June 11th, 2012
I am walking the deeper forest path, under the two fallen trees. I step onto the hidden animal trail and find my way to the Counsel of Trees. My second visit. On the way here, I had been gifted an owl feather.
My body is holding residue from an interaction on the retreat weekend. My heart is not clear. I am seeking guidance from the Counsel and Ma.
Entering the circle, all is quiet. Serenity. Many thoughts churn in my heart and mind. Paying respects to Ma who sits at the periphery of the circle, I know my work begins with the trees. I turn and walk to the centre of the Counsel and reach out with my energy. Suddenly I feel my body begin to move and breathe... My feet root into the ground, my arms and waist slowly turn and bend. Simple practices I had learned years before begin to pour out of me.
The trees speak, "Choose 1 or 2 practices to create as your main focus per year. It is enough. Clear your channels. Walk, and practice in nature as you did before...” Images of hours and hours of martial arts and yoga practice in parks, next to trees and water, fills my memory.
“Your experience from the weekend is your choice. You may feel it as residue and get stuck by it. Or you may transmute it and simply be at peace in your body and with yourself as you are. You do not have to have all the answers or be "good" at everything. Be as you are.
Deep, true love for self, other, and life arises from your centre, with your focus clear. Watch where the residue or attachments spring. Keep opening, letting go, and allowing free passage through your heart."
They grew quiet again. I walk to Ma.
"Where is your heart? When your focus shifts, where is your heart? Where is your heart?..."
This is not so much a question as it is a directive, and it is all she will speak today. I gather myself, and my few remaining thoughts, make final gratitude, and continue on my walk.
The long hill downward carries me around a bend to a younger forest. I feel my heart... Ma's simple question, repeated over and over to me, becomes a mantra. I notice a flower on the path – a flower of the Mother. As I look up and around I do not see her. Where is Ma?
A rapid wispy whir stirs the air. Hummingbird is directly behind me, gently urging me to turn. I slowly manoeuvre my body, and she flies up to a branch, very close, and peers at me. As if in direct answer to my question, she then lifts into the air, hovers and flies to a nearby flower of the Ma.
"Here she is," Hummingbird says.
I am walking the deeper forest path, under the two fallen trees. I step onto the hidden animal trail and find my way to the Counsel of Trees. My second visit. On the way here, I had been gifted an owl feather.
My body is holding residue from an interaction on the retreat weekend. My heart is not clear. I am seeking guidance from the Counsel and Ma.
Entering the circle, all is quiet. Serenity. Many thoughts churn in my heart and mind. Paying respects to Ma who sits at the periphery of the circle, I know my work begins with the trees. I turn and walk to the centre of the Counsel and reach out with my energy. Suddenly I feel my body begin to move and breathe... My feet root into the ground, my arms and waist slowly turn and bend. Simple practices I had learned years before begin to pour out of me.
The trees speak, "Choose 1 or 2 practices to create as your main focus per year. It is enough. Clear your channels. Walk, and practice in nature as you did before...” Images of hours and hours of martial arts and yoga practice in parks, next to trees and water, fills my memory.
“Your experience from the weekend is your choice. You may feel it as residue and get stuck by it. Or you may transmute it and simply be at peace in your body and with yourself as you are. You do not have to have all the answers or be "good" at everything. Be as you are.
Deep, true love for self, other, and life arises from your centre, with your focus clear. Watch where the residue or attachments spring. Keep opening, letting go, and allowing free passage through your heart."
They grew quiet again. I walk to Ma.
"Where is your heart? When your focus shifts, where is your heart? Where is your heart?..."
This is not so much a question as it is a directive, and it is all she will speak today. I gather myself, and my few remaining thoughts, make final gratitude, and continue on my walk.
The long hill downward carries me around a bend to a younger forest. I feel my heart... Ma's simple question, repeated over and over to me, becomes a mantra. I notice a flower on the path – a flower of the Mother. As I look up and around I do not see her. Where is Ma?
A rapid wispy whir stirs the air. Hummingbird is directly behind me, gently urging me to turn. I slowly manoeuvre my body, and she flies up to a branch, very close, and peers at me. As if in direct answer to my question, she then lifts into the air, hovers and flies to a nearby flower of the Ma.
"Here she is," Hummingbird says.
Simple attunements, when
I allow my heart to be open, when I know where it is...
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