I hope everyone had the kind of experience that I had when doing the universal loving-kindness exercise. The opening of the heart chakra to the world, basically, is to feel both the pain and suffering of everyone, AND the joy of loving life from everyone. It is a mixed emotional state, but an extremely powerful one. When doing this exercise, I was reminded of a ritual that I took part in back when I was working with a Wiccan coven. We decided to do a "Healing the World" ritual; there were six of us who had done several rituals before, and we worked well together. We asked that everyone bring a handful of earth from where they lived, and we placed all of this dirt in a big glass jar, to use as a focal point. The ritual involved a sort of guided meditation, with a focus on first sensing the people of the world's pain and suffering, and then sending them back waves and waves of our loving-kindness energy. I would say this at this juncture - several people who participated in this exercise were not very grounded, and they got terribly sick the very next day. By grounded in this sense, I mean they were not able to release the energy of the world's pain and suffering, and they ended up going home with that energy still inside them.
NOTE: of course at the end of the ritual, we had a grounding period, "cakes and ale" time, where we sat comfortably, quietly discussing our individual perceptions of the ritual, and eating some blessed food and juice. Unfortunately, those who got sick were not aware that they had not released all of the negative energy, and so took it home with them. I would never NOT do a grounding after a ritual; it is a vital part of the ceremony, to chill, relax, and release, because most ceremonies of this type can raise quite a bit of energy.
As for myself, being reminded of that time during this exercise, I was once again amazed at the huge amount of negativity in our world, and the immense tenacity with which we humans strive against it. I would cure the world's ills, were I given the power. As it stands, I can only cure those I can reach AND who are willing to help heal themselves. With my work with the American Legion, we always have a chair set aside, and draped with the POW-MIA flag, to remind us that there are still servicemen and women out there being held in captivity, or who still have yet to be found. This practice brought those thoughts to my head as I was practicing the mantras in the exercise; needless to say, I was completely awash in tears, because of the intensity of the emotions I have when it comes to knowing how much suffering there really is in our world.
As for the second part of this assignment, the integral assessment, I found this an interesting practice, and was quick to determine which of the four quadrants was/is causing me the most difficulty and suffering. The biological quadrant. I basically have four vertebrae in my lower back that are off-kilter due to slipped discs. These vertebrae being out of alignment cause pinching of the nerves that run the length of the right side of my body; I am pretty much in constant pain and have been since this occurred in 2005. So, for the assessment and what I need to work on most, it goes kind of like this:
Fitness - I used to walk several miles a day (this is due to not being able to do much more than this because of the nature of the pain); I recently had a hernia operation, to fix the hernia operation that I had in Scotland, that was done in such a manner as to cause the doctors here to tell me that they had never seen such a botched job. Since the hernia op made me not able to even walk, I didn't, and have gained about 30 pounds. This additional weight of course, make the pressure on my back worse. As a good side note, though, I am going finally to see a pain management specialist on Tuesday, to begin possibly getting epidural shots to numb the nerves. I may even qualify for surgery, but that's a last option.
Nutrition - I eat pretty well, but for many years, I only ate one meal a day; this caused my body to act in a "feast-or-famine" mode, and instead of losing weight, I gained it. Since I have not been able to exercise, and being with my fiance and her two kids, I have begun eating more regularly, and at the same time, encouraged them to try healthier foods, like broiled fish, and salads, and veggies. So there is a goodness working in there, I just need to regulate my eating with exercise, which I hope to be able to start next week. (In case you are asking yourself, "Why can't he walk?", every once in a while, I will have a nerve pinch so sever, that it drops me to the floor, and this can happen with the slightest of antecedents. Because no one wishes this to happen to me miles away from home, I have been instructed to just wait til I see this pain specialist next week.) I have a plan of action that is intentional (as the integral practice should be), I just have to wait a little longer to fit all the pieces together.
Well, this has gotten a lot longer than I expected, and I hope none of you got tired of reading and managed to make it this far. I look forward to reading your experiences with this practice. Namaste'
No comments:
Post a Comment