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Greetings!
I am just back from the profound "Working in Community" with Sandra Ingerman. Our focus on exploring our "inner landscapes," and how to shift attention and make new tracks, inspires much of this month's newsletter.
I try to write about ideas and practices which inspire and feed my consciousness and spiritual development. As I find what works for me, I incorporate those pieces into my teaching and healing. Our Bay Area Medicine for the Earth gathering in April is a culmination of such exploration and practice.
On another note, I am looking for someone in the Bay Area to collaborate with me on a website redesign, as I have to change providers. This someone has strong technical, aesthetic, and consciousness tools. If you are that person, or have a recommendation, please contact me!
With gratitude,
Meg Beeler
earthcaretakers@earthlink.net
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Changing the Dream
"Dreaming bravely means letting go of our limiting beliefs and pushing past our fears..'" -- Alberto Villoldo
"When you decide to be on a spiritual path, part of the initiation is the universe beginning to sculpt you. It chips away at the impediments to your being light." -- Sandra Ingerman
Neuroplasticity
Scientists are finally coming to understand that our brains are indeed plastic and responsive. Only 20 years ago it was believed that our neurons-for-life were totally developed by the age of three! Now we know that new neural pathways can continue to form throughout our lives: after injury, after trauma, after long habit.
We all create patterns of living. We all develop tracks we follow: in working, in relationship, in parenting, in eating. We all follow "trains of thought" in our responses. It's like sledding or skiing: we follow the same tracks over and over. If we want to create a different path, we have to lift our sled up and move it to a new place. The snow is softer and we go slowly at first, but as soon as the new tracks are made, movement becomes easy and fun again.
With deeply embedded mental habits and automatic responses, we have to work hard to identify the unconscious tracks we are following and intend to create new ones. We are not trying to stop our trains of thought, but rather to replace them with something else. It's like that quote I love so much "Where the attention goes, energy flows."
Moving the Tracks: An Example
Some of you know that one of my beloved dogs died last year. Then, after our trip to the Himalayas in the fall, the sibling sister dog was found to have many tumors and predicted to have an imminent death. Every day I sat with Reina, walked her, fed her by hand, petted her, offered her healing light. As I spent so many hours in stillness, I had the opportunity to observe many mind threads: The deep love and connection I felt. The fear that I was not with her enough. My struggle to be willing to let her go when she was ready. My fear that I was keeping her beyond her time, not doing the right thing. And so on.
Day after day, week after week, we sat together. She declined, then returned to walking a half mile a day. I cried, then returned to feeling grateful that we had the time together. My helpers told me that her long dying process was to help me learn about my impatience and let it go. They advised that I replace my guilt with "star-shining light" when I was with her.
When Reina passed over peacefully, I felt a huge hole in my heart. Yet right away she began helping me find ways to step aside from grief. She appeared in visions, standing in my circle of Old Ones. She appeared in dreams, wagging her tail happily and trying to get my attention. It wasn't hard in this case to identify the tracks I was following: grief knocked me over. Her gift was to help me intend to replace the grief: every time I felt it, I saw her wagging her tail, saw her with the Old Ones, and shifted into deep appreciation and joy
Brain Loops
Another, more common example is found in brain loops, where we tell ourselves the same story over and over. Usually these stories are about relationship, with ourselves or with others: "so-and-so never gives me as much in our friendship as I give her," or "I can't do anything right, not getting that job just shows it again."
I run a brain loop with a member of my family. When he calls me, he talks and talks; I believe he doesn't listen to me/isn't interested in me. When he doesn't return my calls, I reaffirm the belief that he isn't interested in me. I have looped through this for years, tried to stop for years. The brain loop pops up again and again, no matter how much rational thought I put into it. Even my bumper sticker, "Don't believe everything you think," didn't work.
Sandra taught us a great technique for addressing brain loops. When one starts, you imagine whiting out (yes, with the office supply stuff) all the feelings you are having: the hurt, the sadness, the mad, whatever. You keep whiting them out until you can't see them. And do it again the next time the loop begins. The white-out represents your intent to shift the pattern, and repeating the action reinforces your intent. The universe hears you, and the thoughts begin to shift and change into a different understanding, a different feeling, a new neural pathway.
We create what we believe.
My mountain teacher advises us as follows:
"The tracks you follow with energy consumption and global warming are embedded in the whole atmosphere, affecting all of us. Moving your sleds may seem like a puny response; and it is the only way to shift the current balance. It may not be in time, may not "work," but none of us can control outcome. We can only change our own behavior. So I am letting my glaciers melt, offering you humans their pure, memory-filled water, in hopes that you will gather some water wisdom into your bodies. And in hopes that that wisdom will help you shift consciousness, behavior, and the tracks you follow."
Spring Plowing
As we near the spring equinox, farmers in the Northern Hemisphere are beginning to plow their fields, turn over the soil, and loosen the heavy clods of dirt as they prepare for new planting. Though we may feel far from that process, we can do the same metaphorically. We can make new tracks, plow under old habits, weed the garden, fertilize new growth. We can change the dream.
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Medicine for the Earth in April
Medicine for the Earth has transformed my being, and opened my consciousness to parallel realities that I'd not dreamed of ten years ago. I love to share this work and open these worlds for others. I also deeply value community and the opportunity to explore together. My dream is to bring together a range of us, experienced and new, to seed and fertilize and complement each other. We'll re-explore the basics (creation story, shadow, transmutation ceremony) and dive into our inner landscapes (Sandra's new work) to deepen our practice. I invite you to join us in Sonoma, April 4 and 18.
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Transmutation News
In this month's Transmutation News, Sandra offers a lovely case study of a woman who used transfiguration (a Medicine for the Earth practice) for eight months with a stroke patient, with amazing effects. She also talks about receiving love and experiencing how precious life is. Read the News.
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Elements Meditation
I use the Elements Meditation daily for letting go of the heavy, filling with the light, and connecting deeply with all the living energies of our world. Try the meditation.
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Transmuting Energetic Toxins
This article explores working with Medicine for the Earth practices to transmute toxins both personal and political, and delves into the quantum concepts that validate these methods. Read the article.
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World Drum
Watch video of the world drum traveling with Tuvan shamans to visit many villages.
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Catch Up on Consciousness
You can find last month's newsletter, "Fields of Consciousness," and read other, previous versions of Shifting Consciousness News here: Earth Caretakers.
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Consultation
Empower yourself and step into your radiance, wisdom, and wholeness with Earth Caretakers healing sessions. We provide shamanic consultations, energy healing, private instruction, Munay-Ki transmissions, workshops, and the Sacred Earth Shamanic Apprenticeship.
Email or call our office at 1-707-939-7961 to make your appointment.
A client writes, "I really, really, appreciate your gentle, thoughtful, loving, knowledgeable kindness and guidance during this entire process. It has been life-changing for me." Learn more at: Earth Caretakers.
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