Spirit Passages...Yarmouth, Maine...Workshops and presentations with a shamanic focus

FIERCELY ALIVE!

Having a spiritual practice doesn’t protect us from all the bumps in the road that our lives offer. Those of us on a spiritual path still experience sudden and unexpected changes, illness, the loss of those who are closest to us and finally our own death. While the specific details of this list may differ from one of us to the next, the final one is certain. All of us will die. Surely, this must be the strongest impetus to live the length and breadth of life with a fierce aliveness, and yet, how many of us choose to do this?

My partner and I are blessed to have a friendship with a couple who at this time are wrestling with the changes his debilitating neuromuscular disease are having in their lives. Each day, they wake to find the disease has changed his body a little more. The tasks of daily living become more difficult--no longer able to do up his buttons, using the walker in the house, needing breathing assistance at night and having a harder time speaking. All of these little erosions taking their toll on his abilities--save for one. Each day, we witness the strength of his love for her and hers for him. Their world is filled with loving touches, smiles into each other’s eyes and the thoughtfulness of each precious word.

There is no stable point in the progression of this kind of illness. Each day brings more adjustments to the physical routine, as if the ground beneath their feet was slowly slipping away. It is for this reason that the certainty of their love becomes the rock on which they steady themselves. It is the distillation of every experience they have shared. In the atmosphere of love, every moment of their shared past is breathed to life again with every moment they still have together. This is their practice of living--one breath, one task, one kiss at a time.

Every Day and Everywhere

Love, magnificent as she is,

Is almost always invisible

When still in life's forest.

The core energy of creation

Perfectly camouflaged as all that is.

But the moment love stirs,

Leaves her serene lotus seat,

She steps from absolute abstract

Into the reality of the senses.

A quiet word. A comforting touch.

Shared laughter. Wiped tears.

One last effort

At the exhausted end of day.

This is love in motion

And when she looks up

From yet another common chore,

There, present in some familiar face,

Are the echoes of eternity.

These are her words, written between the many tasks of keeping both home and hearts together in the face of her husband’s terminal illness. It seems unfathomable to find beauty in the pain and despair of such a situation--but he, she, we--are all still very much alive. The real challenge is not the illness, or other struggle we may face. The challenge is to keep opening our eyes, minds and hearts to the glorious present. Each of us, no matter our condition or position in life is HERE, NOW! This minute, marked for me by key strokes on my computer will never be again. We can not rewind life--hoping for one of childhood’s “do overs.” Once it has passed by, the present is gone into memory. With this present breath and heart beat, we are experiencing such a precious a commodity! How do we spend it well?

Albert Einstein once said that we have a choice, to live “as though nothing is a miracle” or “everything is a miracle.” Perhaps that is the gift of a spiritual life, to begin seeing the life you are living as filled with miracles--especially, as is my experience, if your spiritual path is one that is connected to Nature and practiced in an atmosphere of gratitude.

There is a Jonathan Edwards song we use in some of our training programs titled “This Island Earth.” The words remind us how miraculous our beautiful planet and indeed our lives--which are so inexorably tied to the Earth--genuinely are.

“Calling all dreamers and optimistic fools,” he exhorts us, “Don't let go of your dream make it now make it all come true, If you believe in a brighter day, I know we can find our way.” Finding that brighter day means to paying attention to the magnificent gift we have in being alive on this extraordinary place in the universe. The “brighter day” is today--NOW! Later in the song, Edwards says “If you're lookin' for a miracle open your eyes, There was one this morning just about sunrise. Dawn came breakin' like a wave on the sea. And it's there for you and me.” The simple fact we can experience another sunrise is something to be celebrated! Some people didn’t wake up this morning and their ability to make and create new choices in the physical realm have expired with their last breath. We, on the other hand, are still alive and able to drink in the magic of Life! We can do this--with our physical aches and emotional pains. We do not have to cast anything aside, or wait for “something to be different. ” Whoever, however, and wherever we are is worth celebrating.

There is a wonderfully sweet film titled "Strangers in Good Company" about a van of very elderly women who get stranded in the wilderness. They strayed off the beaten path, their van has broken down and now no one knows where they are. In a later scene in the film after they have done much to work together and survive, they are all together on a hill top calling "We're alive!" into the echoing hills. They call this phrase out each in turn and then each other's names into the empty woods. It is a moment of exquisite poignancy--this declaration of refusing to succumb to despair. It's flipping what could be seen as a dire situation on its ear--"I'm here, I'm not lost, I'm alive!"

We can practice this kind of radically fierce living even as we welcome the bittersweet return of Autumn. In fact, for me this is certainly an extra special time to pay attention to the miraculous! In each green leaf, photosynthesis has been quietly creating sugars from the rain and sunlight. These sugars have nurtured the growth of the parent tree which in turn has nurtured the birds and animals that find food and shelter in it’s branches. Along with the chlorophyll that makes this feat of sugar creation possible there are also carotenoids and anthocyananins present in the leaf. It is these chemicals that make their presence known in the Autumn. You see, the leaves don’t really "turn", instead as chlorophyll stops its work at the end of the growing season, the green fades, revealing the underlying colors that were always present. The yellows, golds, oranges and reds that take our breath away on a sunny, late September afternoon are there, hidden in the leaves, in May! This simple fact reminds me every year that true, tangible miracles are afoot, even when you can’t always see them.

These miracles aren't of a kind that will save our friend from his untimely death nor us from our own inevitable end. No, paying attention to these kinds of miracles will save us in very different ways.

Perhaps It’s Not Too Late

I was born into a sacred world,

Knew without the effort of instruction

That the old oak was a grandfather

And the night wind had a voice.

I knew dancing songs to celebrate the seasons

And that, if I stumbled, life would catch me.

It took much to wean me from my early ways,

Left me with blunted instincts clinging

To just pretend stories like an orphaned child.

But I have turned to return at last

Hoping against the lonely logic of long years

That life is there to catch me.

Life as it is expressed by Nature in each moment is there to catch us and hold us close. We only need to be aware, give Her our attention and feel gratitude to reap the harvest that these miracles offer. Comedian, George Carlin said, “Life is not measured by the number of breathes we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.“ Allow yourself to be made breathless--to be struck dumb and weepy--by the beauty that is all around you--the very beauty of which you are a part!

Our indoor living separates us from Nature and her gifts. Inside we can feel isolated and depressed. To fully partake in the magic you have to go outside! Look around for a color that fills you, a natural sound that relaxes you, and a natural scent that warms your heart. Is the red of the sugar maple offering you a different kind of sweetness from the syrup she gave you for your pancakes? Does the surf rattling the pebbles back and forth begin to calm your pulse? Notice that tang of wood smoke in the air or the cedar aroma from your favorite sweater? Does it tickle a memory of warm times with friends or family? What do you notice?

There is a funny and thought provoking book by Rob Brezsny, titled “Pronoia: the Antidote for Paranoia.” The author created this word pronoia as a word of power to expresse the feeling that the whole world is conspiring to shower us with blessings. Throughout the book are exercises to stimulate a shift in perspective to one of wonder and delight about one's self and the world around us. It is a radical manifesto to living fiercely and in the moment with great gratitude. He says, “Act as if the universe is a prodigious miracle created for your... illumination...."

Reconnecting with the beauty of the natural world is one very powerful way to get in touch with the myriad of tiny facets that make up the “prodigious miracle.” The sky, the river, the falling leaves, the shapes of clouds, the last cricket songs--are all part of our collective treasure. Gather it all into your heart! Take it all in! Celebrate the minutes as they tumble into hours and days. This life is the only one that you, with this personality--in this incarnation--will experience. You are notable in your uniqueness as a beautiful part of All That Is. Surrender yourself in Nature’s loving embrace letting her endless mysteries and wonders carry you. You have permission, by your singular presence alone, to live this Life to it’s fullest! In recognizing it’s preciousness, an Exceptional Life is already yours.

Rolling Up the Rug To Dance On Nothing

Go out to find the world, go in to lose it.

Go the doubled distance until your footfalls

Free fall into a float.

Until, somewhere just inside beyond.

In a momentary never,

You meet yourself again.

All the mirrored glass will burst

In a fit of rainbow giggles

Then collapse into your light.

Sway gently in that long embrace

As the stars sing silence

Far, far into the night.

Special thanks to Trudy Sloan for her poetry and both she and Michael for their presence in our lives!

RAGNARÖK AND THE BARDO

For many years and across many traditions, spiritual texts have suggested that our current time period will bring humankind the possibility of Great Change. This is not the fearsome, apocalyptic interpretation of the era suggested by some traditions, but rather a Time of Opportunity. In the ancient spiritual traditions of the Norse/Germanic tribes1 of Europe, these times were thought about as Ragnarök (in the German, Götterdämmerung). The word Ragnarök in Old Norse is a compound of ragna, the genitive plural of reign ("gods" or "ruling powers"), and rök "fate." Rather than a great apocalypse it is a “twilight of the gods” or end of what has been known before to make way for a rebirth cycle.

To better understand the concept of Ragnarök, it is important to look at the historical evolution of the mythos of these ancient peoples. Prior to about 4,500 BCE, Europe was populated an original, aboriginal people. According to both physical, archaeological evidence and research done by Marija Gimbutas, this culture was matrifocused and worshiped an Earth Goddess who lavished well-being on the people through the richness of the fertile Earth. In addition, no weapons or fortifications have ever been found among the remain of these people. Theirs was a sedentary and peaceful, agricultural culture with women predominant in the hierarchy. In fact, evidence of this matricentrism stretches back well into the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age.

Around 4,00BCE , nomadic tribes of Indo/Aryan herders from Asia begin what is referred to as the Kurgan invasions of Europe. These invasions are believed to have been caused by a change in climate/rainfall which necessitated a literal shift to “greener pastures” in the West. These warlike, horse-riding herders are patriarchal in their societal structure and they control the people and the land into which they ride. Their spirituality focuses on a great Sky God.

Even if you dispute Gimbutas’ suppositions about earlier Old European people being overrun by Indo/Aryan invaders, one can see evidence in the mythic structures of the resulting Indo/European cultures. This is especially evident in the ancient Norse/Germanic pantheon in which there were two distinct groups of gods/goddesses who lived an uneasy coexistence.

Let’s look at the first group of deities known as the Vanir. These Earth/Sea deities are “the Giving Ones” and their home is in the West of Midgard or Middle world--the spiritual plane where humans also live. (Recall that it is in the West that the Indo/Aryans found fertile lands for their herds!) The Vanir are allied with the elemental nature spirits such as elves, dwarves, fairies as well as the giants. This holds an especially important clue as the giants are seen in most ancient Indo-European cultures--from the Greeks to the Celts--as the first or progenitor race of all beings. In fact, for some of the Indo/Europeans the Earth itself was created from the body of a giant. The most visible of the Vanir deities is Freyja, the goddess of Love, Healing and Prophesy. She was so beloved by her devotees that her cult existed far into the Christian Era. Perhaps it is because the earlier Earth-based spiritual traditions also lingered in the guise of the Vanir.

The other group of deities are the Aesir who are lead by the god Odin and live in Aesgard, their home in the sky. Among the Aesir, goddesses take a secondary place as either wives or sisters of gods. Their pantheon is populated by deities such as the thunder god Thor and may be equated with the Olympian gods of the ancient Greeks. At one point Freyja winds up in Aesgard--along with her brother Freyr--as hostages in the ongoing battle between the two groups.

The fact that these two groups of deities were always in conflict must also reflect the ongoing difficulty of mixing two very different cultural constructs! One matriarchal one patriarchal, one sedentary one nomadic, one honoring the Goddess(es) of the Earth/Sea the other the Gods of Sky. One can easily imagine just how uneasy and perilous this blending of cultures must have been and how it could lead to a belief that the only way to have peace was to destroy everything in Ragnarök and start over. This would leave a post Ragnarök world which would be neither matriarchal or patriarchal--that is no longer dualistic--but rather fresh and harmonious.

I believe this Great Shift is already beginning to happen. As such, we are in a transitional time and state of being where we experience the Unraveling of the Old and Outmoded. Beyond this lies the ultimate leap of evolution for our species. Even though what we knew is dying, it is a time of great hope and possibility. This is happening inside us as well as across human cultures.

Tibetan Buddhism refers to the time of transition between an individual’s death and rebirth as the Bardo, a word that literally means “intermediate state.” This is a period when the consciousness/spirit, which has been freed from the physical body, goes through a process which--if embarked upon in a state of true awareness--can offer spirit liberation and enlightenment. In the Bardo state, the dying person encounters brilliant and radiant visions as well as horrifying demons. During this process, those around the person, continue to chant the prayers from the Tibetan Book of the Dead. These prayers urge the dying person to remain aware--to notice without judgment or attachment--and to “just keep going” on the journey through the landscape of their own psyche/mind into the promise of Oneness. Cloaked in the powerful force of compassion, fears are neutralized and enlightenment unfolds--the spirit receives a deep, eternal healing.

If we are to take full advantage of the miraculous opportunity this time offers us, we need to be willing to let go of old desires and beliefs of separation. Clinging to the past does not serve us, rather it can create fear and self-protection. Rachel Naomi Remen, MD says, “Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn't you - all of the expectations, all of the beliefs - and becoming who you are.“ I would add that the letting go must be done with great compassion for ourselves. Not with self pity or anger, not with the fight of a struggle but with a gentle surrender. This is not a surrender to an outside force, deity or dogma, but a surrender to our highest self--our most Divine Aspect.

When we were children, others around us--parents, teachers and other adults--provided the structure of what was “right or wrong.” We only had to follow the rules for the promise of safety. We learned that “others will keep us safe, others will provide for our needs--our happiness and survival depends upon others.” This can become so ingrained in us that we come to believe that our safety, health, well-being or happiness continues to depend on a source lying outside of ourselves. When that is the case, we may seek the promise of security in the absoluteness of a religious dogma or a rigid social structure. We cling to the belief that if we follow the very clearly outlined rules, everything will be OK. However, if we adhere ourselves to this illusion, we sacrifice our potential for the true power of a spiritual adulthood.

If we are willing, we can allow that old way of living and thinking to die. To, as it were, enter into the Bardo and confront the demons of our fears which cause us to wither into spiritual dependency. As we turn inward, to sort through that which limits our fullness, we can begin to recognize the impact our thoughts and beliefs have upon our physical existence. As we engage in this way, we develop into spiritual adults, that is, accepting the responsibility for co-creating our lives and our health. In so doing, we also begin to acknowledge the divinity that exists inside and all around us. We in essence, disassemble the old dependency upon a parental God/Goddess to fulfill our lives and enter into a deep partnership with All That Is instead. In that partnership, we recognize that we have choice and in choosing we accept responsibility for those choices. We exercise our ability to take action with an eye/heart on the consequences.

This sacred work requires us to live our lives in a more heightened and conscious state. From that place of more aware consciousness our actions become illustrations of our inner most attitudes and beliefs. In other words, in getting clear, our choices become those our heart truly wants to own! This clearing away usually means being willing to let go of the overlays placed upon us by others. It means letting go of blame on our parents, our schooling, our society, our genetics or even God. Personal growth author Ken Keyes, Jr. once said, “You are not responsible for the programming you picked up in childhood. However, as an adult, you are one hundred percent responsible for fixing it.” I would further add that the action of fixing it requires a great deal of compassion. After all, it is a little death--a dying away of an old belief or perception.

In the recording Graceful Passages--which is a treasure for both the living and dying--there is a section spoken by the late Lew Epstein. It in he shares how, so often, we spend our lives judging ourselves and not realizing that we are both loved and Love itself. He says, “you have to listen that you’re loved and forgive all the time” not only to make a graceful transition into death but to really live the richness of this walk on Earth. This forgiveness needs to lavished not only on each other but on the Self.

Forgiveness is a powerful force. On January 2, 1998, ABC News reported “studies show that letting go of anger and resentment can reduce the severity of heart disease and, in some cases, even prolong the lives of cancer patients.” A study being done at the University of Pisa, Italy, by Pietro Pietrini, M.D., Ph.D. is looking at how forgiveness allows one to overcome a situation that would otherwise be a major source of stress, both mentally and neurobiologically--that is within the physical brain and nervous system. It seems that there is a great wisdom in forgiveness as it benefits us, as well as those we forgive.

Alden Nowlan, the late Canadian poet and novelist perhaps said it best, “The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself, he becomes wise.”

On the same Graceful Passages recording, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross urges the listener forward with her own form of a Bardo prayer, “concentrate on Love and look forward to the transition ...it’s the most beautiful experience you can ever imagine.” We can approach our “little deaths” and unfolding in the same manner. Each transition we experience in our lives presents an opportunity to walk through a Bardo landscape into a new and more beautiful life.

It is spiritual adulthood that the historical Buddha was referring to when he said in the sixth century BCE,

“Rely not on the teacher/person, but on the teaching.

Rely not on the words of the teaching, but on the spirit of the words.

Rely not on theory, but on experience.

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.

Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.

Do not believe anything because it is spoken and rumored by many.

Do not believe in anything because it is written in your religious books.

Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.

But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and the benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”

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1.These tribes included Angles, Saxons, Franks, Goths as well as the Germans and Norse. Denmark, England, France, Germany, Holland, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Wales and much of the rest of Europe were all settled by these peoples.

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Evelyn C. Rysdyk, author of the book, Modern Shamanic Living, is a nationally recognized teacher of shamanism, healer & artist in joint practice with C. Allie Knowlton, LCSW, DCSW as Spirit Passages.

Since 1991, they have offered workshops across the US and Canada. In addition, they have worked with hundreds of people in their private shamanic healing practice at True North in Falmouth.

Featured in the book, Traveling Between the Worlds, interviews with 24 of the world’s most influential writers and teachers of shamanism, they may be contacted at: www.spiritpassges.com

ALL IN THE FAMILY

The California purple sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) is a spiny creature which is about three inches across and is found along the sub tidal zone of the ocean off the Western United States from Vancouver to Baja. It lives it’s life, eating algae and nibbling on the stems of kelp. As an echinoderm (Greek for spiny skin), it is a relative to the urchins found in Atlantic waters, as well as, star fish, sand dollars and sea cucumbers.

In November 2006, a research team lead by Erica Sodergren and George Weinstock, a husband-and-wife team at the Baylor College of Medicine-Human Genome Sequencing Center (BCM-HGSC); announced that they had sequenced (decoded) the genome of the California purple sea urchin. What they found was quite remarkable. The urchin’s DNA revealed genetic connections far beyond all other spiny-skinned denizens of the deep. Their research proved that the small, purple sea urchin is related to people!

Their genetic research revealed that urchins share a common ancestor with humans. That ancestor lived over 540 million years ago and gave rise to the Deuterostomes, an ancient branch of the great family tree of animals that includes echinoderms and and all vertebrates--which is the classification for every creature that has a spinal column.

Lead researcher Sodergren stated in her report that, “The sea urchin reminds us of the underlying unity of all life on earth.... It is a similar set of genes and proteins being reused in different ways, different numbers, and at different times in the life cycle to create the diversity of living forms.” The naturalist, and founder of the Sierra Club, John Muir said it a bit more poetically when he said, “When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.”

This research, and many other parallel projects, continue to stack up concrete scientific evidence to remind us that we, as human beings, are related to all life on Earth. And yet we, as a species, continue to operate as though we were separate and isolated. There must be some powerful illusion keeping us stubbornly stuck in this perceptual loop which is destructive to not only our own psyche, but though our behaviors stemming from this incorrect view of life--detrimental to the entire biosphere. Albert Einstein thought of this as “a kind of optical delusion of ...consciousness.” He also suggested that “This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

Compassion is a word composed of two parts which have their roots in Latin. The first part of the word--com--comes from word meaning “with.” Whereas, passion means “to bear suffering.” Taken together, the word compassion means to share the experience of another’s suffering. This is not just an end in itself, but rather, the state of compassion produces a sympathetic understanding of our interconnectedness. Plainly put, compassion is what allows us to recognize that--what happens to you has an impact on me.

As I have shared before, compassion is--on a biochemical level--closely related to the feelings of love, appreciation and gratitude. When we experience any of these four feeling states, the DNA in every one of our cells relaxes into it’s most beneficial and harmonious conformation. While in this shape, our DNA is able to effectively do it’s “work” of replication and repair as well as the creation of proteins and enzymes which regulate a wide variety of basic cell functions.

This relaxed conformation is in direct contrast to the twisting of the DNA that happens when we are fearful or angry. When the DNA is wound tightly upon itself, the ability for the DNA to accomplish it’s tasks is hampered since where it crosses itself determines what of the genetic material is essentially “switched off.” The tighter the “DNA Cramp”,1. the less of our genetic material is available to do it's job. As a result, a body’s cellular functions, immunity and DNA replication/repair are all negatively impacted. In fact, when we are fearful and angry for extended periods of time, the DNA can actually reproduce damaged copies of itself--that is copies with micro sections of the genetic code permanently turned off! This directly impacts not only our own basic cell functions but the DNA that we pass to the next generation. In addition, the feelings of fear and anger which can create this damage are radiated out producing similar “DNA Cramps” in all the creatures around us.

The good news is by fostering the feelings of love, compassion, appreciation and gratitude we can provide ourselves--and all other creatures--an antidote to the damaging effects of fear and anger. By nurturing compassion, for instance, we feel our interconnections. This feeling of interconnectedness, can in turn move us to find ways to alleviate your/our suffering. And it is not only our family of human beings that experiences suffering in this moment, every creature on our planet is caught in the tightening net of global warming and environmental degradation. It’s clear that our Family--from our human family to the larger family which includes all beings--is in dire need of support. The late, Stephen Jay Gould who was an influential, evolutionary biologist at Harvard once said “We cannot win this battle to save species and environments without forging an emotional bond between ourselves and nature as well - for we will not fight to save what we do not love.” Baba Dioum, a Senegalese environmentalist expands upon this by stating that “In the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught.” If we’re honest with ourselves we realize that we do only conserve what we love, and at the most basic level most of us love ourselves, our family, our friends and our community beyond in expanding concentric circles of weakening urgency and commitment. However, we need to develop an understanding that embraces this larger family with the same heart we lavish on our immediate family and friends! We depend on our larger family for our own survival--we suffer as they suffer, we become unhealthy as they become unhealthy. It is a true and basic connection that we cannot live without.

A great place to begin coming to the aid of our Family, is by fostering compassion and gratitude. By feeling gratitude--by making commitment to do it daily--we not only nourish our own inner ecosystem, we nourish the surrounding ecosystem as well. This practice can simultaneously change the energetic and physical nature in and around you whereby you actually become a healing force--you become that which is changing the entire world for the better. This is critical as it is who we become that has the capacity to transform the world--not what we do. Our “doing” is simply an adjunct which can support the changes we manifest through the shift in ourselves. By this I am not suggesting that you do nothing, rather I am suggesting that if you are willing to become a healing force, any subsequent actions will be magnified to an amazing degree!

This has been proven hundreds of times in Medicine for the Earth ceremonies across the world. In those ceremonies a small group of people actually affect polluted water--in essence healing it. It isn’t done by praying about it, or through intention to heal the water, but rather those of us that perform these ceremonies, change ourselves with the understanding that our outer world will reflect back to us the inner changes that we make. This way of perception goes back to the ancient and esoteric principle of “as above, so below; as within, so without.”

At the 2005 True North Annual conference, Mark Comings who is a well-known physicist and mathematician shared some information which is being taught in The New Physics. Fundamental to this new view of All That Is, is understanding that matter--the stuff of our physical reality--isn’t solid at all! It is all vibration.

This scientific view also considers consciousness to be an intrinsic feature of the field of reality and furthermore that it is a central feature of both physics and biology. Consciousness being not only our thoughts, but our feelings which are especially important since they are what affects the physical nature of reality. Feelings of Love (compassion, appreciation, gratitude) provide us a direct way to align ourselves with what Comings refers to as the multidimensional “sea of radiance” which unites All. In aligning ourselves, we are remembering what has always been so. Nothing can be outside of Everything--we are a part of the Divine. During this aligning and remembering, we shift our vibration. It is an act that is essentially alchemical in nature--changing our ordinary “leaden” consciousness into the “golden” consciousness/feelings of the Divine. And that change in ourselves can cause polluted water to heal.

Through no other means but the power of changing ourselves, conducted in an atmosphere of reverence for the Earth, water which has been intentionally polluted with ammonium hydroxide changes from a poisonous pH level of 11.5 to one of a nearly drinkable pH of 9.1 Simultaneously, a companion beaker of water polluted with acid becomes closer to healthy water, as well. These kinds of results are consistently accomplished by trained groups all over the world, in a few short minutes. A shift of over two points of pH is the equivalent of a thousand-fold change and is scientifically unexplainable--at least by the old science!

As we take steps to become what I refer to as The New Human, our family values need to include nurturing compassion for all beings and practicing gratitude as often as we can each day. That little purple urchin--with it’s myriad of spines sticking out in all directions--can help remind us that life is reaching out to us all the time. We are members of an enormous family--one that desperately needs us to remember who we really are. Just think of that humble urchin channeling Dr. Seuss’ Lorax-- “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It's not.”

* CDs of Mark Comings' 2005 keynote speech “The New Physics of Space, Time and Light” may be ordered by contacting the True North store at: (207) 781-6734.

1. Term first coined by my spirit teacher, Grandma Henderer.

2. pH is measured on a scale of 1, which is extremely acidic to 14 which is extremely alkaline. Healthy water is in the middle with a pH of around 7.

TRANSCENDENCE AS DESTINY

Shamans are defined by their ability to travel from ordinary reality to the spiritual realms and back again. This ability to move beyond the limits of time/space earned them the designation “Those Who Walk Between the Worlds.”

Today, every person is being asked to do their own kind of walking between the worlds as our planet changes. It is for this reason I believe that our times are calling us to become what I refer to as “The New Human.” By this I mean a transcendent human being. That is one who chooses to surpass the perceptual limitations that have defined our reality for millennia. Our times are calling for us to take the next evolutionary leap--to become our creator selves. Fortunately, this is something we are already “wired” to become. It is our biological imperative.

Scientists that study our neural system--the brain and nervous system, have discovered something marvelous. They have identified not only the four neural centers in the brain but also the fifth center which is located in our heart. In other words, data confirms that we have a seat of intelligence in our heart. It is the dynamic interaction between the intellect of the head and intellegence of the heart that will allow us to transcend the culture of destruction, violence and poverty.

Many still dismiss the possibility of such a profound shift, yet through such relatively new scientific disciplines such as neuralcardiology, the truths given to us by the great transcendent masters of the past are confirmed. When talking about miracles, the master Jesus told us, “These things shall you do and great things than these shall you do also.” He taught his followers that all human beings have the capacity to be divine creator beings. Our sciences now support this as well. When we begin to see and feel our selves as creator beings, we aren’t behaving in a heretical way, rather we are following the logical truth which was encoded into our biology.

Quantum physics’ “M Theory” asserts that everything is composed of an infinite number of vibrating membranes--each of which contains a parallel universe to our own reality. Every tiny spec of matter--our bodies, the elements and everything that exists in our physical world is first and foremost vibration. Our own vibrations shift and change based upon our feelings. Feelings create profound and measurable changes in the physical body AND the physical surroundings of the person experiencing the feelings. Our feeling energies are transmitted through our hearts into the world around us. The heart’s field is measurable 5-8 feet around us, however the effects of the feeling energies are felt far wider. Our feeling energies are both local and non-local. That is, they exist in a point of time/space--our body--AND beyond the limits of time/space-- the infinite. Amazingly enough, laboratory experiments have measured effects of transmitted feelings over half a mile from their generating source.

It is important to note here that our feelings are are different from our emotions which are the result of simple input to our nervous system. Our environment gives us these signals --mad, sad, glad, scared--much in the way the nerve endings in our finger tips reveal that a surface is hot or cold. This raw emotional input is then processed by the mind. The processing is based on our previous experiences and learned perceptions. The resulting reaction is a feeling. While the input we receive is not solely under our influence--changing our output by changing our perceptions is. We can alter the learned reactions which are imbedded in our minds and personalities. This change is a fundamental alteration of our consciousness. Changing of our perceptions which then changes our transmitted feeling energies is an essential element in becoming our creator selves.

As creators, we can consciously affect what physicists refer to as the quantum plenum. While that may be a strange phrase, we can think of their quantum plenum as simply the Playing Field of Infinite, Superimposed Possibilities. In other words, through learning how our feelings alter and affect the unfolding of reality, we can begin to consciously create our reality!

For centuries, this is the role we have ascribed to the Transcendent Supreme Deity we have called God/Goddess. We were taught that our human condition was meant to be limited and that to desire to reach beyond those limitations was at the very least grandiose and at it’s worst a “sin.” This illusion was and continues to be supported through the promulgation of fear perpetrated by societal constructs such as organized religions and governments. Fear was and is used to control people and it is fear that has kept us blind to our magnificence until now. We can no longer allow ourselves to be held back or controlled by fear--even the fear of our own power.

We are living in a critical and extraordinary time period when we can get the support we need to truly believe in our abilities and in our true nature. Through a myriad of books and movies such as “What the Bleep Do We Know” and “The Secret,” we are being reminded at every turn that our lives and the world as a whole can be different. We can trade our destructive notions and behaviors for those that support growing beauty in our lives and healthy continuance for life on our planet.

Carlos Castaneda’s shaman teacher, Don Juan told him that, “What we need to do to allow magic to get hold of us, is to banish doubts from our minds. Once doubts are banished, everything is possible.” Doubt is one of the many faces of fear. Some of it’s other faces are anger, judgment, depression, anxiety, discouragement and frustration.

Take a look at the doubts you feel. More often than not, when examined, our doubts are simply the trappings of an underlying fear. For instance, when we doubt our partner’s love, we may actually be fearful about our own lovability. If we doubt our discernment or our abilities, we may be afraid that we are just not good enough. Look at your self and identify whatever the the fear is that is lurking just under the surface of your psyche. Quite often, when we recognize and name our fear, it’s chilling grip is loosened and it can be banished! Support the process by choosing Love.

Scientists at the Institute of Heart Math have demonstrated that the quantum fields generated by Love--and it’s other faces called Gratitude, Appreciation & Compassion--have the effect of generating coherent, healing frequencies in the body which can measurably influence neurological and immunological functions at a molecular level. Furthermore, these are the only feelings that can heal us and the world. These feeling energies radiate as a non-Hertzian quantum field. In lay terms, that means that our feelings produce effects which are not limited by the constraints of either time or space. When experiencing these specific feelings, we become creative, agents of healing and change.

According to the new physics, there is no fixed or certain future, instead it is indeed created by our present feelings. Our choices and responses determine what the future will look like. It is we, with our feelings, that create our life not some outside force.

We create by first filling with feelings of love/gratitude and then feelings of the life we wish to create. Andthis needs to be done often. My partner Allie and I start our day with this practice and then repeat it as often as we need to--especially if fear in one of it’s many faces sneaks back into our consciousness. To support the process of being able to call up feelings of love, or gratitude at will, we have each created gratitude lists! These are lists of experiences that, when rememebered, easily produce the desired feelings in our bodies.

Some people prefer a scrapbook of photos, objects that trigger the feelings of love and gratitude on their altar or videos that elicit these feelings on their computer screen. Whatever method fits you and your personality, find a way to remind youself of those experiences in your own life for which you are grateful. Include the beings that you love and that love you. Remember the places in nature that transfixed you into breathless awe. Recall the first time that you held your dear one, your child, your beloved pet. This opening of the heart changes you and the more often that you repeat the process, the more rapid and profound the changes will be.

We can change the destructive path we are on as a species by individually changing our inner world. We were made to transcend suffering--not just in the world that lies beyond this one--but in this marvelous, transcendent world we are creating together!

Gratitude is very closely related to the emotions of Love, Compassion and Appreciation. We know this as each of these feelings produce remarkably similar biological effects both inside and around the body.

This phenomenon was observed by researchers at the Institute of Heart Math. They determined that during the loving state --which includes feelings of love, gratitude, appreciation or compassion-- our heart produces coherent energy waves which can alter the conformation of DNA in solution. That is to say that, the DNA samples outside of the test subjects bodies. This study was the first to reveal that emotional states created biological changes not only within an individual who is experiencing these feelings, but outside of the body as well. They also observed a correlation between coherent heart energy and the immune system by measuring changes in salivary IgA. This study showed that the coherent heart energy generated during feelings of love,gratitude, appreciation or compassion, can produce biological effects both inside and outside of the body. This is due to the fact that the feeling energies transmitted by our hearts are non-Hertzian (beyond the range of standard electromagnetic measurement) and quantum in nature. This non-local capability means that all of our feelings have an impact that is beyond the limits of our own physical body.

In the study, all individuals capable of generating strong loving feelings could alter the conformation of DNA according to their intention. Intending to unwind or wind the DNA produced increases or decreases in the UV absorption peak at 260 nm. Untrained individuals, who were not able to sustain feelings of love, showed low ratios of ECG coherence and were unable to intentionally alter the conformation of DNA.

Conversely, one individual in the study was upset and frustrated--having little control over his emotions. This individual showed an unusually low ECG coherence ratio. However because of the strong intensity of his emotional experience, his energy caused an increased winding of the DNA and a shift in the absorption peak. This is an unusual effect which indicates that in addition to changing the conformation of DNA, an alteration in the physical/ chemical structure of one or more of the bases in the DNA molecule has occurred. Although the incoherent energy associated with frustration resulted in a change in DNA, this individual could not intentionally bring about this change. The frustrated test subject was in a state that I’ve come call a “DNA Cramp!” Importantly, even though this subject could cramp the DNA, he couldn’t relax it--no matter what his intention--while experiencing these incoherent feelings. On the other hand, the persons who were experiencing the loving feelings could relax the DNA--even the DNA that was twisted onto itself by the feelings of the frustrated subject!
The conformational states of DNA are important in DNA replication and repair as well as the creation of proteins and enzymes which regulate a wide variety of basic cell functions. When the DNA is wound tightly upon itself, the ability for the DNA to accomplish it’s tasks is hampered. As a result, a body’s cellular functions, immunity and DNA replication/repair are all negatively impacted. In other words, since the feelings alter the DNA, our feelings can directly impact basic cell functions.

What we can understand from this research is the following:
1. Our feelings which are broadcast from our hearts have the capacity to alter not only our own DNA, but the DNA of other living beings.
2. Not only human beings, but other living creatures such as animals, birds, plants, and trees have DNA.
3. Since these radiating feeling energies are non-local in nature, they can travel over a distance from the body without any time lag--that is to say that these energies exist outside of ordinary time/space.
4. Loving feelings, which include feelings of love, gratitude, appreciation and compassion, have the capacity to bring the DNA into it’s most harmonious state of being. This state is consistent with improved immune and cellular function--that is optimum health. In addition, since the immune--and related hormonal systems directly impact brain function, these coherent energies improved cognitive function--in other words they provided the ability to think more clearly.
5. Incoherent feelings such as anger, fear, frustration have the opposite effect--producing a DNA that is tightly wound and restricted in it’s ability to regulate cellular function, or repair and replicate itself properly--that is a state that interferes with health. perhaps more importantly, this interference impacts all other beings! In addition, this state of being reduces the ability to think well or clearly and may explain destructive collective behaviors such as mob reactions/mentality.
6. Persons generating coherent feelings--love, gratitude, appreciation, compassion--were able to relax the DNA that became twisted by frustration, fear and anger. This effect happened beyond the limits of their own bodies.
7. Therefore, persons choosing to generate coherent feelings of love, gratitude, appreciation or compassion produce healing effects not only within their own bodies but throughout the ecosystem.

Based on this information, I believe we can no longer afford to wallow in negative emotional states. Fear, anger, and frustration negatively impacts our bodies, and the bodies of all other beings. For our own health and the health of our planet as a whole, we must develop a practice of transforming negative emotional states. I’m suggesting is that there is no more powerful action you can take in the world than to learn to work with your feeling energies.

One very easy method follows here and is also available in an easy-to-follow guided imagery form on the CD, Becoming the New Human (Spirit Passages, 2002)

When feeling frustrated, afraid or angry you do not have to be at the effect of these feelings. First take a moment to notice why you are having these feelings. Then choose to transform these feelings to heal the “DNA Cramp” and return to a clear thinking and healthy state. From this state, you will be able to take right action to alter the situation causing the negative feelings.

This begins by stopping right where you are in your emotional process--take a time out--and beginning to breathe with your focus on your heart. Breathe gently and fully with the idea that your heart is at the center of each breath. Do this at least ten times and while doing so, imagine that your heart is being bathed in healing light with every inhalation. Once you have breathed gently and fully for at least ten breaths, remember a time that you felt grateful or appreciative. This can be a memory from your recent or distant past. Recall not only the situation, but the feelings that you experienced. This is critically important, you are using the memory to trigger the feelings again. you may start with one memory of a grateful time and may remember another. Go with which ever produces the strongest feelings of gratitude or appreciation.

Allow yourself to remember these feelings even more intensely than you did in the past. Let your body completely fill up with gratitude! Once you feel truly full, imagine that with every heart beat these feelings are not only flowing throughout your entire body--but radiating beyond it. These healing energies are bathing every one of your cells and the cells of living beings all around you!! You remain full even as this vibration of gratitude is being broadcast from your body. Allow this to continue for as long as you can sustain the feelings. When you feel ready, return your attention to the world around you. You may notice that the world around you appears brighter and even more colorful. In fact, you have helped to make it a better place by taking action to transform your “DNA cramping” feelings.

Doing exercise this for at least ten minutes can produce a six-hour increase in your immune response--providing you don’t have another “DNA Cramp”--and help to counteract the effects your negative emotional state produced in and around your body. Your feelings have the capacity to heal or harm not only yourself but the rest of the world. This is so important since so many people seem to be in a constant state of fear or anger. Remember, the test subjects who were in a DNA Cramp couldn’t heal the DNA--no matter how strong their intention! Only those choosing to be in the state of Love, Gratitude, Appreciation and Compassion can provide the much needed healing the world requires.

I challenge you to become a healing warrior for the planet by cultivating loving feelings. Take time every day to practice filling yourself with gratitude. This kind of “feeling meditation” can alter your experience of life, improve your health and the health of others and begin to create the kinds of positive change in the culture that we desire. Besides practicing this on your own, start a gratitude group break time with friends or at work. Teach your children to take a time out when they are angry and teach them the method I’ve outlined above. Refuse to be driven by fear and refuse to let others’ anger or fear to linger in and around--polluting your body. Instead, generate waves of healing gratitude all around you every day as many times in the day as you can. In that healing energy we can think the big ideas and create the changes that will bring the world back from the brink of destruction.

Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi once said: “We must become the change that we want to see in the world.” It’s time to become Gratitude and Love!

© 2006 Evelyn C. Rysdyk

Shamanic Solitaire

A shaman is never alone. Once someone understands that all the elements of our ecosystem are alive and sentient, it becomes impossible to truly separate one’s self. Although a shaman may place him or herself away from the company of other human beings, a shaman’s world is filled with wise and loving companions.

The shaman, or in fact any spiritual person, sometimes needs to take a respite from other humans and sit among the strong voices in Nature. The wilderness quest is common to many traditions. It provides the seeker with an opportunity to learn about him or herself in the context of other beings’ wisdom. Goethe once stated, “In the human spirit, as in the universe, nothing is higher or lower; everything has equal rights to a common center which manifests its hidden existence precisely through this harmonic relationship between every part and itself.” In other words, we can understand ourselves and the universe as a whole better by intentionally entering into a relationship with the other species with whom we share our planet. In order to listen to the trees, plants, animals, birds, rocks or wind, we need to go outside and away from other people. Since we are a social species, we naturally reach out our hearts and minds to connect with others. Typically, humans have a inborn desire for communion with Another. It is why we see isolation as a form of punishment in our prisons.

When away from our usual “tribe” of humans, we naturally reach out for connections with the other beings around us. In addition, being away from our own species allows perceptions that are not “human” to more freely enter into our minds and hearts. It is only being alone in the presence of water that we can really hear it’s voice, feel it’s rhythm and understand a bit of it’s deeper nature. These awarnesses offer us a perspective on our existence that is enlivening and refreshing. We can glimpse the expanse of All That Is and the tenacity that Life has to fill every available niche. Perhaps it is the awareness of Life’s amazing ability to always reassert itself, that is the most moving.

In any season, we can go outside and witness the remarkable cycles of of Nature. When one sees the energy each species expends toward the Great Continuance of Life, we are at once humbled and warmed. This most powerful aspect of Nature can provide us a solace and comfort that even our most trusted human companions can not always provide. This is particularly true in times of grief. When we lose a loved one, we feel an ache in our center that feels impossible to salve. It is in these times that Nature can be our most powerful counselor and teacher. It is perhaps because Beauty can fill us more easily when we are vulnerable. When we are hurting, we are defenseless to the whirring of the hummingbird, we yield more easily to the scent of a rose and allow ourselves to be swept away by the salty spray of the ocean.

As we watch the robin sitting patiently on her eggs or the plant making a flower we may even come to understand that our our loved one and our own consciousness lives beyond form. As the Aboriginal people of Australia say, “You can kill kangaroo but you can’t kill Kangaroo Dreaming.” By that, they mean that the Spirit of Kangaroo is eternal even as an individual kangaroo is not. A part of of every being remains--always.
For that reason, it is also easier to connect with those that we have lost while walking or sitting in nature. For instance, I connect with the presence of my late father most easily in a quiet autumn wood. Just under the aroma of the forest itself, I can keenly smell my fathers scent. No longer localized in a form--nor limited by his personality’s perceptions--his spirit fills the woods and I find myself surrounded by his love. My paternal grandmother visits me in the Sun creating rays down through a cloud. I find my mother’s mother filling the shady places under leafy trees. My maternal grandfather plays in the sea smoke dancing over the surface of the ocean. My father’s father prefers to meet me in swaying grasses under a Midsummer sun.

Along with those presences we knew as human family, we can connect with Grandfather Oak who teaches with the patience of one who never moves his feet. In the presence of Wyatah, the Royal River, we are reminded to be fluid and to gently flow over and around the obstacles we might encounter. Sister Moss reminds us that even with just a little nurturance we can flourish and make the path softer for others. Bear Mother models flexibility and teaches us to take full advantage of plenty when it is available and being still in times that are lean. Brother Chickadee reminds us to spread our treasures around as he secrets a few seeds in many different places across the woods just as Ant teaches us that we are a lot stronger than we may look.
We don’t open just our minds when we go out into Nature, we open our hearts. And this heart opening is essential to being able to receive the wisdom that surrounds us. Our minds have taken us many places, but they have also taken us away from our larger family of Creation. In our arrogance, we have come to think of ourselves as the height of the evolutionary scheme and even named ourselves Homo Sapien Sapien or wise, wise man. Perhaps in truth we are actually insecure about this as we had to remind ourselves of our “wisdom” twice. Unconsciously--in our deepest hearts--we are keenly aware of our folly.

It is by stepping outside of our human paradigm and into Nature that we can learn the teachings that the rest of our “family” can offer. These interactions can help us to change our species’ relationship with the rest of creation to one that is more healing and mutually beneficial than our current self-serving attempts at dominance. The old system has not served us as well as we once believed. We have dirtied our planet’s air, water and soil and decimated innumerable species in our stubborn belief that we had the knowledge and right to control the Earth and her creatures.

Our contemporary society’s aging anthropocentric view can be seen as a system of thought and behavior. Since this system is simply a collection of learned information, it is possible to replace it with new thoughts and behaviors. The act of tuning in and receiving the input from the other spirits within the Universe can certainly assist us in this work and keep us from recreating that which doesn’t serve us or the planet well.

In spite of appearing isolated in our individual existences we need to be reminded about what Buckminster Fuller sad, “You can not get out of Universe. Universe is not a system. Universe is not a shape. Universe is a scenario. You are always in Universe. You can only get out of systems.” Step outside alone away from your systematic existence and reconnect to your larger family and your ancestors. The future you will begin to sense there is one we can all enjoy if we take the time to open our hearts and listen to the wisdom that surrounds us!

@ 2006 Evelyn Rysdyk

A variation of this article was previously published in
Inner Tapestry for my Modern Shamanic Living column.

Creating a Suburban Sanctuary

This morning as I was going to get into our car I was greeted by the sight of a beautiful white-tailed doe grazing not fifty feet away! While some suburban gardeners cringe at the arrival of deer, I was delighted to count her among the list of creatures with whom Evie and I share our one-acre yard. For twelve years, we have encouraged wildlife and refrained from using any pesticides in or around our home. As a reward, we share our land with over fifty species of birds, a dozen or so wild mammalian species, snakes, frogs, toads, and numerous beneficial insect varieties. Our yard has also been further enhanced by many native plants seeded by our bird visitors! All of this on a typical house lot on a busy street in downtown Yarmouth!

So many creatures call our yard home that we’ve started keeping track of our cohabitants in a loose-leaf binder. Each species gets a page where we paste a copy of a field guide entry and any notes we think are important about their habits and requirements. This allows us to see if we need to make alterations to our little sanctuary to further encourage an even more balanced environment.

We recently registered our yard with the National Wildlife Federation as an official Backyard Wildlife Habitat. To qualify, a yard (school, church or business) needs to have consistent sources of food, water, shelter and places for wildlife to raise young. In addition, it’s recommended that sites reduce the use of commercial pesticides (which includes herbicides and fungicides) as well as chemical fertilizers. This feature is of real concern for us as we are only a few hundred feet from the Royal River and know that the runoff from typical pesticide and fertilizer laden lawns eventually finds it’s way to the bays and ocean where it contaminates local fisheries!

The switch to organic lawn care is starting to spread here in the United States, but our neighbors to the north are many steps ahead of us in preserving the environment. A recent ruling by the Canadian Supreme Court upheld laws banning the use of pesticides for aesthetic purposes--that is for lawns and gardens--by homeowners and governments. These laws--created by the people of Canada’s largest population centers, and supported by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE)--mean that nearly 40% of Canada’s citizens now live in pesticide free areas! This is of a great concern as pesticide use has been linked to such unacceptable risks as cancer, neurological disorders and endocrine disruption. Equally important, this also means that the non-human citizens of these areas will benefit as well--thereby encouraging a healthier and more balanced ecosystem. Passing this kind of ground breaking legislation in the United States has been hampered by aggressive pesticide industry lobbying. Industry sympathetic lawmakers in the U.S. who have chosen company profits over the health of our citizens have pushed through preemptive legislation to hope to avoid Canadian style bans! In spite of this however, there is a growing grassroots interest in reducing pesticide exposure in states such as Connecticut, New York and California. For instance, in 2005, the Connecticut state legislature has already banned the use of pesticides on school grounds.

Running scared, the pesticide industries of Canada and the U.S. issued dire warnings of insect and weed plagues should we move away from the use of these toxins. Instead, after the initial soil rebuilding period of three to five years, beneficial organisms are replenished and these species begin the work of balancing the local ecosystem. Industry pundits also claimed that going organic would be too costly for the average person, but the truth is after completing the shift, a property that goes organic will see the cost of lawn and yard care actually go down! Proving that not only are chemical pesticides more expensive, their hazards are also far too costly in terms of their health effects on children and adults.

Creating a Backyard Wildlife Habitat is an excellent way to bring the entire family back outside. Today, many children are at risk of what author, Richard Louv has termed “Nature Deficit Syndrome.” By playing inside instead of going outside, children are denied the many physical, emotional and psychological benefits nature can provide. For instance, a study done by the Human-Environment Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois has shown that engaging with nature significantly reduces the severity of ADD and ADHD symptoms in children as young as five. While parents today may be reluctant to have their children wander the hills and forests to the degree we did a generation or two ago--a backyard wildlife habitat can provide a safe haven for the entire family to interact with the natural world. In addition, creating even one tiny sanctuary is a wonderful way to heal ourselves while contributing to the healing of our planet!

Allie

To find out more about creating a Backyard Wildlife Habitat check out: National Wildlife Federation: www.nwf.org

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How The Bleep Do We Heal Our World?

Through video and cell phone imagery we have born witness to catastrophes such as earthquakes or the tsunami in the Indian Ocean and felt the shock, pain and loss of the survivors, but how is the quantum energy field/spirit world to which we are are connected impacted by such a disaster?

What we now know is that our feelings have a visible, measurable affect on the physical world. Studies by Glen Rein, Ph.D. and Rollin McCraty, Ph.D. have demonstrated that the energy fields generated by our human feelings can influence neurological and immunological functions at a cellular level. In their work, they determined that the strongest “energy generator” in our bodies is our heart. Furthermore, the energy the heart produces is directly correlated to what we are feeling. When we experience deep feelings of love, compassion or appreciation, we align our self with Divine creation. These divinely aligned feelings radiate coherent frequencies throughout the body which promote health and vitality. Conversely, when we experience feelings such as anger, anxiety, fear and rage, we directly effect the body in harmful and damaging ways. Tests in the laboratory have proven that a ten-minute expression of anger produces a six-hour decline in a test subject’s immune response. On the other hand, when a ten-minute period of compassion, love or gratitude is expressed, there is a measurable six-hour boost in the immune system.

Other experiments have shown that the molecular building block of our body--the DNA--is directly affected by our emotions. When stressed by angry/fearful/anxious emotions, our DNA twists tightly onto itself forming what we call a “DNA cramp.” The molecule takes a shape that is somewhat like a rope ladder twisted into a knot. This is important because the crossing of the DNA strand onto itself determines which genes are turned off or on. The tighter the “cramp,” means less of our potential is accessible. (It is useful to remember here that fear has a many faces. It can be disguised as judgment, doubt, depression, jealousy, insecurity or even guilt.)

The loss of function due to a “DNA cramp” is also played out in our brains. When stressed by “DNA cramping,” our body produces different hormones than during periods of inner harmony. These biochemicals, such as adrenaline and cortisol, flood our body. This has the effect of chemically denying us access to the upper, reasoning functions of our brain and increasing access to the lower, fight/flight/freeze mechanism. This limits our ability to respond to a situation from our fullest selves. Obviously, our body functions best when in a emotional/feeling state that is aligned with it's "original instructions."

Other research has shown that our feeling/heart energy radiates as a non-Hertzian quantum field. In lay terms, that means that our heart-based, feeling energies produce effects which are not limited by the constraints of either time or space. In addition, these feeling-generated energies affect not only the spaces inside our bodies, but the world around us as well. Amazingly, a person generating strong feeling energies can change the configuration of a sample of someone else’s DNA, as well as their own! Since DNA is the building block of life, our emotional energies also affect other beings!

Emotions and feelings are related but different. Emotions are pure information we receive from the physical world. They are simple in nature--mad, sad, glad, scared. Feelings however, are what happens when our mind responds to the input we have received through our emotions. Our mind, seeking to find order in the chaos of emotion, adds it’s own input in the form of thoughts which are shaded by previous experience. This blend of emotion plus mind produces feelings as a response to the situation. These feelings, blended at the heart, then cascade biochemical messages throughout the body, which sometime wreck havoc on our ourselves and other beings. Clearly, if we seek to create a world of healing which holds less chaos, there has got to be a better way! The point where we can alter our responses is the place where the emotion meets the mind. That is, the juncture where we can consciously choose to generate a different feeling energy.

Nerves in our hands send signals if a surface is too hot for us to touch. Our emotions serve us in a similar way, giving us clues about our environment. We must experience our emotions so we may understand what clues they are giving us about a situation. Once we receive their input, we can then consciously choose how we wish to respond to the situation--thereby developing mastery of our “inner technology.” Initially this may seem strange, but since our feelings have such a profound effect on both the inner and outer physical worlds, it certainly appears that we have a responsibility to develop mastery of them for the benefit of our own and the world’s health.

The mastery of our feelings is a crucial part of coming into harmony with Creation--the Divine--and therefore, a critical part of creating a new and beautiful model of life. Through this practice, we can learn our place as co-creators of this world and in so doing, we will change the course of our species and the planet. The occurrences we currently think of as miracles will become commonplace.

Developing a practice of gratitude can begin very simply. Take a moment out each day to remember a situation when you felt grateful. Recall the feelings that you felt at that time and let them fill you up again. Give yourself enough time to feel really full of gratitude. Now imagine that these feelings, which fill you up have nowhere else to go but to radiate out of your body with every one of your heartbeats. You remain full even as this vibration of gratitude is being broadcast from your body. As you experience this, add an intention that you wish to manifest. Don’t worry about details, but rather put out the feelings that you wish to experience. By this I mean don’t put our that you want something--a new partner, a new job, etc.--but rather how it will feel to be in your new relationship, or how it will feel to be working at your new job. Feel it already accomplished--already complete.

Research has determined that when we blend our intentions with feelings of gratitude or appreciation they are much more likely to manifest. Whereas feelings of fear or anger produce a disruption to creative manifestation. This has been proven by people such as by Masaru Emoto who’s work with water was featured in the movie, “What The Bleep Do We know?” and by Sandra Ingerman in her Medicine for the Earth work. While being observed by scientists, a small, harmonious group of people practicing feeling gratitude and holding strong intentions have “healed” covered beakers of water which had been intentionally polluted with ammonium hydroxide. This commonly found pollutant, which arises from from both human and animal waste, is a common contaminant of ground water. It causes problems in the environment in two ways. Firstly, it literally poisons the water making it too alkaline to drink. Secondly, it has the ability to make oil-based pollutants such as PCBs, gasoline and benzene water soluble which makes them more easily absorbed by plants, animals and human beings.

Through no other means but the power of feeling-based ceremonies, conducted in an atmosphere of reverence for the Earth, the polluted water changes from a poisonous pH level of 11.5 to one of a nearly drinkable pH of 9. This shift of over two points of pH is the equivalent of a thousand-fold change and was accomplished in less then two hours, while a “control” beaker remained unchanged. The impossibly swift change seen in these ceremonies is truly unexplainable by scientific means.

These same tools may be brought to bear on situations such as the wide-spread pain and anger that is being experienced around the world from the tsunami catastrophe. We as individuals CAN have an impact even beyond making donations to the Red Cross. Each of us, as creator beings can enter into a state of feeling gratitude and once in that feeling state send our prayers out into the world. We can do this at each meal, upon arising or at bedtime. There is a good deal of urgency in this matter, as Masaru Emoto believes that the field has been weakened by extreme natural disasters like the tsunami, especially as they happened on top of the terrorist violence the world has recently been experiencing. It is his belief that a wide-scale epidemic/pandemic could arise in this greatly weakened field. This makes sense since we know how immune systems are negatively impacted by fear. Furthermore, the presence of so much fear and anger energy, the waters have taken on this vibrational signature which is not conducive to healing.