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Visualisation - the Best Stress Reliever

Just Relax!

How often do we hear that expression?

Usually it comes at a time when we are under pressure and one more instruction is the last thing we need.

It is difficult to stay calm, present and connected when we are pushed at by work, finances, family responsibilities and the rest. Life changing events and other people’s anxiety affects us too.

At these times self-care is essential first aid. Mental relaxation techniques are hugely effective in breaking the stimulus-response mechanism of stress that keeps us running like a caged mouse on a wheel. They are also the gateway to unlocking creative capability, enabling intuitive responses to the conditions which we are experiencing as stressful.

I include a suggested visualisation in this post which can be easily adapted to life conditions and personality type. These types of creative visualisations are an excellent lead in to meditation proper. With regular use they are of huge assistance for self- improvement, boosting imagination and creativity and for realigning our outer life to the soul’s direction.

You may like to read and record these instructions for use at any time. There is no special equipment required so you may find it an enjoyable activity to do on a park bench at lunch time, on the train, or at night after everyone else is in bed.

Play with it and experiment. Just remember to return by the same route you entered.

Choose a time and place where you will not be disturbed for the next 10-15 minutes. Get a rug to cover yourself if you are likely to get cool.  Loosen any tight clothing, take off your glasses. Be seated in a comfortable position with the back well supported. Close your eyes and take a moment or two to settle.

Breathe deeply in through the nose and hold it for three seconds. Exhale slowly and gently out the mouth. Repeat.

Breathe in through the nose for a third time. Hold it for three seconds and as you exhale through the mouth let all tension, worry and concern flow away from you with your outbreath.

Rest a moment, breathing naturally. Know that all your muscles and nerves are switching off. You are comfortably relaxed.

If you should notice any tension in your body, place your attention on it now. Adjust your position until you are completely comfortable.

Take another deep breath and hold it for three seconds. Exhale as before knowing that your body is releasing any and all residual tension with the breath.

All cares and concerns of the day now fade from your awareness.

Imagine you are in a boat on a calm inland river. The oarsman with you is a skilled and competent fellow. On him you can rely. You are aware of his comforting presence as he guides your boat gently upstream. You are lying comfortably, supported by luxurious pillows. Above you the sky is crystal clear and intensely blue. You are completely comfortable as you drift easily and gently down the river. You feel safe and secure and wonderfully relaxed. Notice the beautiful trees and flowers along the river banks. Beauty and peace surround you here. A gentle breeze caresses your face. You hear bird song- light and lovely. The gentle aroma of flowering plants comes to you on the breeze. You feel so relaxed, so happy and content.

Now you notice the boat sweeps gently to the left around a bend in the river. Gradually it comes to rest on a shingle beach. Majestic trees averhang your landing place which slopes gently upwards from the water to the fields beyond. The oarsman is standing beside you. Together you leave the boat. He guides you across the shingle to where a path begins. You see the path now and notice it leads into this peaceful place. This is your special place to explore. This is your path. Follow that path now.

 Notice your guide is taking care of you from a short distance away.

Stay exploring your landscape awhile. Whenever you come to this place you are completely free. You are always relaxed and at peace here. Take note of what your senses record here and who or what you meet.

 You know when it is time to return. You see your guide indicating the way back to the boat. Together you retrace your path down to the river. You return the way you came.

Be aware that you are now back in the place where you began this exercise. Open your eyes. Take a moment or two to adjust your awareness before you recommence your usual activity

Connecting with Place

Our southern hemisphere year draws to a close this week. With the New Moon, and eclipse on April 29, comes Samhain and the turning of the wheel once more. This quarter day marks the descent into winter and begins a New Year. Traditionally this is a time of close approach to those who have gone before us. Mummery and games are associated with the twilight hours of Samhain, now commercialised in Halloween celebrations by some cultures.

For the Homestead Project it is a turning point of a physical nature too. We are moving North during May, going to a place where sea and land meet, partly urbanised and partly wild. There we will apply what we have learned to a different environment. To build new community relationships we will be considering both human and natural world neighbours. The opportunity to build bridges of understanding and communication between all types of life, seen and unseen, is the central focus of the Project.

Samhain is the ideal time to look forward while honouring and letting go of conditions now passing away. We have made many Life-long friends and connections here. It is good to know that real energetic connection with them is possible at any time, simply by placing our attention on them.

Like family members who have passed away, places and landscapes retain their links with those who have connections to them. This is why many people report feeling a heart-tug when they go back to a place that was meaningful to them in childhood. It is not just pleasant memories being evoked on these occasions. It is a real, though unseen, heartfelt connection with the Spirit of the Place.

What is your current environment like? Does it please you visually? Do you feel connected to the location? Does it support you in a healthy life, responding to your initiatives to make it beautiful, as you perceive beauty in and around you?

Some places sing to us, providing an energy that supports us and our life activity. Others may not be so compatible with the type of life we are or the activity we generate. Places change too, just as people do. Intuiting a healthy relationship with place is just as important to our overall wellbeing as healthy human relationships.

If you feel unsupported by life, or by the environment in which you find yourself, try taking a quiet moment to connect to the Place. This exercise can be both healing and informative. It is done by sitting quietly, without using your mind to judge or analyse.

What impressions come to you through your body, through your senses?

Accepting those impressions as valid is the first step. Acting on those impressions is the second. Most often this simple exercise allows the Spirit of the Place to communicate the most beneficial way for us to Be together.

With regular practice you will build an intuitive relationship together – one of mutual support and growth.

Happy New Year

North Island New Zealand - a celebration in images

Easter thoughts on Free Expression

Today I asked our teachers for their comments coming into this Easter Season. They referenced the context of the upcoming lunar eclipse on the Full Moon, along with prevailing astrological conditions, suggesting this was an opportune moment for us all to consider the theme of Rebirth.

In discussing the balance to be struck between the outer life we lead and our spiritual life they offered this advice:

Be aware that life asks you to nurture the Idea that you are and the life you are living.

If you are ever uncertain as to what action you should take, or stance you should adopt, ask yourself:

              Am I leaving myself free to express who I am?

              Am I clouding my own light with screens of duty or inhibition?

              Am I fulfilling my responsibility to my own life as well as others? 

Things may be clearer from that point of view.

Sometimes it is hard to get at the Idea behind our life. With age and experience our pure note is often muffled by our environment and conditioning.

Often we put aside our own interests because we have been raised to consider it a selfish action to put our own needs first. Yet clearly we have a responsibility to explore our skills and talents, our like and dislikes, in order to discover the purpose of our life. 

Thomas Aquinas guides us to take stock of what sings to us as a clue to our intended expression. He says the things we love tell us what we are.

So what sings to you? Your expression is unique. You are the only one who can make it. Will you join with us this Easter in striving to play a part in the great orchestra that is Life?

Michael's Avenue Park Trees

Last night we were drawn to visit a local park and sports field. We were shocked by what we found there. Plans are underway for expansion and redevelopment. More than a dozen trees had already been removed, part of more than thirty mature trees designated for destruction.

This is no isolated incident in Auckland. We are denuding our city of trees at an astonishing rate. As light workers we are often called to spiritually assist trees being removed because of illness or for reasons of safety. Increasingly however our work has been to ameliorate pain caused by the unmindful, heart-less removal of flourishing lives. More often than not it is a business or planning decision based on economic value rather than a consideration of the balance of life for the community as a whole.

Trees shelter life. They protect, shade, solace and uplift by the beauty of their forms and their appeal to our senses. Trees are nurses to all life. By their presence they add quality and support the health of all that lives above or below ground, seen or unseen.

Each tree is a life, like you or I, connected to those around it by an energetic field of activity. By this means they are interconnected not only with each other, but also with any and all who come into their field. They serve Life by manifesting love and beauty, which is the source of their close kin to humanity.

Groups of trees are cared for, as all life forms are, by an angelic life often referred to as a Diva. They are also under the care of the overarching Spirit of the Place where they stand. All of these lives can be easily perceived by humanity intuitively.

These are the lives we called and honoured last night. As we addressed them we gave appreciation for their contribution to the life of the community. We expressed our outgoing love for them as one form of life to another – as friends and loved ones in actuality. We communicated intuitively with them, giving them a bridge – an opportunity- to express and to act.

Their message, though given in a spirit of peace, was direct and pertinent:

Be harm-less in all that you are. Like every person who walks beneath them, Trees too are individual expressions of the Great Life. The same Life and Light of Love connects us all. They are family in other words.

Act then to improve life quality, but do so while honouring the duty of care to the wider family.

No good comes from a mechanistic approach which denies the life and beauty present in the environment. Surely deforestation on this scale is not the only way to expand fields or improve sports facilities

Which leaves us with these questions: Is there a way we can do better at Michael’s Park? Can we find a middle ground? Is it possible there is a way to undertake development there while leaving the lives of the landscape intact? Have we sufficiently accounted for the health and life quality of generations to come?

I invite you to visit Michael’s park. Please go to place your attention on the trees. Open your heart to them and value their contribution. 

Meeting Spirits of Place

Auckland is blessed with a wealth of venues for ritual, healing work and conversation with natural life.

Recently I took a day out from routine to explore the green spaces of the central city. 

The object of the trip was to relate intuitively to the landscape – a conversation with spirits of place, if you like. 

Here I share some images from that journey.

Myers Park and Kevins Arcade stairs

Auckland Domain and Museum