| Issue: March 2010 Newsletter |
Not Losing Ya’Acov By Roland A few days ago I went out
with Ya’Acov to look at a possible vision quest site on “Um – excuse me,” I hear you
ask, “Didn’t you write about something very similar a few issues ago in an
article entitled ‘Losing Ya’Acov’. I will tell you of the
lone raven, we watched from the top of hill, flying north to the higher ground
where snow was still lying on the ground, crying with that distinctive raven rasping
caw as he went. I will tell you, too, of the small wood that we found, where
Ya’Acov squatted down his haunches and declared that this was the perfect spot
for his base camp. Then, there was the delightful small stone circle
where Ya’Acov sat with his back against a stone facing north and I sat facing
south and I asked if he could envision what kind of ceremonies would have taken
place there thousands of years ago. And we talked about the passing of
the seasons, the marking of solstice celebrations, the sowing of crops and of
the strong connections that these people would have had with the land and the
landscape. It was though too cold to linger
long anywhere. But we did stop again and I sat on my plastic map cover
and ate my pasty and Ya’Acov sat on his coat and ate nothing at all. It
was then that I had a clear memory of visiting that very spot with a friend nearby nearly 30 years ago. I could
feel the precise qualities of that June day – the
white woolly clouds, the scattered trees in fresh leaf, the rocks dotting
the hillside, the wooded valley stretching up towards the higher moor
beyond. I realized it might just be like that memory when and if – as we
still need to check whether we can definitely use this place - we return to this
place this coming June to bring people here for the Vision Quest. Oh – you are little
disappointed there is no humour here? OK let me tell you that we also
took Susannah and Ya’Acov’s delightful black “But,” he added, “I do
have a special training technique to stop dogs chasing sheep that I wish to try
out that Susannah has told me about.” Now I should tell you that
Susannah is the one who has a very strong connection with animals and who has
done an excellent job training both their present dog and their previous
one. This is not to say that Ya’Acov doesn’t do his dog bit – it is just that
Susannah is the acknowledged expert in this field. So for a while during our
walk, were on the lookout for some sheep to try out this technique out
on. For most of the time sheep are remarkably unintelligent animals but
the sheep that were around on this part of the moor that day seemed to be atypically alert and, as if they knew something was up, kept a good distance
from us. Finally, however, we came across two unsuspecting sheep near a
stream. Ya’Acov immediately put his plan into operation and allowed Tali to approach the
sheep by releasing her extendable lead. Tali went forward cautiously and
for a moment I thought that nothing was going to happen. Then one of the
sheep looked up from the clump of grass it was eating and decided that the dog was
now too close for its personal comfort and so it bolted off with the fellow
sheep just behind it. Tali, of course, now started to run and just when the extendable lead had extended to full length, Ya’Acov gave
a violent double handed yank on the other end of the lead. At this point the scene
changed into something resembling a children’s TV cartoon and time seemed to
slow so that I was able to observe clearly what was happening at both end of
the dog-lead. At the dog-end of the lead Tali was momentarily halted. But
it takes quite a lot of strength to stop a young fit “Well,” he said with his
wonderful optimism that I so admire in him, “I think that should do it! I
rather doubt she will ever want to chase sheep after that!” “Mmm,” I replied, “I’m not
sure that dog training works quite like that but you never know. Lets see
what the dog expert says when she returns from teaching in If you want to join Ya’Acov
for the Vision Quest Module 17 – 24th June of the Ritual Group (no dog
training lesson included) please contact me for an application form. We
also still have places left on the other modules of the Group which are the
SEER process 18th – 23rd March or The Burial Ceremony on Sept 28th –
Oct 5th. roland@rwevents.co.uk 01803
762255. Meanwhile Susannah’s Ongoing
Group, Journey of
Empowerment, which starts in For those of you who are
contemplating joining the next Apprenticeship group which starts in Jan 2012,
you really need to start planning now how you are going to do the pre-requisite
workshops in time. These pre-requisites are Initiation and
the Phoenix
Retreat and at least one ongoing group (preferably Journey of
Empowerment) and if possible the Ritual Group as
well. Dates for all these pre-requisite workshop will soon be on the
website programme of events (both for this year as well as next year). If
you haven’t already done Initiation then
you should consider doing it this year. The dates are 3rd – 12th September.
The date for the early payment discount is May 1st. Please either
download an application form from the website or ask me to send you one. Coming up soon are: Mind Body
Spirit Festival in Return of the
Light in Early next month Susannah
will be running the Sanctuary Retreat
for women in the Austrian Alps from 8 -11 April. This workshop is
residential. We don’t offer this workshop very often so do take this
opportunity to take part if you. Please contact Andrea andrea_rainer@hotmail.com 0043
664 380 8073 for more details etc. And Ya’Acov will be teaching Source in Finally, I would like to
remind you about the Awakening workshop
which is being taught by both Susannah and Ya’Acov. It will take place in Newsletter Articles: Awakening feedback: "The medicine works! I
received inspiration and creative power to deal with a very challenging
situation which awaited my return home. The result is turning out unbelievably
different from anything I experienced in my life up to now. I loved the
harnessing of the conscious mind as one of our key resources in directing where
we are putting our attention."Kat Forrester, Events Organiser "A breath of fresh air
to me as newcomer! Great to be 'allowed' to dance and follow our inner spirit
freely without judgement. The contents of the course were skilfully arranged,
and beautifully guided by Ya'Acov and Susannah. The music was great and moved
me to the core." Nadia Smith de Nekludoff, Tui Na & Qigong /
Cranio-Sacral Practitioner Please either follow the
instruction on the flier or contact me Roland on 01803 762255 or roland@rwevents.co.uk if you want to
book for Awakening. So that’s all from me for
now from South Devon where Spring is valiantly trying to begin but wind
still blows coldly. Roland |
Spring Cometh and Life Says Go on, Grow! It’s all worth it though. 2010 is a busy year for
me, perhaps the busiest yet. For a couple of weeks, I had been amazed at my own
capacity to make decisions shrouded in the fog of my understudies when it comes
to planning my year. This was unceremoniously revealed by a great process we
did at the second module of our apprenticeship
in January. Our dear friend Jake had given us a great tool that we adapted
which helps to highlight our immunity to change. We’ll be working with it at
the Phoenix
Retreat in March (still places left – what are you waiting for?). The
process usually reveals something a touch on the embarrassing side. Hopefully,
with a sense of humour, we can take this on and use it as the starting point
for the Phoenix Process, which is the tool that we have created for finding
compassion for our understudies, releasing core patterning and calling the
intelligence of the soul to take it’s place as the star of the show! The
Phoenix Process grew out of the S.E.E.R Process (Systemic Essential Energy
Retrieval) which I will be teaching at Module One of my ongoing group Ritual which starts
in March (again – what are you waiting for?). The S.E.E.R process is a very
effective tool for emptying out the effects of old stories and retrieving our
essential energy from where it may have become locked up in past experiences. Anyways,
I digress. It turns out to my astonishment (but no-one else’s!) that for some
part of me that has the ability to take over the planning of my life, life is a
competition! And, what’s more, if I don’t win it, I will have to wallow in the
unwelcome mud of worthlessness! Oh dear! That’s not a pretty piece of
illumination but once I’d got over the embarrassment I felt, I could start to
understand where this stressy feeling that had started to creep in was coming
from. And then, thanks to a very simple and strong dream about the salmon, the
spirit keeper of the Chamber of Surrender in the Movement Medicine heart
mandala, I have been able to reframe this picture and whoosh, my life energy
and joy in the prospects ahead for 2010 returned in a flash. And, as well as
that, I’ve had a tad more consciousness when it’s come to planning 2011!
Result! I am continually astonished at my own and our
collective ability for an unpredictable blend of stupidity and brilliance. By
the time we are adults, we really are deeply responsible for creating our own
perceptions of reality. And, we have been given an amazing set of tools for our
journey here on planet earth. The body is astonishing as a vehicle for
experience and expression, the heart unmatchable in its ability to stretch and
stretch again as we start to understand the deepest medicine we have access to.
What’s that? L.O.V.E love of course! And the mind, once freed from its
incessant rehashing of old stories, is the perfect radio receiver for the new
information we need to be able to create a different outcome for ourselves and
of course, for all or relations, especially our descendants. What’s more, we’ve been given the perfect fuel to
link these three old friends so that we can indeed, become more conscious of what
we are choosing to dedicate our lives too. What is that fuel? Look around you.
Spring is coming. The sap is rising. Feel it? You got it. Sex. It’s all about
sex. How do we treat this divine gift of sexual energy? How to move through and
past a couple of thousand years of conditioning that have led us to have such a
distorted relationship with our sexual energy based on guilt, blame and shame.
How to recover the natural innocence, passion and creativity that gives us the
capacity to be empowered co-creators in the dance of life? The principles of relationship are the same,
whether they are to do with relationship between our own body-heart-mind, or
relationship with our lovers, colleagues and friends, or relationship with the
community of life on earth, or relationship with the spirit world or
relationship with the divine. And the principles of relationship can be learned
and what a pity they are not number one on the school curriculum – well not yet
anyway. We’re very excited to be starting work on a new book on this subject
this year. Relationship and a healthy dynamic polarity between feminine and
masculine are right at the heart of our work. Maybe we should call it creationship. Susannah and I just taught
Space Between Us II for couples who
had already done the workshop before. It went very deep as it always does. My good friend Chris Luttichau came over the other
day. He’d just done an interview about his thoughts on the upcoming adventure
otherwise known as 2012. Not the film 2012, which a friend told me was two
hours of adrenalized brainwashing nonsense which may have been better titled: ‘Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid!’ He asked me
what I felt about it. I told him that I felt we were increasingly being asked
to move to another level of recognising our interconnection with the rest of
life on earth. I said that things did indeed feel to me like they were
intensifying and speeding up and that I felt inside myself a continuing
invitation to keep cleaning the windows of perception and bring more simplicity
and harmony to bear in all areas of life. And as we went on talking, it kept on
coming down to the relationship between feminine and masculine and between
polarities. In many ways, it seems to me as if everything is polarising more.
At the same time, I feel that there is an awakening going on to the dangers of
continuing to live in a story of separation from each other and life. Things
are happening so fast that it’s impossible to predict what may happen next
week, let alone in 2012. In any case, we are walking a thin line and every
choice we make matters more because of this. And the more conscious we can
become about the story we are telling about our lives, and the story we are
telling through our actions, the better it is for the intelligence of life within
us, between us and all around us. If we can create moments of dynamic peace
within us and between us, we are creating a template for an outcome that may
make us shiver with delight rather than cower in fear. And yes, our sexual energy and our relationship to
it is a major key. Just like any other man, I’ve had to do a lot of purifying
of the education I received about sex. I’ve had to track the source of
addictions and attitudes that were equally hurtful to myself and those I have
been in relationship with. And that journey continues. Over the next few weeks, I will be teaching several
weekends connected to the arrival of spring. In I wish you all springtime blessings. With L.O.V.E
and respect, Ya’Acov. February 2010. P.S. Just received this from a good friend and
thought it would be good to pass it on to all true and proud of it tree
huggers! Hello, I recently started
using an internet search engine that saves 2m² (2.4yd²) of rainforest with each
web search I do. Their search results are as good as Google or Yahoo, and it’s
free. The address is: www.Ecosia.org So far Ecosia has
saved 31,788,444 m² (38,018,979 yd²) of rainforest! Check it out and forward
this email to your friends. It’s never been so easy to be green... Thanks! |
On and On So it was a good time for us
to offer the first ever Level II Space
Between Us Couple’s workshop which we just did in I just did a little tour:
Olten (Fusion), then Ya’Acov arrived
and we had a few days together before the Space
Between Us couples workshop, then we gave a Pachamama Symposium, and then Ya’Acov came home via a Move! evening
in I was so, so moved by the
simplicity and power of all these workshops, and realised again how deeply the
life of the dance can reflect and transform the dance of life. The theme of
polarities kept showing up, as well as the value of feeling safe, in order for
healing and transformation and new learning to happen. Working with Yin and Yang,
and with the image of divine (cosmic) mother and father went so deep in Fusion, then the dance between partners
in The Space Between Us and seeing
how deeply we long to love and be loved, and once we know we are safe, we can
let go the fear and the healing can arise. How in the dance of couple-hood we
can be each other’s healers or harmers, and what an ongoing, poignant, life
making or life deadening choice that is, and how we often simply don’t know HOW
to do what we want do deeply to do. And then the Pachamama Symposium (more in other
article) and then to This is on the second day of the
workshop, they could sing! There was a very powerful and beautiful men’s
section in this workshop, it was so, so beautiful to see, feel and hear them,
with their arm’s ‘round each other, expressing their strength, passion and
gentleness. One of the men moved us all by saying that singing like this was
the first time he had ever felt he could fully express his male power in a way
which he was sure was not destructive.
The key for this, of course, for all of us, men and women, is the
balance of listening and voicing. That is why, in my opinion, singing together
in harmony is such a wonderful way of practising co-creation. Listening is the
key, to yourself and to the whole, and at the same you need to be clear and
confident in your own part, your difference, and once this is established there
can be a wonderful weaving of awareness of whole and parts. Co-creation is
practised, experienced physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and
becomes an offering of beauty. Susannah DK |
About the Earth and the Sun This month's winner of £100 School of Movement Medicine workshop voucher By Roy Freeman We all know that
we walk on this Earth, we are nourished by her and receive energy from the Sun
that fuels our dance and life movements. As you dance your relationships to
Nature, it perhaps might be inspirational to ask: where did all this Earth come
from? Where does the calcium in my bones, the oxygen I breathe, the iron that
makes my blood red, actually come from? From the Earth, of course. But where
did it come from before that? All these atoms in the Earth, in the air we
breathe, in our bodies, in our blood, all this comes from the stars! Only the
incredible heat generated by the nuclear fusion (!) energy in the center of a
star can "melt or infuse subatomic particles (neutrons, protons,
electrons, quarks and whatever is there) into atoms. The nearest star is of
course "our" Sun. Certainly much of the original material of the
Earth (now in our bodies) came from our Sun, but not all. Since the time the
proto-Earth was gathering together by gravitational attraction, she has been
continually inundated by cosmic dust, tiny meteorites from other stars in all
parts of the universe. This amounts to tons of cosmic material per day! (For my
dissertation, I dissolved limestone from deep-sea sediments and uncovered these
tiny meteorites and took photographs of them with the electron microscope, so I
know they exist!) So when you are breathing, when you are dancing, you are
moving stardust! Think of that. Bring that to your dancer and let it power your
movements. Star medicine in moving human form! Another story: The
energy from the Sun is not the only reason life exists and is sustained on
Earth. Warmth from the Sun only penetrates a few meters into the Earth's
surface. But if you dig down, go into a cave or in a mine, you quickly notice
that it gets warmer the deeper you go! If it were not for this warmth, the
surface of the Earth would slowly freeze and enter a state of permafrost, the
oceans would be iced over and life as we know it today would not be possible.
But where does this heat come from? The rest of the heat from the fiery melt of
the proto-Earth has been cooling down over the last 5 billion years and is not
enough to heat up the surface of the Earth to the average annual temperature
range 12-18°C needed for life as we know it to survive. The answer is not
simple, but fascinating. It needed a bit of Earth history, atomic physics, and
plate tectonics to figure out and tells an amazing story of how everythings is
interconnected and not only rhythmic but irreversible processes are necessary
for life. It is like this.... oops, I
have got to get moving now and will let you know in later Newsletter! (A bit about
myself: I lead field trips to rivers and mountains to bring these amazing
slow-moving natural processes into our everyday experience and open up Nature
as one amazing teacher about who we are in the big - and small - sense. For
instance, in southern Switzerland we go to where you can touch the rocks where
the ancient continent of Europe touches (!) the rocks of the ancient continent
of Africa; or to the Pilatus mountain near Lucerne where the limestones tell us
the story of the great rhythmic climate changes (that continue today) and we
can read directly from them how life in the ocean reacted to those changes 100
million years ago. For more information on the excursions, you can visit
www.naturprozesse.com, they are open to everyone! On www.lightofnature.net you can read some
personal thoughts on Paracelsus who wrote around 1540 about the stars in our
blood.) |
My Return of the Light On February
26-28th I was in In a
more practical way my ‘conscious’ preparation began just a month before, in
Warsaw ("For All Our Relations" workshop), where I had become more
aware of an ancient and painful wound which physically was in my lower back… It
was so dark to me that I instinctively felt that the “Return of the Light”
could maybe help me… and even if I couldn’t tell what would happen on the French
annual event of Ya’Acov’s magical mystery tour I was at least hoping for healing…
and trusted that whatever would happen would be perfect… Every
day for a month I called for Light, putting a candle on my Altar… During
that month I experienced a clear need to let go ancient ways of behaving...
Based on that old dark wound... I experienced quite a number of occasions where
it was so obvious (sometimes caricatural!) that I had to change… I had to show
up and be true to my self (instead of forcing myself to things I no longer
‘needed’ nor wanted… so that the other people were “happy”). But I didn’t know
how to do!!! And
on Friday that was the beginning. Back
to basics. Re-connecting to the Earth inside me. To the Fire inside me, with
the Earth melting and that became a volcano... The Fire from the Earth...
Wow... I was it. I was it!!! That was so good... And even I sometimes felt a
lack of fluidity I knew that something was different…. After
that ‘Move’ session, as well as a resting night such as I hadn't had for sooo
long, now was a new day. On
Saturday morning, during the warm-up session… things changed… As my brother and
friend Cyrill began to dance with me I felt a deep fragility in my body... We
began to exchange in movement... Exchange… and at a certain point, I just knew
that now was possible to let go and to leave the Ancient to the 'hands' of the
mimosa tree (it was at the center of the dancing room)… I could leave it to the
hands of the mimosa tree if I also sent Light… That
was so intense, I just couldn't do but melt into tears and lay down. Tears.
Soft, deep, good tears, as an intense 'good bye', an 'adieu'... Liberation
tears. When
I then got up back to movement, I didn't well realize what had happened but my
eyes just met the eyes of Ya'Acov who nodded at me. I knew I was now freed. Strange
thing... But that was true. I could feel it deep inside my body. I could feel a
freedom of movement in my low back and hips which I had never felt. Never ever.
I was free. And now I could experiment, dance, integrate it so that I could
take care of that space where Light could now flow... I was free. The
rest of the workshop was, for me, a series of experiences about the light that
could now be… how I could now dance… how I could take care about the Light… how
I could protect it… how I could expand… how I could be the elements with that
light… How I could ask for healing… with that light… call for guidance… with
that light… The
workshop ended on Sunday… Sun-day… a day with Light. During
that workshop, a wall collapsed. And let the Sun shine on it. On Sun-Day...
So much energy was in me and asked to dance freely. So much that it was
impressive. Sometimes so much that I was a little bit afraid of what could
happen if I allowed myself to let it be and move and express.... In fact, no,
that wasn't it. My head was afraid, my body knew it was now possible. Now that
darkness let place to emptiness and freedom and pure light. Everything was now possible. I knew it. Wow… I am
so thankful… With
Love... And More light than ever ;-) PS:
A great video that I've just discovered and that I'd like to share http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbk980jV7Ao
The next Return of the Light workshop is being held in Manchester 26th - 28th March. For more details and to book contact Elaine on +44 161 881 2644 i-am@elaineswords.com |
Fusion - Olten By Elisabeth Käufeler-Schrag I love dancing and the way
of possibility to be in contact with movement and the health inside. My daily
lifework has become so easy in the last month and year. Thank you Susannah, and Ya’Acov
for your big, huge, "grandios" (in german)(I don't know how to say it
in other, better words) work. First this meeting-myself
and others in our small support groups, was a deep experience. To find
sculptures of what we felt, gave the spoken words a really new quality and
another deepening. That brought us together
and at the same time set us free. Then, when I danced with
the great mother, it was so clear and strong and I felt so many of her
qualities in myself. I loved it and loved to meet other facets in the dance of
other people. So the dance until then was
a harmonic thing. Therefore I never expected what happened with me, when the
dance of the big father started. I was really open to let
occur, what has to be and stated to dance this completely other quality. The music changed and suddenly
there were shouts like in a war from soldiers and it was loud and there where
no possibility to extract myself. And big hot tears began to run
over my face. I ran through the dancing folk and let it come out. I asked myself,
why this energy so often had to bring death and misery to this world. The whole life from my
personal father came up to my mind. He as a young man had to go to be a soldier
in the 2. World war and was affected for the rest of his life and my whole
childhood was mirrored of this war. Was that a worthy life????? This question
comes in my mind. Big sadness was coming from the ground of my soul searched
its way up to the surface level. I was not prepared for that.
And than I always told myself, that was the story of my father. And it’s
gone. Now is now and this energy
can also used in another way! I don't have to wear the weight of all this any
more. Than I could say thank you, papa, that you gave me this life as your
gift. And it was worth to be, yes!!!! Thank you. Thank you, papa, thank you
big father thank you Susannah thank you thank you thank you und yes!!!! The next day, on Sunday the
dancing energy in myself was completely different. When we danced the
feminine suddenly it took me to the dervish dance like it does other times and
from the deepest point of my soul and body there came up a big shout of
"YES, YES, YES, and THANK YOU, Thank YOU, THANK YOU, and I dance for
all of us for the whole world. With all the deep possibilities of
embodiments. Than the big moment of the
dance with the great father. And there was no hint now of sadness or anger or
something like this. There was only freedom and peace and power and love. All together I’m so
thankful for all this and all the experiences I had above all. I feel
soooooooooooooooooooooooooo grounded and held and fully empowered! I tried to find words for
all this I hope they are graspable. These experiences are so huge, that if it
could help others to allow things, I'm glad to give a part to it. Deeply moved in every cell, Elisabeth Käufeler-Schrag (After Fusion was taught in Olten in Feb 2010 by Susannah Darling Khan) |
Movement Medicine Book - More Reviews A Totnes resident had heard of this South
African academic who loved dancing who was attending a “Susannah and Ya’Acov's book is just so
readable, in particular the personal bits that bought the pages alive and
validated my vulnerability in being human. My spiritual side so loved the
delicious recipes, the intention and purpose written clearly in easy to follow
instructions and most of all the way it resonated with a big "yes"
from within my soul!” Francine Swaby “I found susannah's and
ya'acov's first book wonderfully fresh, open and seamlessly
intertwined with complimentary real life stories that touched me deeply and
gave further meaning to my own dancing path. there is a youthful and
expansive energy contained within the pages and it is brim full of excercises
and ideas to encourage spiritual growth.”
Jason Rowe As well as the Movement Medicine Book there really useful CD: Movement Medicine (which has 2
CDs, one of which has music with instructions, and the other the music without
words). The Book is £11, the CD is
£12, but if you order them both, you can have them for £20. You can order online www.movementmedicineshop.com |
Awakening the Dreamer By Susannah “When we throw something “away” where is
“away”? There is no such thing! When we
throw something “away” we are saying that it is acceptable to throw the planet
and its people away.” Julia Butterfly Hill “The reason we are locked into this nightmare
dream of consumption is that we are LONELY. And things, our obsession with
things, will never cure the hunger in the human heart” “What you do to the earth
you do to yourself” “You are part of the land.
It’s your body- its you” Jeanette Armstrong These are some of the quotes
from the Pachamama “Awakening the Dreamer” Symposium which have come to mean a
lot to me as I’m in a process of un-weaving and re-weaving my assumptions and
the actions which flow from them. I need words and reminders like these help me
wake up from the sleep of the “consume and throw away” culture which it has
been our generations lot to participate in.
Desmond Tutu’s words from In the wake of the
beautiful, deep, heartful Pachamama symposium Ya’Acov and I just facilitated at
Waldhaus, I feel deeply relieved to have shared this with people willing to go
so deep in feeling what we are doing to the earth and its beings, human and
otherwise. I felt a huge personal relief to be in the company of others willing
to feel the pain of the collective “entrancement.” I realise again how much I
need this to feel the courage to go on finding ways to live the new and old
dream of connectedness. For me the dance of healing
is to bring together feeling, word and action, to bring the oneness we can feel
on a spiritual, vibrational and emotional level to inform our actions, our
manifestation, our ways of life, so that there is an alignment between the
spirit level and the earth level. “On earth as in heaven”… This us why on our
workshops we take time for each participant to link what is being experienced
and learnt on the dance floor, with the wider dance of life. One thing I realise for
myself gets in the way of this, can make me complacent is the self-identity I
have as a “caring” or “ecologically conscious person”. I can easily lounge
about in this self-perception and not see how what I am doing is often in
direct contradiction to my avowed intention. Because it’s easy. Because
everyone else is doing it. Because “I am already doing so much, aren’t I?
Because I really want/deserve etc that coffee”… And the other thing I
realise again and again is the way that we are ‘herd” animals. I read an
article recently from a research about why human beings act so irrationally,
not just about things like climate change, but about stuff like investment and
mortgages. The research found that there is a very strong pull in us to do what
the others do, especially people we respect and/or give status to. So even if
we can see that something is dangerous/wrong/stupid and even if it not sensible
even in terms of our own narrowly defined self-interest- if enough other people
are doing it, we say to ourselves, “Oh, it must be alright”. I just had 15 minutes in I caught another moment like
this for myself at a venue, standing deep in thought at the tea and coffee
machine. I made myself a Vervaine tea, and then slipped the tea bag into the
bin, with just a whisper of an implicit thought, “oh it should go into the
compost bucket but there is no compost bucket here, only in the kitchen, Oh, if
its OK for the people here it must be OK….and somewhere a slightly macho
feeling….” Ya’Acov saw me and said “what are you doing???!” As we fished my tea
bag and some others out and carried them to the kitchen compost bin, I realised
I had been back in the trance… “What I do to the earth I do
to myself”. So I was acting as if my body is trash-able. And you know what I
can feel now? My resistance to really feeling this, not sometimes, or most of
the time, but as a given fact, is the pain of the sensitivity and loneliness it
brings…. I am, as much as anyone, a herd animal, I need to belong. So I want you to know that I
need you to help me wake up, that we need each other, shoulder to shoulder,
heart to heart, action by action to bring our spiritual sense of connection and
love for all life into manifest reality, to walk our talk and manifest a new
paradigm of lived inter-connectedness. Again: “A peaceful, just,
sustainable and joyous world IS possible, IF we choose it”. Desmond Tutu With love, respect and
gratitude that we are sharing the journey, and wishing you the courage to follow
your heart and the blessing of good company on the way, Susannah DK |
| The views expressed here do not necessarily represent the views of the School of Movement Medicine.
Roland Wilkinson, Nappers Crossing, Staverton, Devon TQ9 6PD, UK Tel & Fax +44 (0)1803 762255 http://www. schoolofmovementmedicine.com
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