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

Heart Chakra Ecstasy!

What makes your Heart sing? Actually, one of the things that really makes my heart sing is walking by a tree full of singing birds. I always have to stop and enjoy the symphony!

On Wed. Feb. 24, we explored many aspects of the Heart Chakra in our ongoing Journey Through the Chakras. One description or image of the Heart Chakra that I find very intriguing is The Rainbow Bridge. The Heart is the Bridge between our Physical Nature and our Spiritual Nature. It is through the Heart that we develop the ability to give and receive Unconditional Love. I really like this quote from Judith Anodea's book "Eastern Body Western Mind" which says' "We may be a culture obsessed with power, but we are driven by the need for love."

Maybe that Pot of Gold at the end of The Rainbow Bridge is actually Unconditional Love. If that is so, I wonder why that Love seems so elusive to so many of us?

Earlier in the day, when I was reflecting on my preparations for this Heart Chakra class, I pulled one of my Voyager Tarot cards (see my Jan. blog on The Tarot Reading That Keeps on Giving.) The card that I pulled was The Ace of Cups, which, in the Voyager is ECSTASY. The image is incredibly beautiful flowers in full bloom. It (the card) has a feeling of life bursting out everywhere in glorious beauty and abundance. After absorbing the energy of that card, I looked up and my gaze happened to fall upon an incredible houseplant that I have nurtured. About 4 or 5 years ago, I was given a tiny (about one and a half inches) little stick of what looked like bamboo. I rooted it, nurtured it -- now that glorious plant is taller than I am and continues to reach up towards the heavens. What came to me in that moment was "This amazing and beautiful plant truly is an ecstatic expression of life!" I looked at my other plants and had the same kind of feeling. I thought about the trees and the flowers -- all ecstatic expressions of life -- fully grounded and supported by the Earth and reaching up into the skies. I thought about the animals. I thought about us -- human beings. All ecstatic expressions of life. How different my experience of life and relationships could be if I could completely embody that knowing that we are all ecstatic expressions of life. In that moment, I did feel that knowing, that sense of Ecstatic expression, deep in every cell of my being. The blossoming flowers in the card reminded me that, just as the blossoms of those flowers do not last forever, that peak experience of Ecstasy may also be a fleeting one. However, that peak experience definitely opened my Heart to possibilities of connecting more deeply and loving more deeply.

As I went on to review various qualities of the Heart Chakra -- unconditional love and compassion, gratitude, forgiveness, acceptance of self and others, ability to give and receive.....-- my attention focused on receiving. As a former nurse and care giver, and as someone with a seriously overdeveloped sense of responsibility and need to feel completely independent, receiving has not been easy for me. Almost impossible actually! Recent life circumstances have changed all of that! I have been put in a position of having to ask for help and assistance in various ways. Although I am, out of necessity, getting better at doing that, it is still challenging and I still wouldn't if I didn't really have to! People are helpful and generous in ways i wouldn't have imagined before. And yet there has been a nagging feeling in me that somehow I "should" be able to be more self sufficient and not take advantage of people's generosity. I suspect this underlying feeling of being "not deserving" is a big issue for many of us. And yet, if we are all Ecstatic expressions of Divine Love, just as the Trees and Flowers are, then I think we are all deserving of the support, assistance and Love that we require for our sustenance in the same way that the trees, flowers etc. are deserving of the nourishment they receive from the Sun, the Rain and the Earth.

So my Heart Chakra Dream is that we all know ourselves as Ecstatic Expressions of Life and that we are all able to receive all that we need to support our physical, emotional and spiritual well being.

May all of your deepest Heart felt dreams come true. And may we all find our own pot of gold in the depths of our Hearts.

Barbara

More Solar Plexus Fun!!

I have a few more images and inspirations I want to add to my previous blog on the Solar Plexus. This is a dynamic and intriguing energy centre to be exploring. Because it does connect directly to our digestive system on a physical level, that includes the liver -- which tends to be a place where many of us hold our unexpressed anger. So, the unleashing of that Inner Volcano that is the Solar Plexus will free up the passion that drives us. At the same time it can also free up the anger that many of us have buried deep within our liver. If we can welcome that pent up energy and express it creatively, perhaps in Artwork or Dance or in Song or Sounding, we may find not only a wonderful catharsis and release from that previously stuck energy, we may also find we have created an explosively dynamic Dance or Art or....

And to balance that explosive energy, I recently read, in Judith Anodea's book, "Eastern Body Western Mind" that the Solar Plexus is also the centre for our sense of humour. I never knew that before, but it balances nicely with all of that dynamic Warrior energy. After all we want to be in our Power, but I think sometimes our greatest power may be in not taking ourselves so seriously. And there is nothing like a good belly laugh to energize those digestive organs. A little Laughter Yoga anyone? There are Laughter Yoga classes available. Here in Toronto, google Lynn Himmelman to find out about her wonderful Laughter Yoga classes.

If you are still looking to free that Inner Warrior, Martial Arts are great. Personally I love the movements, music and power of Capoeira -- a Brazilian Martial Art. You may want to take a few lessons before you attempt these moves!! (Check out the Bavia Arts Studio link at the left side of the blog). Just creating your own Martial Art Dance to Capoeira music can be fun and energizing. Even just watching a Capoeira performance can stir that Solar Plexus energy.

And lastly (for now) the vibration of the Solar Plexus is in harmony with the vibration of horns. Some wonderful horn music can be had in Mexican Mariachi Music. The Mexican Hat Dance (Jarabe Tapatio) is a great piece to do some Solar Plexus Dancing.

May the Sun shine warm upon you and may it fill your Solar Plexus with fire and light!

Barbara