Welcome to my blog series on change. I am exploring change to become comfortable in the uncomfortable, to accept the reality that all things are constantly changing. Each of these blogs stands alone and also builds on previous posts. The first in the series was “Embracing Change: Do You?” and a free podcast introduced the four powers to navigate change. The second in the series was “The Story of Change” and helped you identify your relationship with change and the third was “The Journey of Change” invited you to explore ways to embrace the constant of change. Sometimes I add topics in between like when my best friend “Spirit” transitioned over the rainbow bridge after 17 years at my side, “Dancing with death and rebirth” and “The prisons we create ourselves”. Find all blogs and free podcasts on each topic here.
Now that we have explored your relationship to change it is time to connect to it. The four tools to navigate change are connection, truth, courage and vision. We explore connection with the topics of faith (last blog), personal sacred connection, creating a relationship with sacred, trust and open heartedness.
Connection is a state of being linked or joined together. The root of the word is Latin meaning “a binding or joining together”. Here we explore our own ways of connecting to sacred. And it is good to know there is no right or wrong way, just your way. There are as many ways a there are people, the only thing that matters is it works for you – you feel a connection to the sacred. If you feel uncomfortable to a practice or experience, take some time to explore why and assess if it is because it challenges an old assumption that no longer serves you are whether it is because the practice is not right for you. I invite you to try lots of different practices and methods for creating a sense of sacredness or an awareness of spirit. I provide practices to try below.
Shamanic Journeying
Shamanic journeying is an ancient spiritual practice that is used all over the world. It is called journeying because the practitioner travels to the Spirit World, meeting with their guides and other spirits to access healing and knowledge. This may sound strange to us in our modern societies, but ancient peoples, as well as modern people that live in cultures which haven’t forgotten this knowledge, know that there are two worlds – the physical world that we live in during the day and the other, non-physical world that we can visit in our dreams and go to when we die. By journeying to this other world in a more conscious way, rather than in our sleep, we are able to work with Spirit more directly, to interact, learn and find solutions to our problems. . .
Journeying is usually taught in person during a workshop or when working with a shamanic practitioner, but it is possible to learn the basic method through a book. If this appeals to you I recommend you find an experienced teacher who can show you the various ways and maps of the Spirit Worlds.
To make your first shamanic journey, you will need to choose a time and place where you will not be disturbed, and have a drumming CD or mp3 and your journal. It is effective to sit up so you don’t fall asleep. Set your sacred space that suits you and allow yourself to feel how the room around you changes as you become aware of Spirit all around you. Welcome and thank the Sacred for coming to you and ask it to hold the space around you safely and to guide you.
For this first journey it is important your intent is to meet a guide for to assist in your journey practice and to establish a relationship with them so you can explore this new modality safely and effectively. With your intent in your mind, begin drumming, close your eyes and take in the beat of the drum. Feel the sound pass through your body. Breathe gently and naturally, releasing tension and focus your intent on the journey to the Spirit World.
As you listen you may being to feel different sensations, your body may feel as though it is drifting, or you might feel like you are shaking or moving even though you are not. These sensations are different for everyone, let them come and go and keep your mind on your destination – the Spirit World.
You are going to a place that is just for you. It is a place that you have been to before, in your physical life, but now you are going in spirit. Allow the image of that place to form in your minds eye,; see the ground beneath you, hear the sounds all around you, feel the warmth of the sun on your skin. Take a deep breath and look around. Notice how this place is the same but different than what you know in the physical world.
Allow yourself to relax into this awareness and bring your mind back to your intent for this journey- to meet a Journeying Guide who will help you learn about this practice. You can call out for the guide or you might find the guide is already waiting for you when you arrive. When you see sense or feel someone near you, be open to their form and allow yourself to focus on them so that their details become clearer to you. Take in how they make you feel as well as how they look. Do they feel right, do they feel good to be around? Do you feel like you recognize them in some way already? If so, speak to them and ask them if they are your guide. Then listen for their answer- you may hear it, sense it, feel it or see it in a symbol for example, or you may simply know. If they don’t feel right, turn away from them and keep calling for your guide to come to you until you see or sense someone that you do feel comfortable with, or end the journey and come back another time.
Once you have made contact, you can establish a relationship what them by asking what their name is and how they would like to work with you. Thank them. Take time to become familiar with their energy and know they appear to you so you can begin to recognize them on every journey. Stay as long as you like, enjoy the beauty of place and when you want to return simply call yourself back to your body. Allow the Spirit World to slip away and feel yourself back in your physical body and space in current time. Do whatever you need to get and stay grounded and journal on your experience.
Practice Working with Altars
Altars are symbolic spaces; when we create an alter we are really creating a place for us to step out of our everyday lives and experiences our relationship with life and the Sacred in a more soulful way. An altar can be for general communion with Spirit, or it can be a place where you interact with a specific energy or archetype such as the land, your home, your marriage or an angel or guide. .
To create an altar for your connection with the Sacred, you will need a collection of small objects that represent the Sacred and your relationship to it, such as candles, flowers, pebbles, seeds, gemstones, poetry, images and figurines, and an out of the way place where you can arrange the objects without them being disturbed, windowsills, radiator shelves, cabinets, gardens are some examples.
Once you have a space and objects, create a sacred space in a way that works for you. Call out to Sacred to be there with you, ask it to hold the altar and be with you when you come to work with it, paying attention to any sensations or ideas that come to you as Spirit enters the space. Then arrange the objects you have chosen in a way that feels meaningful. There is no right way. Altars reflect your relationship back to you in a concrete, visible way so that you can work with it more consciously.
You can work with an altar for a set period of time, a week, month or year or time of day. Alternatively you can go to your altar when you feel called, a more fluid part of your day rather than a routine. The important thing is that you spend time with your altar with the intent that you created it- in this case to connect with Sacred and become familiar with your relationship to it. When is time to dismantle, than Spirit for being in the space for you and working with you. Take all objects down and close the sacred space and clean all objects and the area.
Practice Creating Ceremonies
Ceremony is another ancient spiritual practice that is used all over the world. It can have many forms and intents, from healing to worship to divination to celebration. For our purpose here we will define ceremony as a formal action witnessed by the Sacred – something you do with a set purpose and format and that you call on Spirit to be present when you do it.
An example would be planting a tree with the intent to give back to the earth. To make it a ceremony, you would say a prayer before and after the planting, telling Spirit why you were doing it, and you would including something symbolic, such as scattering offerings beneath the roots or typing a pray flag to the trunk.
Ceremony is a wonderful way to connect with the Sacred, and can be as personal and meaningful as you went to make it. It allows you to step out of the ordinary rhythm of our lives and into the sacred space of ceremony. We create an intentional and safe places in our lives to be open to the Sacred.
Let your heart and intuition guide you in creating ceremonies – it knows your needs. Notice and include how you feel, how your body reacts to different ideas and utilize all your senses, honor all feelings. Be clear on what you are doing and why. Ceremonies can be very simple, fluid and open to change or complex. Simple examples are light a fire, swim in a lake, eat a meal, pour a glass of wine into the sea, change your name, scatter flowers in the wind, walk over burning coals, sit in silent darkness or sign a song.
Once you have an action and intention, chose a place and time. The more charged you are the more powerful and potent the ceremony will be. Bring intention to the preparation as well as the ceremony itself. And then notice the following days and weeks, in your dreams and what crosses your path, inside t will be with you whether you are aware or not.
Practice Working with Medicine Objects
Medicine Objects are personal, symbolic objects that represent specific aspects of our souls and our relationship with the Sacred. A medicine object can be anything, but they tend to be one of a number of traditional items such as drums, rattles, stones, feathers, sacred jewelry and carvings.
A medicine object is like a bridge – through it we can directly and personally work with any aspect of ourselves, our environment, or Spirit to bring about greater knowledge and healing. Without medicine objects, our relationships with our spirit guides and spiritual practices can b become ungrounded and stuck in a mental understanding, which means that we cannot benefit from their full power.
Creating a medicine object is distinctly a personal process. Many people simply realize that they already have one, such as a special necklace they have worn every day for years. Other people find their medicine objects, feeling a call to work with an object without an understanding of why or how they made the connection. It is also possible to call for a medicine object – asking with our intent, often in ceremony, for an object to come to us to help us with a particular struggle or aspect we want to work with. Our guides can also gift us a symbolic medicine object we find later in the physical world.
Since this is a blog about change, if you wanted to work with the part of yourself that is comfortable and thrives in change, create a ceremony and ask Spirit to send you an object that represents this aspect. Working with these objects can happen in the process of finding them, having them ground us in their qualities or asking questions and guidance in a sacred manner.
Practice Gratitude
Gratitude is a wonderful practice for finding and nourishing our spiritual connection that is practiced by millions. Any time we give thanks and appreciation for something in our lives, we are practicing gratitude.
Spend five minutes every day and give thanks for everything you enjoy in your life that day. Most often that list is external things, such as shelter, a job, family, partner, food to eat, etc. Add to this list what you are grateful for yourself that day. That could be something you did or accomplished, a quality you have been cultivating (like patience or listening), something you didn’t do or didn’t say or did show courage or boldness. Gratitude for yourself is loving yourself, which is required to love others and receive love from others.
Gratitude is Sacred. It literally changes the electricity in our bodies and minds and is an exceptionally powerful tool to consciously move from a lower vibration such as anger, depression or stress to a higher vibration, and closer to Sacred in doing so.
Practice Music
Music is a beautiful and gentle way to open yourself to Spirit and experience the various tones of your connection. Begin with music that is emotional for you, that elicits a strong feeling in your body. Anything can work, and the music that works best will change depending on your well-being, mood and perspective at the time. This is your connection so chose what works for you, not what others might say should work.
Practice Poetry
Poetry is a translation of the feelings and truths of the soul into words. Language is almost always a mental matter, expressing ideas, reason and limited percepti9n, but in poems words can become doorways to the realm of spirit. Any poetry can be soulful. Choose poets that take your breath away, surrounding you in a bubble of stillness, and read them at a pace that is comfortable so that they can resonate fully.
Explore how different voices make you feel, and pay close attention to your inner senses as you read. Poems can invite spirit to you. Reading poetry as a means to opening your connection to Spirit is something you can do anywhere – on a train, in the bath, or walking in a park.
Practice Silence
Silence is an age old spiritual practice used in almost all traditions. In silence, we can no longer hide from ourselves, our minds must face their own patterns and habits, and we are isolated form a lot of what distracts us from the Sacred during everyday life.
To practice silence, you don’t have to go to a mountain or a temple. The mundane noises of the world around us – the traffic, children across the street, and the hum of electrical appliances- are part of the silence when you turn within. The most powerful way to find silence is to listen for it in your heart, at the center of things. Meditation is a form of practicing silence, if you do not have a destination or goal when meditating, other than to get silent. If this interests you, find a meditation teacher, CD or program to start.
Take the time to explore this practice with the intent to connect to the Sacred. Choose a comfortable place and turn your attention within. Simply be quiet and listen. Thoughts will come and go, distractions might occur and that is fine. Just listen, notice the silence underneath it all. Invite Spirit to join you and be open.
Practice Movement
Movement can be anything from dancing to jogging to a martial ar, it doesn’t have to be yoga. When we move our bodies it is easier to get out of our heads and notice where we are. Try anything that makes you smile, feel alive or joyful. As you move, allow your thoughts to settle and turn your focus to your body, how does it feel? How does it want to move? Leg your body tell you what it wants to do and see how that makes you feel.
Once you have connected to your body, give yourself permission to feel the space around you. Let yourself feel from your center and then call for Spirit to be with you as you move. Notice the subtle sensations you get with Spirit is present. How do they change as your movement and mood change as well. Remember to go at your pace and allow the experience to come naturally. If it doesn’t feel right don’t do it.
Practice Art
Artwork is another way that we translate the knowing of soul into something that can be consciously seen and felt. Like poetry it is a powerful way of connecting to the sacred in a way that transcends our thoughts.
You can enjoy others art or try expressing your experiences of spirit on paper, doodling, clay, collaging with images, singing or writing. Allow the feeling of connection to guide your hands. Call the divine as you work and be open to what shows up.
Practice Community
Community is created when a group of people come together with a common intent. Just a groups can be destructive, they can also have great power for healing and sacred communion. Explore how you feel around different communities, each one will have an effect on your ability to connect and open to Spirit. Notice whether you laugh more or less, how your heart feels or doesn’t. Be prepared to go outside your comfort zone and try new things. Your soul might be nourished be a cooking class, climbing group or a service or volunteer group. Just remember to pay attention to how you feel and your awareness of the Sacred as you explore. Create your own community with this intention!
There are so many ways to connect with the Sacred, more than anyone could list. That is the beauty of our unique souls, our experiences will be individual. Trust your own experiences, your heart knows who you are and where you are on your journey. Try new things, the heart likes that too, change is natural!
