SELF QUESTIONS On the West

• Did/do unusual things occur in your life that give you pause to consider, “where did that come from?”

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• What do you remember about my fantasies as a child? adolescent?  young adult? present age?

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• Do you take time to digest life’s experiences before continuing?

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• Have you ever experienced déjà vu?

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• Can you look at life as magical; each person, being, event a potential messenger to bring you back to your soul’s purpose?

Your Words

Time:  As long as it takes 

Materials: Your journal

EXERCISE:    Keep a dream journal.  Even if you only remember an image, a feeling or apportion of the dream, honor it and write it down.   This will encourage your dream self to share information.  Investigate the symbols, metaphors and meanings. You may join a dream group, enter counseling, arrange a consultation or investigate independently with dream books and symbol guides.  There are many wonderful websites loaded with this information.  One note of caution, if you do not have experience interpreting symbols and metaphor, there is a tendency to get lost in the individual meaning of images.  This is like searching for one piece in a jigsaw puzzle without seeing how it fits into the whole.  In this situation, outside support or consultation is valuable.  Many people consult me on astrology charts.  They have studied the chart, the planets, and aspects from books and software, but still do not see how the chart works together.  It is the same with symbols and metaphor.  There may be contradictory meanings or indications in different symbols.  We need to understand how they fit together within the theme of our lives for their meanings to be realized.  We are looking for synthesis rather than analysis; the whole rather than individual parts.

Your Movement

Time: 1-1/2 hours minimum 

Materials: music, radio, CDs, ipod or whatever works for you.

EXERCISE 1: Give yourself time to explore your adolescence and young adulthood.  Review things you may have read as a teen.  Listen to music from this time period. Review the fashions. DANCE. DANCE. DANCE.  There is no right way to dance and move.  Express yourself your emotions, your happiness, your uncertainty, your confusion, your happiness, your love.

Exercise 2: Once you have your awakened your energy an equally important step in the process is Clearing your  Mental  clutter.  

Open up space for the new you to emerge.  Get rid of anything that ties you to an unpleasant past, including photos or mementos that elicit bad and hurtful memories.  This does not imply that you should deny your past.  However, if a certain object makes you feel badly each time you see it, thank the item for the lesson learned and let it go.  Let it move to a new home where it may be valued or bring joy.  Fill your space with things that reflect your highest nature.  If you are not sure about something, put it away for six months to a year and see if you miss it.  If not, it is no longer necessary to support your highest self.

Exercise 3: YOGA CHILD POSE

This pose is a deep resting pose and perfect for beginners. Balasana is similar to a deep forward bend but gentler. Balasana reminds us of our times as infants, and we have memory in our bodies of being in this position. It gives you a taste of the yielding involved in a forward bend and your attention draws inward. Use the pose in a class or practice session whenever you need a break, to rest until your gather the energy for what is next. Substitute the pose for Downward Dog Pose when you are doing a sun salutation vinyasa. Or go to it in a class whenever you need to rest and restore yourself. Balasana can precede or follow any other asana.   You may notice that some days you don’t need to do this pose and other days you are may go into it again and again during a yoga class depending on your stamina and the intensity of the class or practice. Rejoin the class or practice when you are ready.

On your yoga mat, start by kneeling on your hands and knees similar to the position a baby assumes to crawl on the floor. Widen the knees apart from each other. Place the tops of your feet on the floor so your toes are not curled under and torso width apart. Your soles should be facing the ceiling. Bring the torso rest between the thighs. Your hips are bent and your buttocks are in the air. Lower the buttocks to the floor and extend the spine. Lengthen the neck as your forehead rests on the floor. Your arms can go along the body with palms up or facing toward you, next to the thighs as shown in the photo.  The arms can reach in front of you, extended beyond your head on the floor with the palms down.  Shoulders are wide. Allow your chest to sink to the floor. Take some long deep breaths with a focus on long exhalations. Let a sense of surrender into the pose. Come out of the pose after a few to several long breaths. Rise up on an inhalation and press the tailbone down as you use your arms to bring your torso up. (from www.yoga.com)

Your art

TIME : 1 1/2-2 hours

MATERIALS: Poster board, mat board or other strong material, paint, photos, symbols, glue gun, straight edge cutter.

EXERCISE: YOUR SHIELD  Design a shield honoring yourself and your journey.  Make it strong, brilliant, protective and easy to carry.  It can be any shape and any size that feels comfortable to you. You may decorate it with anything you wish. Use photos, paint, feathers, sequins, shells, bottle caps or any other materials to create your shield.   This is your coat of arms for your spiritual journey. How does it feel to walk with this shield?

Your Silence

Time: 1-1/2 hours minimum

Materials: Your self acceptance

We are all human.  We all have regrets. There is always time for amends. There are things that we wished had never happened and people we no longer need in our lives, but holding onto resentment creates illness, discomfort and keeps us connected to those times.   The task of the West is to let go and move on.  Our point of power is the present.  What has gone before is over. What is happening in our world at the present time is our choice.  We can move forward. Our past does not need to continue to imprison us.  In my favorite Tarot deck, The Medicine Woman Inner Guidebook Deck by Carol Bridges, she points out that Devil is ‘lived’ spelled backwards.  If we continue to make our life decisions based on fears from our past, we imprison ourselves in the present.  This is the nature of hell; reliving unhealthy unproductive patterns without consciousness or freedom of choice. Be present.  Be here now. Be clear about who you are and affirm the highest vision you can see for yourself.  Forgive yourself and others for their ignorance.  Bless yourself with the wisdom you have gained from life thus far. Life is a continuum and even people who are no longer in your life can be forgiven or asked for forgiveness.

EXERCISE 1: Sit quietly.  When you are in a place of neutrality and radiance, send those in need your apology, your love, your forgiveness, or your blessing.  If you can not reach a place of neutrality, just keep trying .  Do not push yourself into a place of smiling through gritted teeth.  When a person or incident arises in your meditation that irritates you, try letting that irritation flow through you like water or a passing cloud. Do not hold onto it.  If you hold onto the feelings of anger and resentment , you continue feeding the negative relationship. Just let go.

EXERCISE 2  : A long soak in warm waters.  Treat yourself t to a long warm bath.  Try turning off the lights and using only candles or  enjoy the still darkness.  Visit a mineral spring.  Give yourself the gift of being immersed in the waters.