to me.

This drawing to the immediate right is a beloved Shaman and Spirit Guide who has been with me since 1999. His name is Yaconi. He came to me while I was living in Mexico although this drawing or depiction of him didn't come out until May 21, 2007. I remember that date very specifically because it came to me the day before I received some shattering news. He knew I needed his presence. This was the first drawing I did that came from lines and angles. The symmetry I see in it amazes me even now because this one emerged during the time that I was legally blind. I could hardly see the lines I was drawing or the colours I was using and yet, somehow,  through it all, he emerged! After this drawing, I actually began craving geometric shapes and forms.  At that point I sent someone out to buy me a geometry set and as you can see from previous drawings, geometric shapes seem to be my Art Form now. Prior to that all of my drawings were much more flowing and round and free form. Now I love to see what comes out when I start playing with angles and lines. Drawing this way has a more solid and grounded feel to it. It feels to me like the energy is being contained in a very powerful way, as opposed to just hanging out there in an undefined way, somewhere in space.

There is a strikingly similar feel in the vocal work I am doing now. I used to do more free form vocalizing and sounding -- just allowing the sound to flow. That can be wonderful and freeing, just like drawing freely without boundaries. But there is something about creating a "container" that, for me, brings the energies (be they vocal or artistic) together in a much more powerful and grounded way. In my Artwork, the container is the geometric form itself. Everything is contained within a framework of lines and angles. In my vocal work, the technique, Speech Level Singing, is the container or the framework for the voice. The constant repetition of scales and vowels creates a solid and safe pathway for the voice to travel through. One constant focus in this vocal technique is on strengthening the vocal chords and using them in ways that are healthy and safe.  Simply sounding and vocalizing freely, while it could feel wonderful and exciting in the moment, and could at times, take me into expanded levels of consciousness, it could also, at times, leave my throat feeling scratchy the next day. And sometimes my jaw would feel even tighter and more clenched the day after I had been "way out there" with my voice. I think  my psyche just wasn't ready to move so quickly into that level of feeling "way out there". So I could end up feeling quite ungrounded and sometimes I would react by feeling more closed down afterwards and by feeling my voice retreat somewhere deep inside of me.

I find it really important, in my own personal journey, to move step by step. Whenever I just "leap in" to something  (as I have tended to do in the past), especially something that is consciousness expanding, I tend to just as rapidly "leap" back out, often in a more closed down state.

Just as any houseplant needs a good, solid container filled with nourishing soil in order to thrive and bloom, I believe it is equally important for us to create a solid container for our own journey and spiritual awakening (and "vocal awakening" in my case!).

Many of us come from a culture that values instant gratification. I've never seen the way of instant gratification work on the spiritual journey. We can't just "move into the light" and expect to stay there without first embracing our "so called" darkness or woundedness and creating a container of safety and love for our physical and emotional selves. We can't just "push" our voices out there to sing and sound if the surrounding nerves and muscles are not ready to handle that. The voice needs a solid container to move through. Even my Artwork now does not want to be just "hanging in space", dispersing its energy. It wants the container of lines and angles to support and contain it.  

This blog was going to be more about my Shamanic experiences, but this idea of "creating a safe and loving container" for whatever we are learning or experiencing seemed to be more urgent at this point. I'd love to hear any responses or thoughts about this idea.

I wish you all many blessings for your current journey and challenges. May your container be filled with love and acceptance and lots of joy!

Barbara

May ALL Voices Be Free to Sing and Express

*** Because Shamanic Journeying may not be familiar to all who read this, I will explain more about my experience with it in my next blog or you can read more about it on Jeannette McCullough's website (see below).

***In previous blogs I have posted some of my drawings of my Alien Friends. This drawing is one of my very special Shaman Friends. I'll introduce you to more of my Shaman Friends in my next blog.

A Remarkable Vocal Healing

Last night, Thurs. Oct. 28, I attended our monthly Shamanic Journey Group led by Jeannette McCullough (http://www.shamansong.ca/). My journey experiences were a continuation of the work I had started on Sun. Oct. 24 at the "About Face" workshop. (See previous blog). It seems as though that 8 year old child in me still needed to be healed and listened to. I decided to allow the 8 year girl that I was to be in charge of my journey last night.

Just before we entered into the journey I asked for a healing for that 8 year old part of myself. I asked for healing of the trauma that had shut down her voice and I requested direct healing of her voice.

As the drumming started, signalling the beginning of the journey, I saw my 8 year old self climbing to the top of her very favorite tree. It was a huge gorgeous willow tree that I used to climb as a child. From the top of the tree, my Hawk friend picked me up and, with me on her back, she flew me to the edge of Earth's atmosphere. From there, my Purple Dragon Friend picked me up and flew me to my beloved Space Station where I go most of the time when I take these Shamanic journeys. Transporting me to this Space Station requires real teamwork!! However I can also just close my eyes in meditation and be there. Or I sometimes do travel there in my nighttime dreams. But the journey with Hawk and Dragon is half the fun of going there too. I love to fly on the backs of these powerful allies of mine.

When I reached the Space Station, I was greeted by my Beloved Guide, Sweet Wisdom (my drawing of her appears in a few of my past blogs.As she took me inside, I was surprised to see both of my parents there, along with my grade 3 music teacher. There was also a grand piano and my current vocal teacher, along with his voice teacher, were also there. I started doing my vocal exercises with my current teacher and as I did that, I felt the support of my  parents and my grade 3 teacher in a really nice way, but somehow it just didn't feel like enough.

   Then Sweet Wisdom made a cushy little bed for me right on the piano bench. As I lay down on it, (remember I'm only 8 years old in this journey, so I fit quite nicely on that bench) my parents and grade 3 teacher started grooving to the drumbeat and dancing around me. Then my Dad (who had always been a very quiet man in real life-- the youngest of 13 children and son of a pretty dominant mother, so he likely had no voice in his growing up years) started making some beautiful low, growly, guttural sounds with his voice. As he began to explore these sounds, I saw his face light up. He really started to come alive and enjoy himself.

My mother also began to make a variety of sounds with her voice. (In "real" life my mother never sang. In fact she often said to me, "You're just like me. You can't hold a tune." My mother was orphaned at 11 years old and had no say, no voice, in her upbringing.) Then she just stopped at the foot of my bench and began to sing, full out, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Her whole face and body came alive as she did that. She was totally transformed into a beautiful, confident, vibrant woman in that moment.

To see both of my parents looking happy and joyful and to hear the beauty of those voices really did something to my heart and soul. In listening to them I felt my own voice finding its freedom. I didn't have to do a thing or make a sound. All I had to do, and all I wanted to do, was listen to the voices of my parents as they sang and sounded. For the first time ever, I was truly hearing the sounds of my parents voices. And I was being filled with the joy and the fun and the happiness that was pouring out of both of them.

What I really came to understand in that moment was that my parents and my teacher didn't deliberately set out to shut down my voice. They weren't against me expressing myself, even if that is what it felt like to me at that time. But in "real life" they had no voice. They weren't allowed to express. So how could they give me what they didn't have? Simple. They couldn't. None of us can give what we don't have.

Allowing them to find their voices and express themselves so fully (as they did in my Shamanic journey) allows my voice to be free.

I really believe that in healing and freeing ourselves, as we can do in these kinds of journeys, we also heal and free those who came before us. Perhaps by healing ourselves, we can actually influence past generations. If our parents had no voice or means of expression, it is probably because their parents were cut off from expression and so on .. back through generations. I believe that we can be influential in healing those in spirit (as my parents, grandparents etc. are). 

Last night felt like a huge vocal healing not only for me, but also for my parents and I did feel that healing energy travelling back through many previous generations.

I am very grateful to this group and to all groups like this that allow people to explore their inner worlds in a way that is safe, comfortable, supportive and accepting.

Thank you Jeannette, for offering this to us and thank you to all who are openly and courageously embarking on this journey of healing and conscious awareness.

May we all be free to express the beauty and love that is in our Hearts.

Barbara

Let ALL the Children Sing!!!

Greetings,

   This past Sun. Oct. 24, I attended an absolutely wonderful and inspiring workshop "About Face". It was a day of exploring (through creative writing, sharing stories, mask making etc.) the "face" that we show to the world and the "deeper face" that we may show only to ourselves. The facilitators were two very creative women: writer Teri Degler (http://www.teridegler.com/) and visual artist Shelley Yampolsky.

   This is one of Teri's books "The Divine Feminine Fire"

   In one of the writing exercises, a very important story emerged for me and I did share it with the group. Although it was my own personal story, many of the other people did identify, in their own way, with it. And I think there is  a larger message in this story. So I'm calling it

                                    Let ALL The Children Sing!   

In the workshop, Teri guided us into a visualization where we were instructed to remember a time and experience in our younger lives that forever changed us in some way.

Immediately I was back in Grade 3 with Mrs. Self (yes that really was her name!). She was our music teacher. As I remember her from a child's perspective, she was quite tall, grey hair, somewhat of an imposing and intimidating figure to a little child. I still remember her white dress with black flower designs on it. She came into the classroom this one particular day and one by one, she made each child stand up and sing Do Rey Me.....I remember being terrified as my turn came closer. I had not even been allowed to speak up at home, never mind sing!! Vocal expression just wasn't part of my growing up experience. And any minute now, this teacher was going to make me stand up and humiliate myself by trying to sing, when I couldn't.

When my turn came, I stood up and, scared as I was, I tried my best.

It wasn't good enough.

All the children who could sing the scale well were allowed to go with Mrs. Self and sing in the school choir. The few of us who could not sing had to sit back down at our desks in total humiliation. Those of us who were left behind were given some math assignments to do while the other kids got to go to the auditorium and sing. Eventually they (the singers) were given the opportunity to perform in the school concert, watched by their proud parents. The rest of us were simply left out to suffer the pain our voices being silenced: the pain of "knowing" that the sound of our voices was unaccepatable.

At that moment, I became "The Child Forever Silenced"!!

Until..........Many years later -- actually at age 58 -- I could no longer stand to have my voice trapped so deeply inside of me. Although I had been facilitating  workshops and giving the occasional lecture, just the idea of standing up in front of people and allowing my voice to be heard had been difficult and traumatic. And I never attempted to sing, unless I was certain that I was alone and no one would hear me.

Finally, a series of events pushed me to find a vocal coach/singing teacher. Just about a year and a half ago, I started searching for a technique and a teacher that could help me. Man was I lucky!!! I found an excellent technique called Speech Level Singing (which you may have read about in my previous blogs) and I found a highly qualified teacher (Brandon Brophy, 3rd Voice Studio) of this technique here in Toronto.

About a month or so into my lessons with Brandon, he had me make some "bratty" "nasty" sounds, some of which were done with sticking my tongue out. These were done to help me connect with, and develop my Chest Voice. Prior to this work, my voice had been weak and disconnected so in my vocal practice I have focused a lot on developing a strong connection with my chest voice and getting really rooted in the depths of my voice. Those "nasty" sounds helped me to do that. And...they also had an added benefit! One day, during my lesson with Brandon, I was making "Na Na" sounds, as bratty as I could manage. With some of the bratty sounds I even got to stick my tongue out. As I was doing all that, Mrs. Self appeared right in front of me! The image of her felt and looked so real that I almost felt as though I could reach out and touch her. Imagine my satisfaction at being able to stick out my tongue and say "Na Na Na" to her in my brattiest voice!! In that beautiful "Na Na" scale that I was practicing, I could feel the child in me coming forward and saying to her "You will never silence me again. I'm letting this voice be heard and I don't care if you don't like it." It was a beautiful cathartic moment.

This whole idea of not allowing children to sing is nasty and cruel. I hope and pray that this is not happening at schools any longer.

I am very grateful to have found a voice teacher who, from the very beginning (when I really didn't have any singing voice, to speak of!) taught me with such enthusiasm, as though he never doubted for a minute that I could learn to sing. And now it is starting to be so much fun to let my voice out and to allow it to make all of these wonderful sounds, and yes -- I am even beginning to sing -- a little bit!!

And one day, I will get to perform in that Concert.

                                         *********************************

Thank you Teri and Shelley for an incredible workshop and for allowing me to share my stories (with  my strong, connected voice!)

Thank you Brandon for being such a skilled and patient vocal coach and for helping me feel safe and comfortable in letting my voice be heard!

Thank you to the therapist who has been so willing to listen so patiently and attentively to many, many of my stories over the past three years. Thank you for introducing me to the joy of making music and sound and thank you very much for helping me to find the courage to look for a vocal coach.

Thanks especially to that 8 year old, grade three student that I was (and still am somewhere deep inside!). Thank you for waiting so patiently all these years to finally be able to free your voice and tell your story.

    
I'll be back soon. "About Face" has stirred up a few stories that I want to share!

May we all sing our own special songs in our own special way.

Barbara

A Message from My Artwork!

I was going to title this "A Message from My Alien Friends" but I know that some people get a little nervous at the idea of "Aliens Among Us". However I highly recommend the book of the same title. I believe that there are Beings among us from many other dimensions and I totally believe that they are here to love, help and support us. Ruth Montgomery, the author of "Aliens Among Us" came to that same conclusion a long time ago.



On Sat. Oct. 2, I was at a gathering of very open minded people -- Spirituality in Health Care Network. http://www.spiritualityinhealthcare.net/ I had a chance to chat with a few people who were interested in my Artwork (which has started appearing in my last 2 or 3 previous blogs and the images you see here are also mine). I was talking about the fact a number of the images that are coming through in my Artwork seem to me to be "Alien Friends" or friends from another dimension. Many of these same Beings have also appeared in my night time dreams and journeys and some of them are the central characters in a story that I have been writing (or perhaps it is more accurate to say this story is being written through me!) for the past two and a half years. Whenever I attend our monthly Shamanic Journeying group, my journeys always take me to the Space Station where I meet with my Alien Friends.


At this gathering on Oct. 2, one woman asked me the question, "What is their (the Aliens) message to us?" Because I have had innumerable in depth conversations with these Beings and every conversation is loaded with insight and inspiration, I was hard pressed to think of one message that I could impart from them. Plus up until now, my connection with them has been largely personal. But now I do feel like I am being asked to start bringing their wisdom and insight into this reality.


When this same woman then asked, "Have they come to warn us?" I immediately and emphatically said "NO! They have come here only to love and support us. They have come to nurture and inspire us. They are Beings of pure unconditional love and compassion. That is what they are offering us."


Once I got home, I reflected again on her question and my emphatic "NO!" to her suggestion that they might be coming to warn us. I looked around at the images of these Beings (many of which are hanging on my walls) through new eyes. What I saw and felt was Pure Unconditional Love and Support. And great inspiration. They have not come with any complex message and, despite my many hours of dialoguing with each one of them, they have not come to pass on more words and definitely not more dire warnings. Few of us (seekers) need more of that anymore. But I don't know anyone who doesn't need to be loved and cared about on the very deepest levels. And that's what they bring to us.


I have already introduced you to Sweet Wisdom in past blogs, but I feel compelled to bring her love and wisdom and great inspiration in once again to share with the World.


I know there are many of us who have made great heroic efforts to stay on a Spiritual Path, to be the best possible Human Beings we can be, to serve the greater good of all......... And I believe we should be commended for all of our efforts and every one of us should really appreciate ourselves for all of the good we have brought to this Earth (I suspect you wouldn't even be drawn to these kinds of blogs if you were not a spiritual seeker or healer of some kind). Yet our world is still full of conflict. And, if each of us were to be really honest, I suspect that many of us, no matter how dedicated we are to our Spiritual Path or practice, still at times, experience our own inner conflict and "so called" negative emotions. And I also suspect that repeated warnings, being hard on ourselves, feeling guilty or inadequate, being judged or judging ourselves are not going to help our situation or the Greater World situation. So ...no....my Alien Friends do none of that. And they actually have nothing to tell us. Their only desire is to love and support us.


And perhaps, once we accept this love and support into the very depths of our cells, into the depths of our heart and Soul, into the very depths of our Being, then we will be able to love unconditionally. It is through unconditional love that Peace will reign on this Earth.

Few (if any) of us, were raised in an atmosphere of pure unconditional love and acceptance. Just as it can be challenging for us to love and accept without judgement, it was probably even harder for our parents to do that. So we enter into adulthood with that child part of ourselves still crying out for love and compassion and acceptance. And yet that love is there, all around us, if we can only open the door to allow it in. If my Alien Friends can help offer that love, then I happily share that energy with all of you. If my experience with my Alien Friends inspires you to connect more deeply with your own source of unconditional love, be it Angels, God, Buddha, Jesus, Nature or other "Friends" that are just waiting for you to let them in, then that would be wonderful.


However we experience or access that unconditional love, let's just all find a way to allow it to sink into the deepest recesses of our body, Soul and psyche. Let's imagine the Infant that we were being filled and surrounded with unconditional love and compassion. Let's offer that same love and compassion to the Child that we were, and to the Teen-age part of ourselves, and the Young Adult that we were, up until this present day moment. Let's offer absolute unconditional love and compassion to the person that we are right now in this very moment. And let's even offer that love to the person that we will be in ten years, twenty years....... We have the power to actually pave the road to our future with unconditional love and compassion. Imagine walking down that road.


I'm imagining now, a planet where everyone is radiating unconditional love and compassion. I know planets like that exist. That is the atmosphere that surrounds the planet that my Alien Friends come from. Imagine our Earth being one of those planets.


Until we meet again -- Love Yourselves, Love the Earth and all of her Beings.




Barbara

The Healing Power of the Human Voice

Greetings.

In my previous blog, I shared a lecture that I had given at Britten Memorial Church recently on Creating Our Own Reality. It occurred to me that I had never shared this lecture from Nov. 2009, also offered at Britten Memorial Church, on The Healing Power of the Human Voice. I am going to take this opportunity to share it with you now.

My own journey of healing through the voice continues as I continue my "Speech Level Singing" (see link to the Left) adventure. As my vocal range increases, I am seeing a real parallel in my ability to not only embrace, but to also continue developing my own inner male and female energies. In the past, there have been aspects of my feminine (or YIN) energy that I wasn't always too comfortable with, just as there were aspects of that more assertive, masculine (YANG) energy that I also held back from. I tended to stay somewhere in the middle -- neither too expressively feminine and for sure not too assertively masculine!! But my blossoming creative spirit just won't allow me to "hang out" in the middle any more.

In some recent vocal exercises, I have been exploring the very depths of my deep chest (YANG) voice and drawing out those long hidden sounds and energies. That feeling of deep vibration and the "reaching in and drawing out" of my masculine, or YANG voice and energy is wonderful and freeing. Being able to explore this "male" side of myself vocally is very exciting and liberating. At the same time, as my upper, head voice (YIN) range expands to reach ever higher, there is an equally exciting feeling of lightness and joy and power in that high "feminine" voice and energy that I have also been exploring and developing.

Pretty incredible how this practice of vocal exercises is also freeing both my male and female energies and freeing me to become more of who I am as a whole integrated human being.

Since I had promised to start showing more of my drawings of my Alien Friends, this one of the CELESTIAL COUPLE feels like a nice balance of male/female energies.

Here's to VOCAL POWER!

The Healing Power of the Human Voice

(Lecture given at Britten Memorial Church Service, Nov. 8, 2009)

By Barbara Sauvé

The topic I want to explore tonight is the Healing Power of Our Own Voices. The voice is one of our greatest gifts and its power to heal is quite amazing. And yet that power of the voice to heal most often goes unrecognized and unacknowledged and a great healing resource is lost. If we have pain or we feel anxious or depressed, how often do we think of using the vibration of the voice to relieve and heal whatever is happening inside of us? And yet that vibration has great potential to heal and transform.

The Throat Chakra, the energy centre that connects with the Voice is known as Vishuddha (Sanskrit) and the translation for Vishuddha is, literally, PURIFICATION. This energy centre purifies and harmonizes our energy.

Just think about what happens right here at Britten Memorial Church at a typical evening service. First we sing. And doesn’t that simple act of raising our voices together in song change our energy. I’m sure on an individual level each one of us feels better after singing one of these beautiful songs. Singing these “wonderful words of life” (as the song says) can help to clear out our anxieties and transform our negative thoughts. Just the simple act of singing these songs really can purify our energy.

And when we sing together, as we do here, we unite our individual energies and that brings us into harmony as a community. All of our voices merge together to become ONE VOICE. Imagine the power in that unified voice. Our singing also raises the vibration. The singing voice has a higher vibration than the speaking voice. A prayer that is spoken does have a certain power, but a prayer that is sung has even more power because of that increased vibration. So if you want to make sure your prayers are heard, try singing them!! And when we raise the vibration, we open the door for spirit to enter more fully. And the more fully we allow spirit in to touch us and to give us messages, the more potential there is for healing.

After we sing we have our meditation. We sit back and relax as words of healing and inspiration are channeled through the human voice. Then we all get up and connect with each other by saying hello. It is through our voices that we can meet and connect with each other.
Then we have a variety of lecturers who offer new ideas and new perspectives. They offer us words of comfort, encouragement and enlightenment and all of that comes through the human voice.

And then our wonderful mediums come forward and offer us comfort and healing and wisdom from spirit – and all of this is channeled through the human voice.

So we are actually tapping into the healing power of the voice every time we speak from our hearts, every time we sing beautiful words and every time we take in words of love and comfort from others.

**Note; The keyword here is Heart. When we speak or sing or chant from our Hearts, we energize our vital energy centers. When we use the voice for idle gossip or negativity, we deplete this vital energy.

The Throat Chakra is also the Creative Centre. It is through this centre that the Soul can express itself through our Creative endeavors. As we energize this centre through the right use of our voice, we awaken the Creative Spirit within us.

And think about all of the other natural sounds that our voices make – the sounds of emotions – laughing, crying, groaning, moaning, wailing, screaming, yawning, coughing, humming, and even sneezing. All of these sounds are intended, by nature, to be purifiers, to release feelings.
The word EMOTION means to move out from, to emote. All of these sounds are our birthright. We aren’t meant to hold emotion inside where it can accumulate and turn into tension or disease. Remember, this is the centre of Purification.

Children who haven’t been repressed will naturally and freely express their emotions. Unfortunately in this culture most children learn at an early age to hold back expressions of emotion. They learn to hold back their natural vocal exuberance. Certainly in “my day” as a child there was that old awful saying that “Children should be seen and not heard.” I know in my early training both at home and at school I learned to be very quiet so as not to make the adults angry. And a really awful school memory I have (that I suspect has happened to many us) was being told that I wan not allowed to sing in the choir because I didn’t have a good singing voice. To cut anybody off from singing, at any age, is a horrible thing to do. Singing is a totally natural form of expression. Most other cultures sing and chant and use their voices in many healing ways. Those cultures have no judgment about what a voice “should or shouldn’t” sound like. They just raise their voices in celebration, in grief, in joy, in pain, in pleasure.

When I was a young, and of course -- “quiet”, nursing student, (from a tiny, quiet, sleepy town) I remember my days in the maternity ward. The hospital I trained in was in downtown Toronto so there were women from diverse cultures. I remember well how “quietly” most of the Canadian women gave birth, despite their pain and discomfort. And I remember feeling quite concerned and uneasy when I would hear women from other ethnic backgrounds screaming and groaning and making other sounds that were very appropriate in that situation. Now that I think back, and I don’t know if this has been studied or not, but I’ll bet that the women who screamed and groaned and sounded their pain had easier births and less lingering trauma to their bodies. Just imagine what happens if your body goes into a contraction, for whatever reason, and you hold back the natural urge to scream or moan. The added tension of holding the voice and therefore the emotion, , back will create a stronger contraction and more pain.

If you have ever watched a powerlifter lifting extremely heavy weights – they almost always scream as they push the weight up. It is the power of the voice that gives these athletes the strength to lift impossibly heavier weights. If the powerlifter just remained silent during the lift, he/she would not be able to lift nearly as much weight. And there is a good chance that, if that powerlifter tried to hoist the same weight while holding the voice in, he/she would likely rupture something! It is the power and the vibration of the voice moving through the body that gives us added strength while simultaneously freeing the body of trauma. Allowing the voice to move freely through the body is actually a protective measure for the body.

The photo is Bev Francis, an amazing Australian powerlifter, turned bodybuilder. Her story is an inspiring one -- pure courage and power and determination. I had the incredible good fortune to train with her back in 1988. She is a remarkable and lovely woman. For sure she wouldn't be lifting those kinds of weights without the help of her voice.

As far as our cultural judgments as to what makes a “pretty” singing voice, I can tell you that we miss out on a lot of joyful energy and creative expression if we are shy to sing or make sound. And we miss out on the richness and beauty and power that comes through every human voice. I have a part time job doing activities in a retirement home and one of the things I do there is a sing a long. At first the folks there were really shy to sing and I’m sure most of them hadn’t sung for years, if ever. Gradually they came to trust me and began to sing. One of the most beautiful sounds for me was to begin hearing these 80 and 90 and in one case, 103, year old voices raised in song. It almost moved me to tears to hear these voices, finally finding some joy and freedom.

I would like to bring this to a close by sharing just a little of my own “healing through the voice” story. As you have probably gathered, I have had many issues and struggles around allowing my voice to be free and expressive. I could feel that a great deal of energy was trapped in my throat Chakra area. One day, just under a year ago, I reached a point in my life where I couldn’t stand to live with my voice trapped inside anymore. It is a miserable feeling. So I went searching for a Vocal Coach. I was really lucky to find a wonderful, patient voice teacher who teaches a particular step by step method of training and strengthening the vocal cords which ultimately does free the voice for speaking, singing, sounding, chanting, expressing.
As many of you know, I have had a lot of problems and challenges with my eyes over the past several years– because much of my energy was trapped in my Throat Chakra. The energy just couldn’t get beyond my trapped voice to support my eyes. When I began these vocal lessons, there was immediate improvement and clarity in my eyesight. I remember vividly, after the second or third lesson, I walked out of the vocal studio and initially felt a little disoriented because suddenly my eyesight was sharper and clearer than it had been for a very long time! I have no doubt that freeing my voice is healing my eyes (along with many other things!). Used properly, the Voice can create miracles!

I have given lectures here before about dance and movement. There is a saying “Dance as though nobody is watching.”
I would like to add,
“Sing and make sound as though nobody is listening!!”


Barbara

Creating Our Own Reality

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to share this talk that I gave at the Britten Memorial Church Serivce this past Sunday. It is about Personal Responsibility and some of my Alien Friends joined in as well! Enjoy. I'd be happy to hear any comments or responses it may stir in you.

Britten Memorial Church
July 25, 2010

Personal Responsibility

Greetings to all.

Tonight I would like to explore the topic of Personal Responsibility and Creating Our Own Reality. Spiritualist Principle #5 states: That we are Personally Responsible for the Creation of our Own Reality through thought, work and deed.

The term “Personal Responsibility” can sometimes trigger an emotional response in some of us (or many of us). I don’t think I’m alone in my previous experience of learning to be overly responsible for others and for situations that may have nothing to do with me! For many of us, our upbringing, some of our religious institutions and other influences may have taught us to take on more than our share of responsibility for the world around us while neglecting our own needs. Certainly in my nurse’s training many years ago (I hope it has changed these days!) we were taught that patients' needs came first, followed closely by the needs of the institution or hospital. Our own personal needs for rest and rejuvenation, for private time, etc. were not addressed at all. That old way of thinking led to severe burnout for many of us in the nursing field. So I sometimes rebel now when I hear that I am personally responsible for all that happens to me . That can feel like a heavy load to bear.

I want to explore this partly through the sharing of my own story. My hope is that through sharing some of my story and my challenges, you’ll be inspired to reflect on your own story and maybe begin to see your own challenges in a different and possibly more creative way.

This is a really good principle for each of us to explore on a deeper level. It will likely mean different things to each one of us, depending what our particular gifts are and what purpose we came to planet Earth to fulfill.

Interestingly enough, one of the things that really drew me to Spiritualism was (despite my rebelliousness!) this belief that we each do have the power to create our own reality. I do believe that each one of us does have incredible healing power and potential for manifestation inside ourselves.

If that is the truth, why then do things sometimes happen to us that seem to be so far removed from what we want or what we think we need? Why then do our lives, or circumstances around us sometimes feel so out of control? Why is it that sometimes, no matter how many positive healing affirmations we say or how many positive healing thoughts we think, illness or other seeming catastrophes may still strike us or a loved one?

These are all questions I have grappled with on and off for a long time now and some things have happened recently that have really brought this to the surface for me. We have had some wonderful “positive thinking” gurus like Louise Hay who is still going strong as a teacher and inspirer at 80+ years old. The movie The Secret caused a big stir with its focus on positive thinking. There has been some great work and inspiring teachers in this positive thinking movement. And it seems to make total sense that positive thoughts will draw in positive outcomes.

Like many others I’m sure, I have, in the past, really “worked” with affirmations and trying to always think positively, in order to re-create, those parts of my life and health that didn’t seem to be doing so well. But, you know what? It didn’t seem to work! At least not in the way I thought it would. So, also like many others I’m sure, I began to question – Was I doing something “wrong”? All of my very sincere efforts were leaving me feeling inadequate, wondering what was wrong with me that I couldn’t seem to create the kind of healthy, abundant, prosperous life that the self help, positive thinking books, movies and teachers were talking about.

What finally pushed me to really explore this on a deeper level were some recent problems with my eyesight. Over the past eight years I have had a number of surgeries on my eyes. At one point I lost my sight for several months. I was fortunate to recover a good amount of sight only to lose much of it again. Currently I have recovered a fair amount of sight. This has been a recurring pattern and believe me, I have done everything in my power, that I know how to do – diet, supplements, therapy, endless appointments with healers, affirmation after affirmation. My theme song is “I Can See Clearly Now”. (Anne Murray does that one beautifully!) And the truth is, sometimes I can see clearly and sometimes I can’t! The only thing I can be certain of about my eyesight is that it is constantly changing.

This is my present journey and reality. So now I am really examining this concept of Personal Responsibility and Creating My Own Reality and I still believe in it but in a slightly different way.

I realized that it is important to think about and define what my responsibility really is here. Maybe my responsibility here is not about “making it better” or “fixing it” (whether “it” is my life or my eyesight or my finances or...) in the way that I think it should be. Maybe my responsibility here is to surrender to the Journey, to surrender to the Mystery, to surrender to the new possibilities that frequently present themselves in times of crisis. Maybe my responsibility is to listen deeply and to pay attention to the messages and creative inspiration that are coming to me through my constantly changing eyesight and other life challenges.

And when I think of it this way, it is an exciting, delightful, and mysterious journey. When I look back at my “Visual Journey’ thus far and I see the true richness that it has brought into my life, would I really want to change or re-create a moment of it? Not a chance! The only thing I might change a little is the trying too hard to heal my eyes in the way that I thought they should heal.

The Journey itself has been tremendous. In those moments when I can and do let go into the mystery of it all, immense creative energy and potential start to pour through me. At one point, a few years ago, when I was legally blind, some of the richest and most Incredible Artwork began to emerge through me. I had never previously done any Artwork but during that period I started to crave colour and shapes. So, although I could see very little of what I was doing I started just playing with colours and shapes. Amazing Beings began to emerge onto my paper. Incredible angles and shapes and unexplainable symmetry began to appear on the paper. From those beginnings, a whole community of what I now call “My Alien Friends” has emerged as drawings, many done during those Visually darkest times. When I was unable to be engaged visually with the outside world, my inner world just opened up and blossomed. Artwork came through. Stories and dreams emerged. Insights and inner visions took root. What could be richer? Maybe this is the prosperity I have been affirming! Every day I am surrounded by these remarkable beings (they cover my walls) who, because I was willing, on some level, to lose my external eyesight for a while, have been able to come into this physical reality through my Artwork and stories.

So I am sharing here some of the images which emerged through me. These are all beings that I visit regularly at a place I refer to as the Space Station. To me, it is a place of peace and renewal and wisdom. If you read Ruth Montgomery's Book, Aliens Among Us, you may be interested to discover what else these Space Stations may be doing for us. I'm not trying to convince you of their existence, only inviting you to keep an open mind to the possibility of Beings from other dimensions that are coming in to help us as we transition through this remarkable time on Earth.

The first Being you are meeting here (and in my last blog) is Sweet Wisdom, the Wise Queen of the Space Station.

Here we have Hank (L), Dolores (R) and son Joseph (middle). They are the keepers of the Space Station. Hank and Dolores came through during those "visually dark" days. The other two, Sweet Wisdom and Joseph, arrived after I had regained some sight.

One last tidbit about Space Beings or Aliens, as much as they want to help us, according to Ruth Montgomery, they are no longer coming in the old way of Space Ships or "UFO's" because of our human tendency to shoot or otherwise try to destroy things that we are afraid of or we don't understand. So they are sometimes coming through humans who are open and sensitive to them, so says Ruth Montgomery.

Back to this exploration of Personal Responsibility and Creating My Own Reality, would I have really created blindness for myself? And yet it has been that journey into blindness that has opened amazing and magical doors for me. That journey into physical blindness has taken me into a reality that I could never have opened up to otherwise.

And it has helped me open my consciousness to the Bigger Picture, to the Great Scheme of All Existence. And yes, I love being able to see the physical world. I am very grateful that I can see all of the beautiful faces of those around me. And yes, I will continue to do everything in my power to heal and support my physical eyesight. At the same time, I realize now that something much bigger is knocking at my door. There are lessons, there are gifts, there is magic that I can barley imagine right now. The song that we often sing here at Britten Memorial, “Open My Eyes” refers to those “Glimpses of Truth”. It is true that the Big Picture can sometimes be too big for us to take in, so we are given little bits as we can manage it.

Someone once told me that there is no such thing as 20/20 vision. We can have 20/20 eyesight. But Vision is that deeper, mysterious quality that comes through as we are ready for it. Opening to that sense of Vision is what is really important here. I believe that is our personal responsibility now. It is from that place of deep inner Vision that we can create an awesome world for ourselves and for all beings.

Another way that I find helpful in understanding this 5th principle is in thinking of myself not so much as a Creator of my Own Reality, but as a Co-Creator. Perhaps our biggest responsibility is to tune in to the Divine Intelligence that created us and to Co-Create with that Intelligence. Perhaps our responsibility is to tune in to the Higher Intelligence of the Earth and all humanity and to co-create in harmony with the greater good of all. Perhaps our responsibility lies in allowing the deepest desires and passions of our Heart and Soul to reveal themselves in a way that we can act upon them.

When we create from our Heart and Soul, in harmony with the Divine Intelligence that has created us, our creations will always be for the Greater Good of ourselves and all Beings. In the recent past, some of the books and teachers did encourage us to focus on manifesting our material dreams – a big, luxurious home, big bank account, fancy car etc. At this point, in our Earth’s crisis, I believe we really have to change our dreams from the material to spiritual and emotional fulfillment. We have been using up Earth’s resources at an alarming rate and we cannot continue to do that. I believe that our responsibility has shifted to an urgent need to co-create in harmony with the Earth and all of her Beings.

The one thing that I do know for sure now is that none of us is Creating in isolation. Each one of us is a spark from the Divine Flame. As we tune in and align ourselves more fully with the Divine Flame, our individual lives will become the Creation they are meant to be.

So I’d like to end by encouraging you to look at your challenges in a slightly different way. While it is essential for each of us to take care of ourselves in the best way that we know how, especially when we are experiencing challenges, let’s also be aware of the gifts that may be waiting for us, the doors that may be opening for us, the new possibilities that may be knocking at our door on the other side of that crisis or challenge.

And let’s always be open and welcoming to those “other beings” – our spirit guides, our loved ones from the other side, our Alien Friends. They want to help us but it is only us who can  open that door and say yes!

I wish you all a wonderful and magical journey in your own adventure as you co-create your reality here on this beautiful planet we currently call “home”.

Back soon with more of my Alien Friends!!

Barbara

A Deep Healing

Shamanic Group June 24, 2010

The Wounded Heart

I attended this particular Shamanic Journeying Group (we meet the last Thurs. of each month)thinking I would ask for a healing. For the past couple of weeks I had been feeling some intense pain in my Heart. It felt like an open bleeding wound. This pain had been triggered by a relationship that was changing in ways that I didn’t want it to change. My Heart was hurting and I felt very unbalanced by the changes.

First Shamanic Journey of the Evening

Our leader, Jeannette, http://www.shamansong.ca/ , offered the possibility of going into our first Shamanic Journey of the evening with the question “What am I being called to explore right now”.

I journeyed to the “Upper World” as I usually do, on the back of my Purple Dragon friend. He took me to the Space Station (a sacred place where I frequently journey to both in my 'conscious' journeying as we were doing in this circle, and also in my sleeping dreamtime) where I met up with my beloved guide and companion, Sweet Wisdom. When I asked Sweet Wisdom the question, “What am I being called to explore right now?” the answer came instantaneously. Human Relationships.

I am being called to explore Human Relationships.

So my question to Sweet Wisdom was “But how can I explore Human Relationships when I am feeling so vulnerable right now and my Heart is feeling so wounded?”
Sweet Wisdom informed me that the feeling of pain and deep woundedness that I feel right now is the result of a deep cleansing and clearing that is happening to me personally as well as to all of humanity and in Mother Earth herself.
In the same way that my Heart feels like it is bleeding right now, the Earth’s Heart is also bleeding. She has been deeply wounded.
We have hurt Mother Earth very badly. But just as she is not giving up and turning her back on us, I cannot turn my back on those whom I feel have hurt me.
Just as Mother Earth still surrounds us with love, still nurtures and nourishes us, in the same way I need to surround those who have hurt me with love and understanding.

Second Shamanic Journey of the Evening

One of the suggestions that Jeannette offered as we prepared for our second journey of the evening was to ask “What healing can you offer me to make my life, and the lives of those around me, better?” (Paraphrased by me!)

In my journey, I returned to the Space Station. I found a “bed” on the floor that had been prepared for me and I stretched out, opening my arms wide as I exposed my aching Heart to the healing energy. Some of my really special Alien Friends (see my previous blog) were there including of course, Sweet Wisdom and some other Alien friends that I call Hank and Dolores and Joseph. All of these beings are very important to me and they form the core of a story, True Friendship, that I have been writing since Jan. 2008.
All of these beings surrounded me with Love. I felt Love pouring into my open Heart – so much Love that I knew I could return to Earth and there would be plenty to share with others. I saw a steady stream of Love pouring into me from a pink ray of energy. Now I know that all I have to do is to be still and quiet and that pink ray of Divine Love will pour into my Heart as long as my Heart is open. As I saw that, I imagined that all the people who have hurt me were surrounded by this Love. I imagined that all the people that I have hurt were also being surrounded by this Love. I imagined all the people that I feel in conflict with surrounded by this pink ray of Divine Love.

As the drumbeat changed to signal that it was time to return to our present reality, I prepared, reluctantly, to leave. As I got on the back of the purple dragon who always transports me to and from this sacred Space Station, I was amazed to see Sweet Wisdom get on the back of the Dragon with me. She said that she was coming back with me partly to support me through this challenging time that I am going through and partly to make sure that I start getting their (the Aliens) messages out to the World. This is a project I have been thinking about for some time now but up until now, I have allowed my resistance to get the better of me. Sweet Wisdom mentioned that she is going to “stick like glue” with me to make sure I begin that process with her complete support.

The action I am taking is first to post this message on my blog and then to introduce some of my Alien friends, including some pictures I have drawn of them, at an upcoming talk I will be giving in July. As these beings have been telling me, they can only have life in this reality through me. They want to be seen and heard through me. They have given me so many remarkable gifts and I am ready to embrace them and to introduce them to the World.

This is my depiction of Sweet Wisdom which I drew March 7, 2009. She has been guiding my journey ever since.

I'll be back soon with more of my Alien Friends. If any of this resonates with you or stirs you in any way, I would love to receive a comment from you.

Blessings,

Barbara

Do We Really "Create Our Own Reality"?

Hi! It has been awhile!

My own journey has been quite consuming for the past while. One of the things that I am really exploring and questioning recently is this topic of "Personal Responsibility" and "Creating Our Own Reality".

Like many others I'm sure, I have, in the past, really "worked" with affirmations, trying to think positively, trying to re-create, through affirmations, those parts of my life that didn't seem to be working well, trying to improve certain health related situations. I was doing everything I knew how to do in order to "create a better reality" for myself. And it didn't work!! At least not in the way that I thought it would! In some ways, things seemed to keep getting worse. So, was I doing something "wrong"? Was I not believing or trusting enough? All of my very sincere efforts left me feeling inadequate, blaming myself for not being able to create the kind of prosperous abundant life that many books and teachers are talking about.

Two things really brought this to the surface for me.

One is that I am presently involved in a Church that has "personal responsibility" as one of its principles and recently one guest speaker stood in front of us and said, point blank, "You can create your life in any way that you want it to be." That statement really got my "back up"!

The second thing that has been happening is that I have been going through ongoing challenges with my eyes and my sight. In 2002 I lost the sight in my Right Eye. By 2007 I had lost the sight in my Left Eye. After a series of surgeries (5 in total) and various complications, I recovered, and relost my sight a number of times. Presently, since a recent surgery in April this year, I have, once again, recovered a good amount of sight. During ALL of that time, including the present time, I have done (and am still doing) everything in my power to heal my eyes. I have done everything I know how to do (diet, supplements, therapy, endless appointments with healers, self healing, workshops, affirmation after affirmation.....) and even with all of this, sometimes I can see and sometimes I can't. Sometimes I can see well and sometimes my sight is distorted and foggy. It is constantly changing.

This is my present journey. So now I am really examining this idea of personal responsibility and creating my own reality. What does that really mean?

And I have no answers for anybody! I am only exploring. But maybe my only responsibility, at this point, is to surrender to the journey. Surrender to the mystery. Because it is a mystery. And when I think of it this way, it is a delightful, exciting journey and mystery. When I look back at my "Visual Journey" thus far, and I see the true richness that it has brought into my life, would I now want to change or re-create a moment of it? Not a chance! The only thing I might change a little, is the trying too hard to heal my eyes in the way that I thought they should heal!

The Journey itself has been tremendous. In those moments when I can, and do, let go into the mystery of it all, immense creative energy and potential starts to pour through me. At one point, a few years ago, my physical eyesight was 20/460. That is not much sight. And during that period of time, some of the richest and most incredible Artwork started to emerge. I have never really done any Art, certainly have never taken any lessons. But in that period of not seeing much physically, I craved colour and shapes. I started to play with this even though I could barely see what I was doing. Amazing beings began to emerge on my paper. Incredible angles and shapes and unexplainable symmetry (remember, I could hardly see what I was doing!) began to appear. From those beginnings, a whole community of what I now call my "Alien Friends" has emerged as drawings, mostly done during those visually darkest times. When I was unable to be engaged visually with the outside world, my inner world just opened up and blossomed. Artwork came through. Stories and dreams emerged. Insights and inner visions took root. What could be richer? Maybe this is the prosperity I have been praying for. Every day I am surrounded by these remarkable beings (they cover my walls) who, because I was willing, on some level, to lose my external sight for a period of time, have been able to come into this physical reality.

These "Alien Friends" of mine do want to start being part of this blog so stay tuned. You will meet some very delightful, wonderful, enlightened beings.

Back to this exploration of personal responsibility and creating my own reality. Would I have really created blindness for myself? And yet, it has been that journey into blindness that has opened amazing and magical doors for me. That journey took me into a reality I likely could never have opened up to otherwise.

Maybe a better word would be "CO-CREATE". Perhaps our responsibility is to tune in to the Divine Intelligence that created us and to co-create with that Intelligence. Perhaps our responsibility is to tune in with Mother Earth and co-create in harmony with Her Intelligence. Perhaps our responsibility is to tune in to the Higher Intelligence of all Humanity and co-create in harmony with the greater good of all. Perhaps our responsibility to allow the deepest desires and passions of our Soul to reveal themselves in a way that we can act upon them.

The one thing that I do know for sure now is that I am not acting in isolation. I am but one spark of the Divine Flame. As I tune in and align myself more fully with the Divine Flame, my life will become the Creation that it is meant to be. That might be the life that my ego craves. And it might not be. Either way, my life is perfect and beautiful.

On that lovely note, I'll end for now. But I will soon be back, accompanied by some special friends!

Wishing you all many beautiful and magical creations!

Barbara

CROWN CHAKRA Opening to the MYSTERY

On Wed. March 17, in our Journey Through the Chakras class, we journeyed to the Top of the Mountain -- to the Crown Chakra. It has taken me a bit of time to settle down to write up this one! The upper Chakras, especially Third Eye and Crown relate more to the Being part of ourselves (as opposed to the "doing" part of ourselves -- the part that most of us are way too familiar with!! We do tend to live in a culture more focused on doing and accomplishing and we sometimes forget or neglect that part of us that needs to kick back and view the world and life from the mountaintop.) I was really getting into that "Being" part of myself but now it is time to find the balance between Being and Doing.

This, for me, is one of the major challenges of the Spiritual Journey. I love that mountaintop and yet, as a human being living and working on the Earth, how do I balance my craving to be on that mountaintop with my all too human needs for family, relationship, connection, satisfying work and play, and of course also bringing in my physical needs for good organic food, movement and exercise and of course hugs and intimacy. I know, from personal experience, that it is sometimes tempting to pursue the Spiritual Path exclusively to the extent of disconnecting from and denying our human needs. It is like trying to "build a castle in the sky". With no foundation, that Castle will crash and that crash may come in the form of a physical or emotional crisis. I think this is akin to what has been called a Spiritual Emergency.

The Higher we journey through our Chakra System, the more important it is to have rituals of grounding and connection. I am just imagining how awesome it is to be fully grounded in the Higher Aspects or Dimensions of Existence as we simultaneously walk on and connect deeply with the Earth. Imagine the Bridge (the Heart) being fully open so that we can travel easily and safely between the Physical and Spiritual Realms, so that eventually no travel is necessary. We are just "there" existing, expanding into both realms simultaneously. Does there really have to be a "break" or a disconnect between either world? I don't think so. I believe it just means taking care of ourselves physically, emotionally and spiritually in the best way that we each know how, finding that balance between Being and Doing and most importantly Opening the Heart so we can cross that Bridge easily.

Opening the Heart -- perhaps easy enough to write about, easy enough to imagine or even do in the "right" circumstances (where we feel safe and loved) but how about in those challenging relationships and situations? How about in our memories and perhaps traumas of the past? If our bridge is blocked then we may either feels trapped in the lower chakras with no spiritual guidance or direction, or we may end up trying to build that castle in the sky which will come crashing down. I am currently reading a book "Perfect Love Imperfect Relationships" by John Welwood which explores the fear (or terror in some cases) that many of us have of Opening the Heart fully and at the same time, looks at the necessity of doing so if we are ever to create a harmonious and fulfilling life and World. Our planet desperately needs our Love now.

Interestingly enough, I see a real parallel happening in my singing lessons (based on Speech Level Singing -- see link at the left of my blog) and my current challenge of "crossing the bridge" from chest voice to head voice. I can sing in a very low chesty voice and I can sing in a high soprano type voice. But crossing over from lower frequencies to higher frequencies with no disconnection -- now there is the challenge!! So even my singing lessons are pointing to the need to Open My Heart, to find ease in crossing The Bridge. So I can happily go hang out in the Crown Chakra (my high soprano voice) or I can enjoy the sensual Earthy pleasures of physicality (my deep chest voice -- which does create a powerful and sensual vibration in my body!)), but ultimately it seems to me that the Middle Way of the Heart is the Ultimate Bridge to Connection, to becoming Whole (and to singing my favorite songs easily and smoothly with no break in my voice as it crosses that all important vocal bridge).

Perhaps the most important aspect of connecting with the Crown Chakra, or Communing with the Divine, or Opening Fully to the Mystery, can only really happen through forgiveness, letting go, acceptance, compassion, understanding and of course through the LOVE that we are willing to share, right here and now, on this planet with our fellow human beings.

My Crown Chakra Dream is that we can all find it in our Hearts to Love, Honor, Respect and Accept Ourselves, All Living Beings and Mother Earth. And since the focus is on the CROWN CHAKRA I would like to expand that Dream to extend that same LOVE to ALL BEINGS, ALL PLANETS, ALL GALAXIES, ALL REALMS OF EXISTENCE...............

And here is another book that may help you feel more connected to the grander picture of ALL THAT IS: A Walk Through Time by Brian Swimme and others.

Blessings and Love to All,

Barbara

Third Eye Chakra and Creating Balance

Right now we are moving into that beautiful time of year called Spring, when new life begins to burst out everywhere. It is the time we all anticipate the blooming of flowers, the blossoming of trees, the green grass emerging from the ground. We observe the grace of nature as it simply allows the rhythms of life to move through it. There is a time of resting and retreating as the trees let go of their leaves and flowers and fruit and dig their roots in more deeply to prepare for the cold and darkness of Winter. And then comes Spring and a time to allow one's beauty and fruitfulness to burst out into the world. The full abundance of Summer arrives and that life and fruitfulness comes into its full maturity. Then we move into the Fall or Harvest time when the leaves begin to drop to the ground and preparations are made for that inner retreat once again. Such a beautiful natural flowing and miraculous process that just happens -- when we allow it.

Such is the beauty and power of the Third Eye Energy. It is about simply being and allowing. Sometimes we humans get so busy with "doing" and "shoulds" that we block the natural flow and rhythms of our lives. It is funny how we always trust the trees and flowers to come back to life after their winter retreat, but we tend not to trust that same process in ourselves. Somehow we often expect and demand "constant" fruitfulness from ourselves. Like the trees, we sometimes need to back away and retreat and other times we need to allow the bursting forth of our own beauty and glory and fruitfulness. It is the natural ebb and flow of life. Connecting with the Third Eye, which is the centre of Intuition, Inspiration and Higher Wisdom, we become more able to step back and allow life and the Creative Spirit to flow through us.

On Wed. Mar. 10, in our ongoing Journey Through the Chakras, we explored the Third Eye Energy and Qualities through Artwork, movement, visualization and journal writing. We explored how it would be to allow images to just come into our physical eyes (as opposed to always feeling like we have to send the energy from our eyes out there to search for the images. Our physical eyes are being stressed and overused in our present daily life and constant busyness. I saw (and experienced) shocking evidence of that during a time when I had some serious eye problems which required extensive surgeries and many many hours of waiting in the Eye Clinic. That Eye Clinic was always packed with people who also had serious eye problems. That, to me, says we are trying too hard to make things happen instead of simply trusting and allowing the natural flow of life and nature. Allowing life to flow through us, allowing images to come to us, taking the quiet time to allow our Inner Wisdom to guide us -- that is what takes the pressure off of the physical eyes and allows the Third Eye to open.

A lovely thing to think about and reflect upon is "What do you love to feast your eyes upon?" Or "What sights feel pleaurable to your eyes?"

(Pleasure is not just a Sacral Chakra quality. Every part of us, even our eyes, needs pleasure in order to be healthy and vibrant.)

Can you imagine allowing the beauty and pleasure of those sights you love to look at to just "fall into" your eyes? It is so important to feast our eyes on beauty and to allow that beauty to sink in through our eyes to fill every cell in our bodies. Just taking in. Allowing.

One of the participants in the class drew a lovely picture at the end of the class of people lying down in the grass with trees around them and the sun shining down on them. His comment on the picture he had drawn was "I don't need to always be busy and trying to do things. All I need to do is to allow the nice day to come to me." Such a simple, yet profound thought. Maybe all any of us really need to do is to "allow the nice day" to come to us.

Intuition, psychic abilities, Higher Wisdom -- all the qualities of the Third Eye Chakra are available to all of us -- if we can just let go of our busyness and allow space and time for those qualities to flow through us.

It is time for letting go and allowing.

I know we all have things that have to be done and places we have to go, but let's all take some time in this lovely spring season to just be. To sit in the park. To smell the flowers. To connect with the trees. And to just be. Nothing to do but take in the beauty and new life blossoming all around us.

Happy Spring!

Barbara

Throat Chakra and the Creative Spirit

On Wed. evening the "Blue Bird of Happiness" flew into my energy field and I would love to share this beautiful and happy energy with all of you!

I have added a new element to my "Journey Through the Chakras" classes. We begin the class by doing some Artwork, or more accurately, allowing colours and shapes to fill our paper and we end the class the same way. By comparing the two pictures, we get a very accurate and always fascinating measure of where we are before fully experiencing the energy of the Chakra we are working with and where we're at after having done some movement, visualization, reflection and exploration of the qualities of the Chakra. It was in my second picture that the bluebird of happiness flew in! Interesting too because the colour of the Throat Chakra is blue.

On Wed. Mar, 3, I was preparing for the Throat Chakra class and a really wonderful insight came to me. I have always experienced the Throat Chakra as the energy centre through which the Soul can communicate and create and I was thinking about the Reflections on Soul that I was going to offer the participants of the class. But then I felt my own Soul nudging me and calling me inward to listen to its needs and desires. I tuned in and had a little dialogue with my Soul. I was exploring the questions of "How can I create a deeper connection with my Soul?" "How can I nurture my Soul more fully?" My Soul was very happy that I was tuning in and paying attention. It asked me to remember that it (my Soul) was part of the larger Divine Soul.

Every day I start my morning with a "grounding" exercise in order to ensure that my physical being is well rooted in Earth's energies. It had never before occurred to me that I needed to do a similar kind of grounding for my Soul My Soul has been crying out for reconnection to its Roots in Divine Soul. That is how it is nurtured and sustained. And from that larger connection, the Creative energy can flow into my individual Soul and express through me. In this way, my Throat Chakra or Creative Centre simply becomes the vehicle through which Divine Soul is expressed, This came as a big relief to me. No longer is it just me and my individual Soul trying to get through this life and having the full responsibility to create whatever it is I am supposed to be creating on this material plane. My Soul told me that all I need to do now is to stay tuned in and to allow my Soul to be fully rooted in Divine Soul. All else will flow from that connection.

This is making so much sense to me. Of course it is important, as long as we are here on the Earth in physical Earth bound bodies, to be grounded in this current reality. At the same time, it seems to me to be essential to understand and remember that, while our Individual Soul is presently dwelling here in a physical body, this is not the home of the Soul. The Soul is part of a larger, more expanded, more ethereal reality. When life can be seen and experienced from this Higher Perspective of Divine Soul, life's lessons and challenges begin to make much more sense in terms of our Individual Soul's evolutionary process. I already have a strong sense that this awareness and this tapping into Divine Soul Energy is going to make my life's challenges feel much easier. And I have a sense that all of the wonderfully creative ideas and insights I have are going to flow into manifestation much more easily. Prior to having these new awarenesses and feelings of connection to a greater Source, my Creative Juices were flowing, but felt almost overwhelming. I wasn't sure I had the energy or ability to allow that Creative Energy full expression. Now I know that I can do all that I am being urged to do. As long as I continue to allow my Soul to be rooted in and nurtured by its Divine Source, I know that I do have the capacity to allow that Creative Force to express itself through me. And truthfully, it is wonderful to be coming to a deeper understanding that it is not about me. I am simply the vehicle.

I think this is beginning to answer a question that I have puzzled over for sometime. We have had (and still have) some extremely talented and creative people on this planet. These people bring so much to us in the way of music and dance and songs and stories and art etc.. It sometimes seems as though their creative energy is non ending. And yet many of them struggle with unhappy lives or addictions or emotional distress. We all know many very talented and creative individuals whose lives have ended way too soon and often in not very happy circumstances. Could it be that, although they had very Creative Souls, they might not have known how to tap into that Greater Source for nurturing and support? Were they trying to do it all alone as Individual Souls? Were they trying to take responsibility for this massive energy? Were they trying to own and control a force that cannot be owned and cannot be controlled? For some really fascinating info on this topic of Creativity and letting go of responsibility, check out www.ted.com/speakers and click onto Elizabeth Gilbert (under G's. page 2).

To me, this incredible Creative Force is the Kundalini awakening and moving through us. The Kundalini is a dynamic and powerful energy that we need to be prepared for. This means keeping the body strong and healthy (Organic food and dance are a great way to start getting stronger and healthier). It is also very helpful to prepare our nervous systems through stress reduction and by determining what is really essential to our well being. In this culture, we tend to feel an obligation to keep doing more, accomplishing more. The more we "do" and the more pressure we put on ourselves, the less connected with Soul we are. Throat Chakra is about being very discriminating as to what nurtures the Soul and what does not. In other words, what things are really exciting and make you feel really alive? What things drag you down and drain your energy? In working with this energy centre it is crucial to begin to embrace those things, situations and people that give us energy and vitality and a sense of moving forward. It is important to begin the process of withdrawing from those things that tire us or that feel out of synch or harmony with us.

Imagine a world where we could all live in absolute harmony with our Soul's deepest desires. That is my Throat Chakra Dream!

Keep those Creative Juices flowing!

Barbara