Waking up in Oz or The Upsidedown – The Spiritual Path through the Underworld

Lightworker Global Call to Action

Waking up in Oz, or The Upside-down: The Spiritual Path through the Underworld

Hosted by: Geneva Robins

LunaHolistic

Facilitated by: Ayla Thomas

Natalija Radovanovic

Podcast Air Date: Friday, April 3, 2020

GENEVA ROBINS: Hello and welcome! My name is Geneva Robins. Welcome to the Lightworker Global Call to Action podcast series. Thank you for joining live and thank you for joining later. We’re so happy to be here with you and create this sense of connection and community in this very surreal, crazy time that we’re in right now.

I’m Geneva Robins, I’m a Reiki Master here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and I’ve been doing meditation and teaching Reiki for many years, and I just felt called to help people connect and create a bit of community, and also reach out because I need community and I really enjoy these twice-weekly calls just to connect with all of you and to talk about some of these really big things and big ideas that are changing everything about how we’re doing everything.

Before we get into the content, I’d like to thank the Indigenous Peoples in the land that I am sitting, and wherever you happen to be across the planet, thank you to the Indigenous Peoples of the world. And if you are an Indigenous Person, welcome. Welcome, everybody – thank you for being here, for everybody joining live and later.

I have a couple of helpers with me today. I’d like to introduce Ayla Thomas. She’s a Reiki Master here at LunaHolistic with me, as well as many, many other things. Say hi, Ayla!

AYLA THOMAS: Hey guys, how’s it going?

GR: Good to have you here, thank you! Ayla will be helping you out, too, those of you who are joining live on the chat, so she’ll be assisting. And then I also have a helper, Natalija Radovanovic, I hope I got that right! She’s also a Reiki Master here in Calgary. Say hi, Natalija!

NATALIJA RADOVANOVIC: You did get that right, Geneva! Hello everyone, hope everyone is well.

2:20

GR: Thank you! Thank you both for joining us and I’m happy to have – I’m happy to have buddies and human interaction. It’s amazing how important that is these days. The – thank you, thank you both.

And for those of you who are joining live, maybe I’ll get Ayla to describe how you can ask your questions and interact with us.

AT: Yeah, you just use the chat button on the bottom of the screen, there’s a bunch of buttons down there, so open the chat one. If you want the message to go to all of us, just hit the little blue bar and it’s “All Panelists and Attendees,” and if you want to ask an anonymous question, just use the Q&A on the bottom.

GR: Yeah, thank you so much, thank you.

So our topic for today was Waking Up in Oz or the Upside Down: the Spiritual Path Through the Underworld, and this was an idea that was brought to me by one of the Reiki masters at LunaHolistic as well, Tanja Lucin, and she just said, “Isn’t it like being in The Wizard of Oz?”

And these ideas of that, these, fairy tales have, or these stories in our culture, that where there’s this, you know, being lost in this strange place and the only way out is to follow this path into the mystery, into the unknown, and really listen and make choices day-by-day, moment-by-moment, from that heart space.

The only way through being in this underworld time is by going in and diving deeper and into the heart and being in that inner transformation. So, and what’s really beautiful is in that Wizard of Oz story, all of the characters, the main heroes in the story, they all had to transform, but the transformation was really about letting out what was always within them.

So, I think, the lion was afraid, and he had to – he realized, what he wanted most was courage, but he already always had it, you know? And the Tin Man wanted empathy, but he always had that.

It was always inside and that’s really what I feel about a lot of the work that we do with Reiki and meditation and this deeper inner work is that the strength is already inside you, whatever the worry, the overwhelm, the anxiety – there is a light inside you that is brighter. There is a strength inside you that is, that is brought out by being in this unusual, topsy-turvy time where nothing seems real and it’s very odd.

Everything that would have given us structure, everything that would have helped us provide, sort of, this rudder or anchor or stability in our lives, has been upended, and even really routine things like going to the grocery store or going for a walk or just going to and fro about your day have changed in some substantial way.

And it’s eerie, you know? Just even, you know, driving and not seeing traffic when you would normally see traffic, and there’s this absence of physical interactions, but this increase, oddly, in connection, because we’re so aware and we’re so heightened to this shift that it makes every interaction way more meaningful.

6:33

And yeah, and then also just hearing these things happening in the greater world or, you know, in our communities where we’re living, and really, it’s hard to comprehend. There’s so much change, it’s almost like our brains get stuck into overload or overwhelm.

Right when this happened, about a week in, I was sitting, and I normally plan out my week on Mondays, that’s usually my day off, and I had this very surreal thought of, like, “Whew! I’m glad that’s over. I wonder what my appointments are coming up this week?” You know, I always kind of like to look to see, you know, who’s coming in and that, and make sure I have everything ready for the week ahead.

And it just dawned on me, I’m like, yeah, this is not – this is not “business as usual,” but just even having that surreal little thought of, like, “Oh it’s normal, this is fine. I can carry on.” It feels very disconnected in some ways, and there’s this, sort of, loosey-goosey energy of being both – at the same time, being very busy, and maybe, even if you’re not working or you’re at home, there’s a busyness in the mind and there’s a busyness in the energy and in the heart.

And then other people may be busier than they’ve ever been in their entire lives and, you know, just finding a space of solace and connection and being able to clear off whatever energy is there so that you can just keep going from day to day to day doing what you must, so … for the good of us all.

So we thank you, anybody who is on the front lines who’s busier than you’ve ever been – thank you very much for the service you’re providing, because if you’re working, there’s a very good chance that you are keeping the engine of our society alive and maybe even directly involved in keeping people alive, so thank you very, very much. We appreciate every – every ounce of effort that you are putting in. So, if we can offer you a little shelter from the chaotic, weird storm, we’re glad to have you here.

So, I’m curious what my buddies on the line have any insight of, or even you – you can type in any sort of surreal experiences or thoughts you’ve had about how strange things have been for us. Ayla, what have you, what are you experiencing where you are?

AT: Oh man, so much, surreal. I feel like I’ll be doing something really neutral like watching Netflix or, like, texting with friends about something else, or even on the phone laughing with friends, and there’s those moments that you absolutely forget that we are in the middle of a pandemic, and then you’re kind of brought back to the reality and you’re like, “Oh, right!”

Like, this was a normal situation that just happened, but, like, the pandemic is still happening around that, and you know just going out for walks and doing things, it’s not as simple as it used to be, just like you were [saying]. It’s challenging because, you know, we have to stay so far away from each other. It’s not, sort of, a mindless activity anymore; it’s a very mindful activity because you have to work to stay a few metres away from everybody, yeah.

GR: Yeah. It’s really, it’s really weird, you know, and I find – I was out and, earlier on, and I was just, sort of, walking out to the car and I didn’t give social distance. I was just like, I smiled at my neighbour and he gave me the strangest look and I was like, “Oh! Oh, my goodness!” I only gave him like, two feet, like our regular bubble. I didn’t give him the bigger bubble, and it was like, ah. You just sort of go on autopilot sometimes and it’s shocking. I felt like, you know, from a distance, shouting “sorry!”

11:11

[Laughter]

It’s like we’ve created this new, like, energetic ‘stepping on people’s toes’ by getting in people’s bubbles, so. Natalija, what have you been experiencing?

NR: Yeah, I think a little bit of what we all must be going through right now and kind of what Ayla said as well, just like that, that new kind of normal where it’s, it feels like it’s still normal, but then it’s not. And I won’t say it the right way, but there’s, like, this like meme on social media, too, that it’s like, it says it perfectly – it’s kind of like in a constant state of, like, surreal and normal, where you’re like, panicking, but you’re not, because everything still feels so normal, when it doesn’t. And it’s so, it’s so validating.

And even like, the other day, I went to the grocery store, as we all have been, and it’s just weird – that energetic bubble now that we’re giving. Like, I was grabbing some fruit and just kind of looking over, and people are so distant from each other. And everybody has a mask and, like, gloves on, and I just have to take, like, a second look to kind of be like, wow.

Like, this is how we’re grocery shopping, this is how we’re going out in public now. Like, this is a normal thing to see, where before, it’s still – like, I just saw a man like, you know, grabbing his fruit as well, and just kind of it reminded me like, oh, we’re in a pandemic, which is, which is different from what we’ve ever known.

But to see the, everything in place more, like now people are social distancing more, there’s arrows, people are being polite, smiling from, like, six feet away and really honouring that space and kind of getting really, just really self-aware of where you are in people’s surroundings. So, it is a little bit bizarre, but yeah.

GR: Yeah, I agree. It’s, there’s all sorts of things that, like, in just in our day-to-day routines that make things feel surreal, but then there also the emotional swirl as well, which is that, is like, we don’t have a word to describe that particular feeling of being as – you know, for me I’ve been as sad as I’ve ever can remember being, and also as joyful as I can ever remember being.

There’s lots of losses, both personal and collective and true, deep fears for my loved ones and myself and the state of the world and everything that I care about.

It’s quite distressing, and at the same time, my quality – I can feel the quality of my life is increasing, and decreasing at the same time, you know, because I love, I love touch, you know? I love hugs, I love, you know, placing my hands on people and that reassuring touch that’s a part of in-person sessions with Reiki, and there’s a real loss that I was feeling of, you know, for however long we need to be apart from each other, to be apart.

But at the same time, there’s this greater community and this greater connection, and this – and what’s so amazing about the work that we do is that it transfers very well to distance. It’s coming from this on – beyond time and space realm, really, from a quantum field is where Reiki and all of spirituality is tapping into this energy beyond the energy, and when we tap into that, that’s where I feel the most connected and the most grounded and the most secure. So, but thank you both for sharing your thoughts, that was wonderful.

15:35

Let’s do a little grounding meditation. It’s always nice to get plugged in to the planet. If you’re brand new to grounding, it’s a visualization energetic technique to basically visualize your roots or this magnetic, energetic connection with the Earth below your feet.

And if you are new to meditation, it’s – I do a very nice, easy one where you get to connect into the flow within you, and you just have to listen to my words and follow along as best you can.

And there are two things in meditation that can boost up your practice, so one is closing your eyes. When you close your eyes, you start dropping out of fight-or-flight, that sort of heightened response. And then when you breathe slower, you end up having your heart rate slow down, and when your heart rate slows down and your eyes are closed and you breathe through your nose, you end up telling your whole physiology that you are safe.

And those two things, if you did those for five minutes a day – and just let your mind do whatever it does, it’s fine – if you did those for five minutes a day, you would start dropping out of that anxious, if you are feeling anxious or overwhelmed, it just helps settle you in and centre you in.

So, we’ll get into that grounding meditation right now. You can just get comfy. This is the grounding meditation from my book, The Secret Art of Happiness. There’s lots of really great tools and resources in that book and I’ll be posting more of them in the resources area of the LunaHolistic website as soon as I am able. Whoop! [Sound of water bottle falling over.]

I need to ground! So, okay, this is a great teaching moment. So, symptoms of not being grounded are: being clumsier than normal – I dropped my cell phone on my toe earlier, before this call, which, to me, is always like, okay, just be where your feet are; tripping, stubbing your toes, being forgetful when you’re normally not forgetful, being in sort of a mental fog or a feeling of disorientation.

So, it’s normal for us to become disoriented when we’re in a state of confusion, and what grounding can do is it can help plug you in so that you feel more peaceful, more settled, more centered, and it can help orient you with the energy in the Earth’s magnetic field. And when you’re connected to that Earth’s magnetic field, it helps kind of plug you in and make you feel like you’ve kind of got some direction in all of the disturbance.

So, that, I just dropped my book – that’s what happened – it means that we need to do this grounding meditation and I do too, so.

19:07 to 25:20

Here we go! So, we can just very gently, closing your eyes, and as you listen to the sound of my voice, you can let your breath relax. Place your feet flat on the floor or bring your spine up straight. Just gently become aware of the energy of the Earth just below your feet, just below the base of your spine. Notice the vast expanse of energy available to you now.

This energy is wise, dependable, and nurturing. Feel the charge and character of this Earth energy now. Now become aware of the energy within your body. Observe the difference or similarity between your energy and the Earth’s energy. Just notice this gently, easily, and with great kindness.

Now, easily, with your breath, allow the energy of your body and the energy of the Earth to balance out. Let the energy reach its own stable resting point, your natural equilibrium. Allow the charges in your body and in the Earth to harmonize, just easily and gently, with your breath. Notice how your breath helps the energy flow.

Notice the support, the love, the comfort, that’s available to you now. There’s no need to push or pull the energy here, just step aside and let it flow. Allow the Earth energy to rise up your body, right to your crown. Allow any unwanted energy or tension to flow off, right through your feet.

Let the nurturing presence of Mother Earth be with you now. Surrender all barriers and blockages to her magnificent love. You are so loved. Feel it now. Rest here for a moment.

Now, very gently, you can begin to bring yourself back, gently wiggling your fingers and your toes, bringing the energy down your legs, just moving your hands down your legs, connecting back into the Earth. And then, with your hands facing your body, you can smooth your aura – that’s that electromagnetic field around your body – from head to toe, all the way around you. And giving that energy bubble around you a little pat, sealing it all in.

Ah, thank you, everybody. If you’re joining live, I’d love to hear what you experienced. You can type that in the chat window, and while you’re doing that, and then I can share those, I’ll read those out. While you’re doing that or if you’d like to do that, maybe I’ll go to Ayla. What did you experience?

AT: Thank you, that was so lovely. I felt like, I thought I was quite grounded, and then I realized I was not, and there was, kind of, all this energy, kind of, sweeping out of my aura and off of me, so I feel like some stuff definitely cleared away, and I feel like I’m more in my own bubble after that, which is a really nice feeling. It’s a lot more peaceful there.

GR: Yeah, wonderful, thank you, thank you. Natalija?

NR: Yeah, that felt really lovely. I needed a grounding meditation as well. It just felt like the message of connection really came through, just how connected, like, I felt during that meditation for me personally to, like, Mother Earth and, like, the Divine, but just how much we need to remember, like, with all this connection that we are also connecting to the Earth.

That it has that energy and healing for us to recharge us. It just, it felt really special. I felt like I had a vision of, just, certain people, like, just, randomly sitting, connected, grounding to the Earth, so it was kind of, it was really neat, it was really special, just a huge message about connection in there.

GR: Beautiful, beautiful. Thank you, thank you. And if any of you want to share, that’s lovely. If not, that’s okay too. Just anytime, you can send your messages in.

Well, I’d like to share a little bit from this amazing book, Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, or Dr. Estes.

27:43

This book changed my life. This is the first really important book for me, and it is amazing, if you haven’t picked up a copy, it’s really great. It’s got the subtitle as Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype, and it’s just absolutely amazing and she talks a lot about – she’s a Jungian psychologist and she is also a storyteller.

And she’s got this poetic way of writing, it’s beautiful. And it’s a, it’s a beautiful book of just fairy tales and how that relates to us and our journey of inner transformation, but before I get into that I’d like to share some of the comments or experiences.

VICKI: “I felt like my energy was a little scattered at first, and then at the end, I felt more connected to Earth and nature. it gave me a more pleasant, golden energy.” Wonderful.

And AMY: “Thank you, I needed that. I felt weight just dropping off my body.” Yeah, just letting it all roll off and go to Mother Earth is just absolutely wonderful. I just, the, that Earth energy is so deep and wise. It really can handle any of the heaviness that is too big for us humans within our one little human lifetime to bear. We have to let all of that heavy stuff go into safer hands, and grounding is one way that I know how to do that. So, thank you for sharing.

I just want to read this little excerpt. It’s from, there’s a chapter called, in the back, called “La Selva Subterranea,” – I may be not pronouncing the Spanish correctly – and it’s chapter 14 in the book, and it’s where she describes the book, a fairy tale called “The Handless Maiden,” which is a beautiful fairy tale that she has reconstructed to its original fairy-tale form – and original fairy tales tend to be quite brutal, so, hence the “handless” maiden.

The story itself is fairly long, but I encourage you to pick it up. But I loved how Dr. Estes describes this “going into this unknown” and the purpose it serves for us, because right now we’re in a whole pile of discomfort. It’s uncomfortable. Nobody wants this, not a single person.

And while there are good things within it, it is also – it’s disquieting, it’s uncomfortable, and we’re just in it, and we’ll be in it for an uncertain, vulnerable length of time, which is nothing we like to be in. So, hence, the underworld. We’re in the midst of forces that are, by their nature, beyond our control, and when we’re in that state of lacking control, we have to turn to a guidance that’s far deeper than we’re used to.

So, here’s what Dr. Estes has to say:

31:33 to 34:51

The Handless Maiden is about women’s initiation into the underground forest through the rite of endurance. The word “endurance” sounds as though it means to continue without cessation, and while this is an occasional part of the tasks underlying the tale, the word “endurance” also means to harden, to make sturdy, to make robust, to strengthen.

And this is the principal thrust of the tale, and the generative feature of a woman’s long psychic life. We do not just go on to go on; endurance means we are making something substantial.

The teaching of endurance often occurs throughout all of nature. The pads of wolf pups’ paws are soft as clay when the pups are born; it is only the ranging, the roaming, the treks on which their parents’ take them that toughen them up. Then they can climb and bound over sharp gravel, over stinging nettle, even over broken glass without being hurt.

I have seen wolf mothers plunge their pups into the coldest streams imaginable, run the pup until a pup is flay-legged and can hardly keep up, and then run some more. They are toughening up the sweet little spirit, investing it with strength and resilience.

In mythos, the teaching of endurance is one of the rights of the great “wild mother”: the wild woman archetype. It is her timeless ritual to make her offering strong – offspring strong. It is she who toughens us up, makes us potent and enduring.

And where does this learning take place? Where are these attributes acquired? La selva subterranea: the underground forest, the underworld of female knowing. It is a wild world that lives under this one, under the world perceived by ego. While there, we are infused with instinctive language and knowledge. From that vantage point, we understand what cannot be easily understood from the point of view of the topside world.

The maiden in this tale masters several descents, and as she completes one round of descent and transformation, she plunges into yet another. These alchemical rounds are complete, each with a Negrito: loss; rabito: sacrifice, and albedo: coming of light, following one upon the other.

The King and the King’s mother each have a round to themselves. All this descending and loss and finding and strengthening portrays women’s lifelong initiation into the renewal of the wild.

Which, it’s just the whole book is like that, so it’s amazing. It’s one of my favourites, it really is. The way she describes all of that is just, it captured me when I first encountered it. And this idea of, that the, that our struggles may be purposeful, that they’re – it, it’s not there to beat us down, but to create something magical within us, and that there are gifts within the struggle.

That whatever is hardest for us, whatever was hardest for us before all of this happened, is, there are still things that we need to work through and overcome on top of all of this, and what’s amazing right now –the beauty of this time, this hidden little gleaming light in the darkness – is that the topside world that she talks about is gone, in a lot of ways. It’s shifted, it’s changed.

Everybody is in the underworld together. We’re all in this unknown, and when we go into that unknown sometimes it’s scary, you know, which is also why I called it the Upside Down, from Stranger Things, if you’re familiar with that show, of, the Upside Down is a scary place but it’s also where the characters find their inner strength. They connect through love and the love is the bridge that gets them out of that scary place and into something deeper that leads them through to the light.

And the strength inside is sometimes brought out by being in these, you know, unknown, uncertain times. And I see that – I see the beauty awakening in people’s eyes. I see the distance that we have between us, but I also feel the closeness.

I see the issues that are being brought to the light, like mental health resources, like supporting people who are homeless, supporting people who can’t afford to put food on their table or a roof over their heads, supporting people who are in dangerous households and how do we get them out and into safety, and once they’re out and they’ve made that hard decision to leave, how do we make sure they’re gonna be okay?

37:30

These are issues that were problems before in our society and it’s like they’ve been all stirred up, you know? The topside world can’t cover them over, so now we’re looking at all of these things and we’re starting to have resources for people. We have a mental health text support in Text4Hope, and, in Alberta, and there’s probably many other resources out there that just bring this awareness to our mental health and well-being.

And people are talking about meditation and how important that is, and connection with friends and family, and those are things that have always been important. And now we are seeing what’s real because all of the other distractions have been stripped away and it’s almost impossible not to look. And when you look, you start seeing examples of compassion and connection and creativity that are just astounding and beautiful. Just beautiful, they take my breath away, they really do.

I’m really interested – maybe I’ll go to you, Natalija. Did you have something to add to that or share?

NR: Yeah, just to kind of add to what you’ve been saying, ’cause I kind of feel the same way that it’s, I think sometimes is kind of uncomfortable to, for people, like, while this pandemic is going on that something so, like, ugly and scary is able to kind of bring up all these other opportunities.

And I think even when we’re hopefully at some point down the road where we kind of, you know, got a handle on this or kind of can rebalance through all this, that those supports that were never there in the first place will just continue to stay, like the mental health or just even people for financial support and just domestic support and all of, and all of those things. So, I think that those in itself are gifts as well.

And I found, I don’t know why this quote keeps coming up through all this too. It’s from “anonymous,” I can’t find who wrote it, but it just says, “Embrace uncertainties. Some of the most beautiful chapters in our lives won’t have a title until much later.” So, I think that there’s something in all of that too where, you know, with me, it may not make sense, like a complete reason why this all happened, but I think we’ll kind of see, or there’ll be more of those supports in place as to, as to how we live a better life for everyone going forward after this, I think. So, yeah.

GR: Yeah, amazing. And yeah, if you guys who are joining live have anything you’d like to share about that or even stories of, that inspired you or that you’re drawn to, either fictional stories or biographies of inspiring, inspiring stories of people being in a state of struggle and then emerging into the light.

If you have others, I mean, we’ve got, like, you know, The Wizard of Oz and these fairy tales and really, every, every culture has these ideas of going in deep, diving in deep, and then discovering the strength inside the heart. I’m always looking for book recommendations, especially anything that’s going to be a little ray of sunshine in my day. So, if you want to type that into the chat, I’d be happy to share those with people.

While you’re doing that, Ayla, what did, what are your thoughts about that?

41:36

AT: I actually got a little bit emotional when you were reading the first part of it, and I was like, wow! I’ve had that book on my shelf forever and I haven’t even opened it! So, I clearly need to read that right now.

But definitely, I agree with both of you. The stuff both of you are saying is just – there is suddenly so much community as well that has emerged because everybody’s kind of in the thick of it and reaching for support, and the groups that have popped up on Facebook, and conversations like this one, and gatherings like this one, and you know, the need for things that have been there the whole time that, you know, it’s kind of that us-versus-them thing.

I think it was way easier for us a couple of months ago to not see [some] of the more vulnerable people that need our help, or the things in ourself that we maybe needed to ask for help with. But now we can’t avoid it, and we can’t avoid seeing the vulnerable people who need it too, right? Like, we can’t.

GR: Yeah, yeah, and that’s what I’ve been finding for myself, that’s what I’ve been finding with my work with, you know, one-on-one with people and courses and classes, is that that’s been a very common theme.

It’s like there’s this disruption, which is sort of like we’ve settled into this weird new normal, and then the, there’s also all of the stuff that was important before us that were challenges – they, they’ve, you know, in some ways have amped up and been brought to the surface so that we can, we can go through them, and we can heal them and transform them.

And, but the beautiful thing, and what I know about this work, is that anytime you go in and dive in to that interior space and do that deep healing work and bring the light out that lives with inside you – so, whatever you’re struggling with, whatever you have trouble with, it really is – there’s an energy underneath it that is greater.

There’s, the solution lives inside your heart, inside your soul, and when you tap in to that energy, it radiates through everything and it really can carry you into new experiences, new – it can connect you with people that can provide you the help that you need.

I find what has happened is that we’ve kind of gone, the energy has gone, and because we’re, we don’t have the same routines – the structure of the world has shifted, and so it’s, I find that it sort of opened things up and there’s a sort of loosey-goosey energy with things, which is, means that our point of attraction has never been greater.

If you’re aware of the Law of Attraction, we’re in this state of receiving and receptivity and yin and letting things just, we’ve surrendered control because we have to – that’s the only option. And when you’re in that state of surrendering control, you end up receiving anything you ask the Universe for. It’s all on its way to you now, and it’s this tide of receptive yin mother energy, this feminine energy, that’s here for us.

And it’s like, “Oh, here you go! Here’s all of the things that you, your heart has been calling for, and you need to keep on doing your soul’s work in the world. Here you go – here’s this solution, this solution, this solution.”

42:23

And the level of synchronicity has increased, so, and it’s, I’m very, very aware during these times of how powerful our intention is, and how powerful our words are, and that when we – not only is it the stories we hear, the stories and myths within our culture, and, you know, things that, where we see, you know, people who have struggled and then they sort of, they surpass and overcome and they transform – not only is that important, stories like those, but it’s your inner story of how you are telling the story in your life, about yourself, about the situation that you’re in.

I want to just bring up one more book or resource for you, if you’re not familiar with You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay. Louise Hay is an author that, her work is just phenomenal. She’s one of the founders of mind-body medicine, basically that your thoughts or the way you share your story or where you think about things has a direct impact on your physical health and well-being.

And there’s lots of supporting information out there now that shows that. And she uses a tool called “affirmations” to basically shift how you are saying your – how you are telling your story, and to create an inner dialogue that is supportive.

I use this as a textbook, we use this as the textbooks in our courses at LunaHolistic. And it’s a fantastic one, so if you’re not familiar with it, it’s a really great one to pick up, because it is still just as relevant and meaningful as it was before all of this happened. She has chapters on work and resistance and relationships and the body. It’s quite good.

And then she has these little meditations, or I guess she calls them treatments, and I just want to read you this one.

In the infinity of life where I am, all is perfect, whole, and complete. Each one of us, myself included, experiences the richness and fullness of life in ways that are meaningful to us.

I now look at the past with love and choose to learn from my old experiences. There is no right or wrong, nor good or bad. The past is over and done. There’s only the experience of the moment.

I love myself for bringing myself through this past into the present moment. I share what and who I am for I know we are all one in spirit. All is well in my world.

And it’s just beautiful, and I, that one really spoke to me today because we are in this threshold moment in world history, in our personal story and in the world stories.

And there’s, the past is over and the things that we took for granted and how we lived and interacted, there’s a change that has happened in our culture, and that – who knows how that change will ripple on – but this feeling of “everything that happened before now is done.” It’s done, it’s over, and the only moment that we have for certain is the one we have right now, underneath our feet. This moment in time.

And the more presence, the more mindful we can be in this moment, the easier it all gets. I find I get pulled into overwhelm and anxiety and worry when I think too much about the past and the things that I might lose forever, you know, of the way things were.

50:03

And I get pulled into worry and overwhelm if I get too far in the future, which is, at this point, the future is two weeks away. That’s like, way too far away still. I’m, I can only really plan a couple of days, three to five right now for me. Two weeks? Too far, you know, because there’s so much uncertainty.

So, being able to plan anything – how is this going to happen? How long are we going to be in here? I find those are questions that are not very useful for me. I find they pull me in, out of the moment that I’m in, and it’s different than preparing and doing things now, so that if we’re still in self-isolation and social distancing six months down the road, then I can I can make a plan for that now.

I can prepare myself for it mentally and I can do the things now so that I can be set up for the future, but how that’s gonna look when or if any of those things happen, who knows? So, putting too much mental effort into it is, for me, is a, is not only does it draw me away from where I can be of best service right now, it, it’s so much effort and energy planning a future that may or may not exist.

It’s like building a house that you may never live in. You know, it’s like, it’s great, it looks really great, but you’re actually going to be over here, so you need to just let that go because that’s not where you actually are or will be.

And we, none of us are going to know that, and so it’s, I find if I get pulled with my emotions or my thoughts or my mind too far from the moment, I just take a breath and I go back to, “what do I need to do right now in this minute?” And in this minute, that’s what I’ll do.

And it’s really that minute-by-minute thing, and it can bring me back from the edge, you know? It can, it can calm whatever feelings, because I have a lot of big feelings about a lot of things that I, that I’m passionate about, and I think that’s good and normal and healthy. You care a lot, and when you care a lot, your emotions are strong, so I just have those strong emotions and then I just do the little, tiny thing.

And it might be a restful thing, like go to bed on time. I’ve made myself a bedtime and it has totally changed so much of my day. I am creating new little rituals that are going to support me in this new schedule that I’m in.

I’m, you know, making sure that I’m supporting myself with connection from lots of different people, and I’m also making sure that I’m giving myself time to just be with it and just to sit with my feelings and sit in stillness and just let it be as it is without trying to change it.

Feeling all of the feelings and then, and then tuning in to what is my heart, what does my soul, what is the deepest part of me say is the next step, the next thing?

So, there we go. Did either of you, Ayla or Natalija, have anything you’d like to add to that?

AT: No, that was beautiful. Well said.

GR: Thank you. [Laughs] Natalija?

NR: Yeah, I agree. I feel like you covered that all. That was really well said, I’m like yup, yup! [Laughs]

54:25

GR: [Laughs] Perfect, wonderful. Well, I’d like to do, and really, it’s like a, it’s like an energy bath sort of meditation. The tentative title is called The Energy Activation and Clearing Meditation, and if I can come up with – the, maybe it’s The Light in Your, in the Darkness Meditation? I don’t know.

Anyway, it’s like a guided self-healing, so you can just get settled in and we’ll go right into that meditation.

55:08 to 1:08:32

Take a few deep breaths, just relaxing, gently closing your eyes, just letting any of that static charge be released gently by a sigh of relief. Just knowing there is a strong, guiding presence here with us all.

Deep down in the core of everything, there is a steadiness and a flow. A deep, inherent wisdom within the planet, gently guiding us and nourishing us, supporting us in any way imaginable.

Just letting everything heavy melt into the tender arms of Mother Earth. She is prepared to receive it all. There’s nothing too big, there’s nothing too painful, there is nothing too overwhelming that she cannot help us with.

Letting that strong and nourishing guidance flow, feeling that ancient rhythm of energy, knowing that rhythm within the Earth, that slow and deep cycle of nature, lives within you. You can feel it in your bones. You can feel it in your heart. You know this to be true.

Take another deep sigh of relief, letting everything melt off of your shoulders, placing, temporarily, everything outside of your bubble, giving you the space and time to be within the stillness inside of you.

Letting anything that isn’t connected to your purpose in this lifetime go, allowing your soul to decide what to keep and what to stay, knowing that this is a process that happens deep inside of you, a knowingness in your heart.

Allowing the mind and all of its thoughts to step into service of your heart and your soul. Your heart is in charge and it knows what to do. Your heart is in presence and full expansion of your spirit and your being in this moment. This beautiful and precious moment with all of its grace and gifts – it’s yours.

A beautiful violet light, a beautiful purple colour, is descending to touch your crown. The violet light descends from the infinite heavens to the top of your head, your crown.

This violet light shines and radiates through your whole body, filling the top of your head, the crown, filling your forehead and your brain, your third eye.

Moving down through the throat, clear and flowing, moving in through the heart, filling and expanding.

Softening in through your shoulders, down the arms and out the palms of your hands, filling and concentrating the energy in your solar plexus, in your belly, gathering all of your solar plexus energy, keeping it inside you.

Bringing the energy down into the sacral, into your lower abdomen, bringing the energy right into your root, the base of your spine, all the way down your legs, shining radiantly out the bottoms of your feet and all the way to the center of the Earth, completely connected and rooted.

Take a few soft breaths into whatever you are feeling, knowing that all of your feelings are okay, giving them space to be felt fully, breathing deeply into the sensations of it, noticing how they naturally shift and move.

Very gently, one by one, being led into the light – into the light and grace of your soul.

Begin taking soft breaths into your energy field, noticing what’s there, noticing with kindness and compassion, allowing anything in your energy field that isn’t yours to dissolve, letting it go to the highest light, knowing that there is an immense, kind and loving presence within the Universe looking out for all of us.

Surrendering everything that is beyond your control to the light, allowing your aura to be swept clean and clear by your guides and angels, your immense Divine Team.

Feel this light extend through your aura, your electromagnetic field, right around your body. Feel it clear and cleanse the energy right near your body with a beautiful and comforting red energy layer, all around you.

Just beyond the red, a beautiful, vibrant orange light, all around you.

Just beyond the orange, a beautiful, radiant yellow light and energy all around you.

Just beyond the yellow, a brilliant and compassionate green, all around you.

Just beyond the green, a cool and soothing blue, all around you.

Just beyond the blue, a serene indigo, all around you.

Just beyond the indigo, a protective and comforting violet, all around you, a beautiful purple colour,

Notice or feel or know the presence of loving divine beings – your team, your spirit guides, your guardian angels, ascended masters, or the Universe itself – whomever you think the best is, they are here with you.

Know that this divine, loving presence is maintaining your ground and maintaining your auric field, no matter what is happening, no matter where you are – they are there and supporting you, making sure you are completely contained within your bubble of light.

It is all held in place by the Divine. Rest here for a moment.

And now, you can gently bring yourself back to presence, gently wiggling your fingers and your toes, bringing your hands down your legs, letting the energy connect into the Earth below you.

And sweeping your hands through and around your aura with your hands facing your body, just smoothing off that field around you and giving it a gentle pat.

And when you’re ready, you can open your eyes.

Ah! Thank you. Ah, that’s so nice. There’s such huge energy of love and support available to everyone right now. It’s more energy than I’ve ever felt, and I’ve been doing this deep work for a really long time, and never before in my lifetime have I felt the energy of love and support and guidance be as strong for us all as it is right now.

And this meditation came from a Reiki session and it just, yeah, it’s just such a beautiful gift and I felt so warm and cozy and connected and I just feel like everything’s okay, indescribably, even though things are shifting and changing and there’s lots of issues to sort out and problems to solve. It’s like, I know that it’s gonna be okay somehow. I just feel it.

So, love to hear from you if you’re joining live or later, you can share your experiences and we can share them with people. Totally up to you, love to hear from you, though.

Ayla, are you there?

AT: I’m here!

GR: Did you drift off to sleep? [Laughs]

AT: [Laughs] Almost!

GR: Yeah, what did you experience?

AT: That was so nice. I feel, I feel like there’s kind of an energy of expansion around all of this, and I definitely felt that in that meditation for sure. And yeah, I just feel quite a bit more settled at the moment, yeah.

GR: Mmhmm, wonderful, thank you.

AT: Thank you.

1:10:43

GR: And Natalija, what did you, what did you experience?

NR: Yeah, that was so lovely. I felt like I just went so deep in that meditation. It was just so beautiful, and I feel like, yeah, like just so much support and love from the energy of, just, that’s all around us. Like, I felt like my hands and my feet were just tingling and like buzzing. So much energy.

And it felt like I had a vision of, like. almost like a bubble wrap in my aura. That was just like – like the little circles in the bubble wrap – it was just like this white light with purple and it was just activated and, oh, it was so lovely. That was lovely, thank you.

GR: Ah, that’s amazing. Ah, that’s so, yeah, that, like, yeah – being surrounded by bubble wrap of like, just that, the beautiful little image of like, here’s something – you’re precious cargo and we’re gonna wrap you up and make sure that you’re nice and protected, and you’ve got this nice insulation between you and the rest of the world and all of the energy that’s so big right now, so yeah.

NR: Yes, totally.

GR: Thank you. Thank you, everybody, and please feel free to share. You can also type it into the Q&A if you’d like to share it anonymously, you can do that too. But yeah, so lovely. What else did I have? Oh yes.

Oh, DALENA: “I felt like I was a little baby cuddling in Mother Nature’s hands.” Oh, that’s nice! Yes, I love that, yeah. It’s like that, I have a real fondness for the temperate rainforest in Vancouver Island, and I love that moss, that deep, deep moss in the rainforests there, and just how squishy it is.

And sometimes I’ll have experiences like that in meditation, especially if I’m lying down, of this feeling of being sunk into, you know, sunk into the, this cozy green energy everywhere, so that’s beautiful.

Thank you, everybody. Yeah, I just, I’m blown away by everything that is occurring and the collective energy that we share when we gather in forums like this. So, whether you’re here now or you’re joining later, there’s a real gathering energy that’s forming and connecting us with everyone else.

And part of that is tuning into that heart space, you know, the deep place within you that knows your own yellow brick road, you know, that knows what the way is. Like, you don’t need to know all of the steps and every single bit of the journey, you just need to go – go this way. What’s the next thing? Where does your heart pointing you?

So, I’m really curious about what the next heart-based step is for you. What is the little voice inside you, the guide inside you, saying, “Do this! This is next.”

If you’d like to share, I’d love to hear from you. Ayla, what is your inner being say what’s the best, what’s the next little step on your golden path?

1:14:49

AT: I need to do some yoga! [Sings, laughs] Move my body a little bit, yeah, just move the energy around.

GR: Yeah, that’s beautiful, yeah.

AT: Totally.

GR: I agree, I agree. Natalija, what, where does your heart call you?

NR: I think for me, it’s just calling me to kind of just stay in this peaceful energy, in that state of gratitude. I feel like that’s been really working for me, so I think I’m just being called to kind of stay in that space.

GR: Beautiful, beautiful, thank you, yeah. My next little bit, and if you’re ever not sure of how to know, is always come back to the breath and grounding and tuning into your heart space, your heart’s energy, and these meditations can really help you get into that space. And then it might be something really simple and really subtle, just like a tiny, little whisper or a nudge.

And so, for me – I just got in big, block letters “REST”. So, just resting, you know, putting my feet up for a little bit, kind of, hanging out with my family for the rest of the night, maybe doing a few little tasks, just a putter and tidy things up, and probably just tidy up my house and, you know, just these, sometimes these little things, you know?

And then when it’s time to do, you know, more active things, then I’ll do those, you know. Those are, I find, when you tune into the guide inside your heart, the, your soul, your spirit, and you just keep asking and staying with that energy, the wisdom inside of you is so huge.

It will lead you exactly where you need to be, and if you do that for every little choice, every little decision, let those decisions come from the heart, then you will get guided to you exactly where you need to be in every given moment and miracles will start unfolding.

And you’ll get creative solutions, you will be really guided and led every minute – minute to minute – and it can anchor you in the presence that’s within you, the knowing of your soul, which is eternal, which is beyond this one lifetime, to a much greater, expanded, connected space.

So thank you! Thank you everybody who was able to make it. Thank you for listening now. I really, really do appreciate you showing up with your wild, courageous heart through all of this. It makes me feel immense gratitude that you are listening now, that there are big-hearted, compassionate, wise, kind, caring people in the world just like you.

It makes a difference, and you just connecting to your own heart and listening and acting from that space creates a ripple of goodness that extends beyond your house, beyond the borders of your walls, beyond into the whole world. So, know that however you are guided in the days and weeks ahead, that’s exactly where you need to be, and you’re doing an amazing job.

1:18:46

And you connecting into your heart is more than enough to create a wave of positivity and energy, and then taking action from that courageous, compassionate heart will rebuild things for everybody in this beautiful new way that we are all figuring out together. So, it’s so nice.

Ayla or Natalija, did you have any final thoughts, or any of you, did you have anything to share?

AT: No, I feel like that was so lovely today and I feel like just a nice deep sigh of relief after all of that. [Laughs] I feel like I can relax. Thank you.

GR: Exactly, yeah. [Laughs] Yeah, thank you. Natalija?

NR: Yeah, yeah, I feel the same. I just feel like these calls are just, they just kind of re-integrate all the energy, and kind of rebalance and refocus. So, it was really amazing, so thank you.

GR: Thank you, thank you. Thank you both for joining me and supporting everybody in the chat and thank you everybody who was able to join live or later. This is, of course, being posted on the LunaHolistic blog, so you can look there for the rebroadcast. It will also, it’s also on very, numerous places like YouTube and Podbean and all of the podcasting services, we’ve got that all out there for you.

We have resources in the, in the Resources page on the LunaHolistic.com website, so you can go and check those out. We are adding meditations, there’s a bedtime meditation up there and a waking meditation, so if you’re finding the evenings hard or the mornings hard, those are resources there for you.

We’ll be adding more of those to what we’ve already got up there already, and so you can go in and check that out just to get a boost of support throughout the days and weeks.

And check back to the homepage, LunaHolistic.com, for more events like these. We’ll be posting more as we go along, so please, please join us and share with anybody who you feel could use a little bit of a boost and a little ray of sunshine in their, in their hearts, so they can find their own way to their own quiet, still center inside themselves.

So, thank you so much. I like to close it all off with a big, global hug. So, we’re gonna start off small with all of you who are joining right now, so just a big, nice hug – oh, I love it!

And then you can extend your arms out and let a few more people join the circle and the space, and even bigger allowing your arms to grow wide, wide, wide, so that we’re hugging the entire world, that the world is within our arms, and we’re just giving the world this beautiful hug, and feel that hug back. So nice. Mmm.

And then give yourself a hug. Ah, there we go! Thank you, thank you, thank you – thank you, everybody! Thanks again to Ayla and Natalija and be well. Take care, everybody. Thank you, buh-bye!

AT: Bye!

NR: Buh-bye!

1:22:54