by Caroline Robertson

Are you smiling or frowning to yourself? Smiling is the secret to health and serenity according to several spiritual traditions. The Inner Smile practice propounds that when we smile like a Buddha, the world beams back. Naturopath, Caroline Robertson visited The Tao Garden to experience some smile therapy.

The Smile Solution

Mother Theresa believed “peace begins with a smile.” A sincere smile shines from our soul, making the world a warmer place. As Joseph Addison expressed, “What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity.” A genuine smile puts us at ease whilst a frown creates unease, promoting disease and depression according to modern and traditional medicine. Smiling to others and ourselves is a gift of love. The universal language of a smile speaks straight to the heart, bypassing the intellect and ego. To nurture loving relationships Ayurveda advises one greet others with a pleasant face, Buddhism encourages friendliness to all (maitri) and Taoism teaches that giving ourselves a grin is the best medicine.

A deep inner smile spreads like a relaxing elixir making us receptive to transform negative energy into positive. Conversely, a scowl suppresses our immune system by increasing stress, contracting channels and blocking energy. Research by French physiologist Dr Israel Waynbaum indicates that facial muscles used to express emotion trigger specific brain neurotransmitters. Smiling signals happy healing hormones such as ecstatic endorphins and immune boosting killer T-cells whereas frowning triggers the secretion of stress hormones. Smile therapy actually lowers the stress hormones cortisol, adrenalin and noradrenaline and produces hormones which stabilise blood pressure, relax muscles, improve respiration, reduce pain, accelerate healing and stabilise mood1. If you’re feeling down the stress hormones secreted with a scowl may increase blood pressure, weaken the immune system, increase susceptibility to infections, and exacerbate depression and anxiety.

But what if we don’t feel like smiling? Can we fake it till we make it? Though a heart-felt smile has a deeper effect, even a surface smile tricks the brain into releasing happy hormones according to facial biofeedback research2. And the more we smile, the more we want to smile concluded a study where people allowed to smile found cartoons funnier than those suppressed from smiling by holding pencils in their lips3. This is because each time we smile we reinforce happy neural pathways that fire more spontaneously with each subsequent use. Self- love smiling circuits then release healing nectar and self-hate messages release poisons that breed disease according to Taoism.

A Smile Trial

How often do you smile? Try a smile trial for a minute. Relax your face and let a subtle ‘Mona Lisa’ smile spread from your eyes to your lips. Now frown and sense the emotional and energetic shift. Feel the difference? Considering it takes only 26 muscles to smile and 62 muscles to frown, why wear the strain of a scowl? As motivational speaker Les Giblin felt “If you’re not using your smile, you’re like a man with a million dollars in the bank and no check book.”

Smiles seem to have a cultural element. Japanese rate so low on the smile-o-meter they’re being encouraged to smile to increase profits. “Japanese are truly hopeless at smiling. That’s caused the loss of many business opportunities,” says Makoto Tonami, president of Mac Corp., owner of beauty salons offering thirty-minute smile sessions using exercises and a machine to uplift the mouth muscles and spirits. Britain has sorry smile statistics also as recent research revealed that if you smile at 100 people, 70 people will smile back in Bristol, 68 in Glasgow, 18 in London and only 4 in Edinburgh4. Writing this in Thailand I noticed how people go out of their way to smile to others while in many other places I’ve found people often avert their gaze as if avoiding a smile ambush.

It’s easy to share a smile with others, since it’s the second most contagious facial expression next to yawning. Smiling faces are always beautiful and the most endearing accessory. Whereas if people wear an ugly expression meticulous attention to grooming and clothes are overshadowed. But smiles do more than increase your face value; British researchers found that receiving a smile could give more pleasure than sex or eating chocolate. And receiving a smile generated much higher levels of stimulation to the brain and the heart than being given money or having a cigarette.

Don’t underestimate the power of a smile. Use yours and you’ll find it helps to disperse sadness and dissolve stress. So when dressing in the morning remember author Jim Begg’s advise, “Before you put on a frown, make absolutely sure there are no smiles available.”

The Cellular Smile

A genuine smile glows from our deepest layer of self-love, radiating like sunlightthrough clouds and embracing everything as an extension of oneself. Starting as an inner hug it spreads to soften the whole body, melting malevolent energy to emerge from benevolent eyes and lips. The smile says, “I accept and love you unconditionally.” Our being warms to this kindness, dissolving walls of psychic and physical isolation that prevent wholeness and health. Just as others respond to our loving smile, our cells soak up smiling rays, creating new cells from the inner love affair.

Taoist Master Mantak Chia has taught the inner smile for the past 40 years. He explained its significance to me on my recent visit to his Thailand retreat, “In ancient China, the Taoists taught that a constant inner smile to oneself, insured health, happiness and longevity. Why? Smiling to yourself is like basking in love: you become your own best friend. Living with an inner smile is to live in harmony with yourself.” The smiling energy emanating from Mantak Chia was reminiscent of enlightened souls such as the Dalai Lama. He has an aura of contentment and kindness that put me at ease immediately. Mantak Chia also explained that as sickness starts from negative emotions settling in the organs, the inner smile breaks this cycle. “By transforming destructive emotions into positive energy the inner smile removes the cause and symptoms of disharmony,” he said.

The subtle inner smile is different from a superficial smile set on a fake face with hidden motives and meaning. The inner smile is as innocent and natural as a blissful baby’s smile. It doesn’t impose, demand or expect anything in return. Nor is it a spiritually superior or condescending smile but accepts everything as it is. A genuine smile as opposed to a posed mask makes a significant impact on people’s lives according to Dacher Keltner, a psychology professor at the University of California. After studying college yearbook photos since the 1960’s, Keltner found people with Duchenne smiles, those which involved the eyes, were happier since graduation than the phoney mouth smilers. Keltner concluded, “Happy smiley people cheer others up around them, which in turn makes them more stable and less prone to depression or divorce than those who faked it in their yearbooks.”

Though laughing has significant benefits, as evidenced by the word-wide laughter clubs, excessive or loud laughing can cause excess surplus chi and increase blood pressure according to Chinese medicine. A mild smile is a more sustainable and inward expression. The soft smile dissolves hardened patterns without struggle or force, gently coaxing a shift in stuck energy. Attacking problems with aversion and aggression only increases resistance and abusing our frailties makes us weaker. Alternatively, sending ourselves loving smiling energy empowers us towards strength and restoration.

Smile Time

The inner smile arises from a loving intention, surfaces on the face then suffuses our internal and external reality. Though a smile may feel fake initially our psychophysiology responds with happiness anyway. As respected Monk Thich Nhat Hanh explains, “ Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.”

Eventually our being is saturated in smiling benevolence and it becomes a constant, effortless expression of our inner bliss.

If smiling feels so good why don’t we do it more? Negative thoughts become entrenched in our energy and imprint themselves on our fa?ade. Helen, a recent participant in an Inner Smile Workshop observed- “Its easier to remain closed and blame externals for our problems. The inner smile requires us to look inside ourselves, accept ourselves and extend that loving energy to everything.”

Ironically we smile least when we need it most. Depression, pain and stress often rob us of the healing humour that can transform our state. Though smiling may be the last thing we feel like doing, it will do us the world of good. When we smile at our pain, worry, troubles and perceived inadequacies we dissolve compounding tension. As Allen Klein, author of The Healing Power of Humour expressed, “The hardest thing you can do is smile when you are ill, in pain, or depressed. But this no-cost remedy is a necessary first half-step if you are to start on the road to recovery.” Smiling puts everything into a brighter perspective as we observe the psychodrama of life objectively. As Charlie Chaplin understood, “Life is a tragedy in close-up and a comedy in long-shot.”

A challenge many experience in practicing the inner smile is the tendency towards negativity. We can catch an inner frown from others negative outlook or our own. When you get tense simply remind yourself to smile again and any inner wrinkles will soon smooth over, uplifting others energy. Strengthen your inner smile by practicing it in difficult situations such as during exercise, traffic jams, long queues and when annoyed.

As it doesn’t take any extra time or effort like other meditation practices, nobody can say, “I don’t have time to smile”. Smile as often as you remember to, knowing it will override negative reactivity and reawaken your core unity of self-acceptance.

A Smile File

Before practicing the inner smile install smiling energy into your cellular memory by creating a smile file. Scan your past for moments of joy and laughter. Then recall your capacity for happiness by reliving that emotion. One can also visualise a peaceful natural scene to imbibe serenity and dissolve stress. Seeing a smiling baby or your own smiling face is another useful image. Looking at funny old photos, jokes, cartoons and movies can help to recapture one’s innate sense of humour. Start the day with a smile by writing smile on your ceiling and invite more smiles into your life by playing with kids, giving to others and finding the humour in all situations. If you can’t conjure up a smile frown for as long and hard as possible until you get tired and flip to the other extreme of a smile.

Emotional Detox Smile

Our organs store emotional garbage so to clear up inner clutter Mantak Chia recommends first smiling to major organs to detoxify negative emotions. This “refines and recycles harmful energy into healing energy,” says Mantak Chia. Our organs work hard to maintain our homoeostasis so we can thank them with an inner smile. The specific order for the inner smile follows the organs cycle of creation. The inner smile can be practiced at any time and for any duration. Familiarise yourself with the location of all the major organs before the practice to establish a strong mental connection with them. You may feel more in touch with your organs if you place your hands over them as you send your smile as well as visualising them. Feel the grateful response from your organs as they release blockages and receive loving energy. Open your eyes if you choose to make the healing sounds then close them to resume. To clear your negative emotions follow these simple Inner Smile Steps-

1. Begin by closing your eyes and relaxing your whole body. Breath slowly and smoothly, letting go on the exhalation.
2. Smooth facial muscles and focus attention on the third eye.
3. Feel inner joy. Visualising a peaceful scene, a smiling baby or your smiling face may evoke this feeling.
4. Gather this bliss behind your eyes and watch it internally as it travels down your body.
5. Let the smiling energy flow like a sweet stream down your nose to wash over your lips.
6. Raise the corners of your mouth slightly in a sublime inner smile. Simultaneously feel this soften your eyes.
7. Place the tongue behind the teeth to connect the energy circuit for the entire practice.
8. Relax your jaw.
9. Swallow your saliva and feel your throat open and relax as you smile to your voice box. Thank them for giving you the power of balance and speech.
10. Visualise your thymus like a blossoming flower and smile to it with thanks for strong immunity and healing energy.
11. Let the smile radiate to the happiness centre of your heart. Feel your heart soften and fill with red love nectar. Release cruelty, harshness, hastiness, impatience and hurt from the heart on the exhalation. You can also say Haaw to release negativity. Send a smiling love letter to your open heart. Thank it for giving you compassion, kindness, joy and good circulation.
12. Gather the loving energy from the heart and spread it to your lovely lungs. Sense every cell relax as it releases grief and depression, exhaling the sound Sssss. You can also visualise them as glowing white wings carrying you to your higher mission. Swelling with smiling sap let your spongy lungs soak up joy, love and courage. Thank them for oxygenating your body.
13. Smile to your liver as it emanates a forest green hue, releasing grey murky light on the exhalation. Release anger and resentment with the sound Shhh. On the smiling inhalation absorb kindness, forgiveness and acceptance. Thank the liver for its role in assimilation, metabolism and purification.
14. Send pure smiling streams to your stomach, pancreas and spleen.
    Visualise these organs basking in a golden yellow light as they relax to release worry and anxiety while exhaling the sound Huuuu. Feel faith, fairness and present-minded consciousness saturate this region. Thank the organs for maintaining healthy digestion, immunity and blood sugar levels.
15. Keeping your body relaxed, send the loving smile to the kidneys. Visualise them like deep blue ears, releasing fear and stress from them whilst exhaling the sound Choo. Smile to them as they fill with soothing security, wisdom and calm. Thank them and the adrenals for filtering blood, balancing water and increasing stress resistance. Strong kidneys also give us the willpower to act on our convictions.
16. Smile to your orgasmic sexual area. Fill it with a tender loving energy, appreciating the pleasure and power it gives you. Thank it for producing hormones that nourish the mind and body.
17. To finish smile up your spine, washing the whole body with golden nectar flowing from each vertebra through the nervous system, bone marrow, bones, muscles, skin and hair.
18. The smiling waterfall rises to your crown showering your whole body in smiling ecstasy.
19. Allow the energy to flow back down behind your eyes and pool into your naval.
20. To complete the practice spiral energy around your navel. Men place their palms left over right and spiral clockwise 36 times whilst women place their palms right over left and spiral counter clockwise 36 times. Next reverse the direction and spiral back 24 times. By storing the smiling energy in the navel you will avoid accumulating excess heat in the head or heart.

Smile Infusion

Once we are filled with an inner smile it naturally overflows to others. The smile resonates with outside vibrations and reverberates back to us as a collective smiling wave. This creates an endless exchange of loving energy, invigorating and uplifting us on all levels. To keep this smiling circuit flowing remember to smile as often as possible. Smile to your past, present and future so you may continue on the spiritual path. Send an inner smile to those you love, hate, empathise with and are indifferent towards. Extend it to your house, family, work, community, teachers, well-wishers, country, continent, earth and universe. Send a special smile to the natural world of plants, animals, water bodies, mountains, the sky and planets.

The inner smile is considered a complete, non-sectarian spiritual practice that will benefit everyone. When consistently practiced it can nurture the enlightened awareness that we are all part of the same smiling energy. For world peace may we all share Paramahamsa Yogananda’s prayer to, “Let my soul smile through my heart and my heart smile through my eyes, that I may scatter rich smiles in sad hearts.” Wishing you a lifetime of smiles.

Caroline Robertson is a Naturopath, Homoeopath and Ayurvedic consultant practicing at Ayurveda Elements, Sydney. After suffering from over-seriousness for many years her main ambition is to smile more. Special thanks to Tao Garden, Thailand for their generous hospitality on her recent retreat there. To contact Caroline about Tao Gardens or Ayurveda courses or consultations phone (02)9904 7754, www.ayurvedaelements.com

By Angela Abbette
The view of health by Native Americans is both all encompassing and thoughtful. Traditional medicine can play a more stoic and relentlessly lend to the scientific approach, but Native Americans have a more holistic outlook.

Health is viewed as a balance or harmony of mind and body. The goal is to be in harmony with all things, which means first being in harmony with oneself. Harmony is thought to neutralize problems and help one’s life to become beautiful. Good health makes it easier for all people to do their part in the universe, to serve others, and to fulfill their personal life visions.

Life is considered in all of its dualities: winter/summer, cold/hot, day/night, mind/body, spiritual/physical, work/play, and so on. Native people believe that the two sides of everything deserve equal attention and that both should be nourished with love. A healthy person who is walking in balance is energized and alert, and even in the presence of disease will still feel alive and fulfilled.

Traditionally, Native American people lived long, happy, healthy, and balanced lives. They did everything to respect and honor Mother Earth and the Great Spirit. They ate wholesome food and considered all food to be blessed as a gift of life from the Creator. They got up with the sun and went to bed with the moon. Exercise was a natural part of their lives, integrated into daily activities. These good health habits, a sense of joy, and a purpose in life are key factors for living into old age.

Illness occurs when balance is disrupted. It is believed that most illness begins in the head and that people must get rid of ideas that predispose illness. If the mind is negative, the body will be drained, making it more vulnerable. When people open up to the universe, learn what is good for them, and find ways to be happier, they can begin to work toward a longer and healthier life. Many ancient people had ways to get rid of this negativity. The Mayan people of Mexico would stand in a stream of flowing water and talk out all their angers, fears, sorrows, or troubles over the water. The moving water would take all the emotions they poured out of themselves into the current and away from them.

Role of Medicine Women and Men

Although they are the primary care providers in many places, the responsibilities of medicine women and men go beyond healing illness. They also evaluate advice and treatment given by other health care practitioners. They often have a strong influence on the acceptance or rejection of the treatment plans from conventional health care providers. They may also function as tribal social mediators, dispensing traditional wisdom and suggesting action. Medicine people reaffirm and strengthen tribal identity through the recounting of myth and song. They have an extensive knowledge of their communities and of family relationships and interaction. They are the formulators and teachers of the old religion and creators of the new. Medicine people are figures of authority and awe as instruments of the Creator.

In conclusion, keeping all things in balance and retrospect is a simple foundation and simple approach to maintaining good health and a healthy life.

A Good Night’s Sleep the Natural Way

Yoga before bed, can help you sleep well!

As with any exercise, precaution should be taken if you are dealing with any serious illness or medication. Listen to your body and stop if you begin to feel discomfort. If sleeping problems persist, always see your doctor.

First, kneel down and sit on your heels. If this is uncomfortable for you, you can sit on the floor between your heels. If this too is not comfortable, you can sit in a cross legged position. Keep your spine straight and lay your hands in your lap. Close your eyes and breathe deeply. Stay here for about a minute and try to let go of any thoughts, especially any worries or thoughts from your day.

In the same position, keeping your spine straight, lean back about 30 degrees. Use your abdominal muscles to keep you balanced. Breathe long and deep in this position for about a minute.

Keeping the same seated position, cross your arms, holding on to opposite elbows. Start to slowly circle your torso in a clockwise direction. Close your eyes and make the largest circles possible without loosing your balance. Continue circling and breathing deeply for one to three minutes.

Otherwise, bend forward and, if you can, grab your toes. If not, don’t worry and do not strain, just grab your ankles, calves or wherever you can reach comfortably without bending your knees. Keep breathing deeply through your nose and try to relax all the muscles in your legs and spine. Three minutes are recommended here, but you can do as few as one.

Bring your spine straight with your legs still out in front of you. Bring your hands to the floor by your sides and use your arms to lift your body off the ground. Lift up and drop down 20 times. Don’t worry; you don’t have to lift your feet. (This move should be avoided if you are pregnant or on the first three days of your menstrual cycle).

The last posture is bridge pose. From a seated position, bend your knees and place your feet flat on the floor. Place your hands on the floor under your shoulders and lift your hips up. Make sure your hands and feet are planted firmly on the floor. Your arms and legs are at a 90 degree angle to the ground, while your body is parallel to the floor, forming a bridge. If you can, let your head drop back and breathe long and deep. Squeeze your abdominals but relax your glutes, (your butt muscles). Hold this pose for as long as you can from one to three minutes continuing to breathe deeply.

Lie down flat on your back for 30 seconds. Again, breathing long and deep. And here comes the best part! On the next inhale, stretch your hands up straight, as if reaching for the stars. Really stretch, reach up and breathe in as much air as possible. Hold your breath in as you grab hold of some of those stars and start to pull them down. Exhale slowly and pull down as if you are resisting and opposing force—your hands and arms should shake. Pull your hands down to your chest, exhaling fully. Breathe a big sigh of relief. Go ahead let it out! Repeat this motion 3 times and go to bed.

The Yogis have used these secrets to a great night’s sleep for thousands of years. Now it’s your turn to share in the benefits. Do this every night and you will wake up every morning feeling refreshed, regenerated and full of energy to take on your day.

Author: Page Turner is a freelance journalist, Children’s book author and Managing Editor at The RAY Magazine. She is a certified Yoga Instructor and Hypnotherapist pioneering the world of online yoga.

The 5 Animal Allies of the Pachakuti Mesa

Across the world shamanic traditions have flourished and persevered in times that have been favorable to them and also those during which their existence was deeply threatened. Yet, in spite of attempted eradication and the wider prevalence of cultural amnesia, many practices of this global lineage have survived – often greatly transformed through their adaptation to the shifting sands of culture.

Despite changes in appearance and the frequent adoption of aspects of the “new” religions and belief-systems that have accompanied the transformation from hunter/gatherer, pastoral, and subsistence cultures to agricultural and urban life-styles, core shamanic beliefs and practices continue to sustain people throughout the global ecosphere.

Within the Peruvian Andes and coast the synthesis of millenia-old shamanic practice and modern religious belief is found in both the traditions of the paqokuna and huachuma curanderismo. These traditions have, to varying degrees, incorporated elements of folk Catholic belief, cosmology, ritual, and liturgy. While this certainly ensured survival in a changing and persecutorial environment it also points to the wisdom of recognizing the inner syncretic nature of the shamanic universe as a principle of action.

The salient feature of both the highland paqokuna and coastal curandero traditions is their focus on the ritual and ceremonial mastery of the mesa. In each case the mesa is an altar-like collection of shamanically invested artifacts arranged according to the teachings of the lineage and the personal insight of the healer. Though somewhat different in form, both traditions engage the culturally acknowledged powers of the natural and ancestral worlds through the mediating instrument of the mesa.

Through propitiatory ritual and invocational ceremony, states of contact are reached with these powers in which balance, health, prosperity, and fertility are restored within the community. Underpining all practice is the recognized law of ayni, as it is known in the highlands, in which it is understood that there exists a delicate state of interdependance between all levels of the physical and spiritual worlds. Perhaps best expressed as the “Law of Right Returns,” or, more colloquially, “today for me, tommorow for you,” the notion of ayni succinctly encapsulates the knowing that within the intricate matrix of interdependance that is our universe, an inbalance is created when a return “payment” is not offered for the intervention of the spiritual realms. Since practically everything within indigenous and shamanic culture is seen as a result of actions and dynamics taking place within the spiritual realms, one of the primary pursuits of a people becomes the maintainance of proper “payments” to those “causal” realms. The person for whom this becomes a specialty is the paqo, pampamisayoq, and altomisayoq, or the curandero depending on their tradition.

Shamanic Practice

The Pachakuti Mesa itself originated through Oscar′s many-year apprenticeship with his personal mentors in Peru, maestro curanderos don Celso Rojas Palomino and don Benito Corihuaman Vargas. Emerging from his apprenticeship within the coastal huachumero and the highland paqokuna traditions, the Pachakuti Mesa embodies distinct elements from each of these specific traditions of medicine practice.

The wisdom of these two lineages, representing related yet disctinct ancestral cultures, creates an organic structure that serves to anchor the vast array of shamanic practices existing to serve life from the personal dimension to that of the community, while harmonizing these with a global vision and the celestial sources of guidance and support. Strenghtening this ancestral heritage and cross-cultural relevance are insights drawn from the world′s many wisdom traditions and the growing understanding of quantum dynamics and consciousness.

Following its original birthing from the cultural and shamanic lineages of Peru, the applied practice of the Pachakuti Mesa has evolved through its service to non-indigenous Western culture. It has become a true repository for the unfolding experience of its dedicated practitioners and community. The Pachakuti Mesa can truly be said to be a continual birthing of the wisdom of sacred community dedicated to a shared Earth-honoring path of service in which the ancient nourishes the present, birthing the creative expression of contemporary practice.

Pachakuti Mesa Healing Service

The mesa is the instrument by which the mythic power of prophetic time and the profundity of the three cosmological worlds is harnessed in practice. It is the medium of translation for the spiritual wisdom and understanding of the Andean cosmovision, allowing them to transform into practical applications and effects within a community.

A mesa is the consecrated arrangement of ceremonial power objects that make up a curandero′s “tool set,” and is also the point of focus for the spiritual forces engaged through ritualized action. It is simultaneously the seat for spiritual vision and the multi-fold powers of creation, and by being the locus of intention is directed by the healer. Two elements in particular come together within the mesa, blending into its unique form: the transmission of traditional wisdom given by the teacher and the idiosyncratic initiation that characteruzes the individual path. From the integration of these two sources of inspiration a healer′s mesa is born.

Travis Wright's Pachakuti Mesa

The Pachakuti Mesa, as an embodiment of global earth-honoring service, integrates within its primal structure the five alchemically venerated elements of the universe: earth (Allpa), water (Unu), wind (Wayra), fire (Nina), and the fifth transcendent element which is produced by the harmonious intermingling of the originating four – the aether (K′uychi). Each of these elements is focussed in one of the five directions of the quadrangular mesa – South, West, North, East, and Center – and is embodied by one of the five primordial powers of the Andean cosmovision: Pachamama (Earth Mother), Mama Killa pronounced Mama Key-yah (Moon), Wiracocha (Creator), Inti (Sun), and K′uychi (Sacred Rainbow). When these powers are united by vision and intention – lovingly anchored within the physical repository of the mesa – the Pachakuti Mesa blossoms as a transformative agent within the world.

Each of the directions of the mesa hold a particular archetypal form, energy, and healing medicine, arranged according to a dynamic understanding of the mythic and energetic universe. They therefore provide a vehicle for the initiatic apprenticeship of the fundamental forces of creation and, more importantly, the means by which their transformative presence is directed in the world. As an experiential mirror of the dynamically self-aware universe the, Pachakuti Mesa contains within itself both the map and the mapmaker, and ultimately becomes the primary source of instruction and guidance for the healer.

The Power of Ritual

Beyond the base structure of the Pachakuti Mesa and the aligments contained within it, it is the unique experience of the healer that determines the shape it assumes. As a continuously unfolding source of initiation and a reflection of the soul experience of the carrier, the mesa itself will naturally evolve and transform over time. Indeed, a mesa can never remain static – to do so would contradict one of the fundamental experiences of creation: all is in motion. While a mesa will hold certain patterns over time, it must ultimately be recognized as an expression of transformation itself, which cannot be boxed within a static form.

As mentored by don Oscar, the Pachakuti Mesa is a ceremonially consecrated imaginal map of the universe, an archetypal cosmic landscape, which “energetically” anchors both seen and unseen dimensions of the anima mundi (i.e., World Soul) before the shamanic practitioner. It is a beautiful container of spirit, and it is also a soul-infused artifact of the material world. It is a living, dynamic pattern upon which and within which we can consciously do our transformative personal and planetary healing work. As a global community of Pachakuti Mesa Carriers we embrace this ancestral lineage not because it is superior to all other traditions, yet because its effects are healthfully liberating and aesthetically graceful. It is a visually dramatic and sensually rich millennial heritage, which appeals to those who resonate with the healing power in natural patterns, earth rhythms and cosmic cycles. It is also a syncretistic shamanic tradition, which is openly tolerant and widely inclusive of diverse cultural ideologies, religious beliefs and all world wisdom paths. In essence, the Pachakuti Mesa is meant to be a pristine reflection of the individual practitioners ontological sense of belongingness within the Great Sacred Web of Life.

Via Don Oscar Miro-Quesada

What we do know about hands on healing is that everything carries frequencies and different waves of energy and this world is made up of polarities. We are electromagnetic beings. If you put a north pole against a south pole, then you get it to magnetize together. If you put the opposites together then you feel a repelling frequency. When a person places their healthy frequency next to someone else then entrainment takes place. Which literally is like a cable. It jump starts your innate healing process. When energy is directed into the body, it affects matter on a subatomic or quantum level and works its way up through the cells, nerves and muscle tissue of the body. The innate body intelligence does the work. Example: Practitioners do not have to know where bones need to move, any more than we need to understand how our stomach digests food. The person’s innate body intelligence directs the healing.

Example: If you were to put one hand on a place and your other hand in another you would be like a jumper cable. Because each part would then begin to connect up. Depending on how chronic the pattern is will depend on how long a session is as well as how many sessions will it take for the connection to stay. Another form of jumper cabling is through resonant entrainment.

Resonant entrainment – Principles.

Universal life force energy- there are about 76 words that describes life force energy from different cultures and places. Life force energy is the animating current of life. It is always there. It is what keeps us alive.

Resonant and entrainment – When two things Vibrating at different frequencies 3 things will occur. Either the lower frequency will rise up to match the higher frequency, or the higher frequency will come down or both will meet in the middle. The Quantum Touch practitioner learns to hold the frequency at a very high vibration through breathing and body awareness exercises. The person you are working on will gradually entrains or matches the vibration of the practitioner. Grandfather Clocks in the room, people sitting close to each other their breathing will become rhythmatically together. Women and their menstrual cycle. The practitioner never becomes drained because they have learned to hold that vibration at a high level. You become more energized.

Body Intelligence. We hold the high frequency and we give the persons body intelligence the chance to come up and decide what it needs therefore healing itself. We pride ourselves in being intelligence people and we want to outsmart life. We study so hard and control and manipulate and use force to make things happen. Ultimately we can’t outsmart life. Our body has hundreds of functions to keep us alive. How many people can name them all? Who can do them all consciously? We have about 100 trillion cells and each one of these cells have over a 1000 things happening in a day. We can’t keep track of that consciously. Who would want to concentrate on keep our heart beating, all our organs to function and work together all the time especially while we are asleep?

We have enough DNA in our body. If we were to unwind it all, there is about a yard of DNA in every cell. And if you multiply a 100 trillion times a 1-yard it would about 200 round trips to the sun with all the DNA in the body. The medical profession has this idea that if we try to poison the disease and hope the disease dies before the patient rather than raising the life force energy of the person and letting their body intelligence to take over providing the best nutrition the best emotional balance and life style and the life force energy to raise the vibration. Trust the process and just the body to do what it needs to heal the surface. During the release the process you may have pain or emotions might come to the surface. We trust it all because it is all part of the releasing process.

In order for consciousness to effect matter that has to happen at a quantum or subatomic level. You can’t effect cells, organs, and bones. You effect the stuff that make up the cells, organs and bones. Subatomic is that level beneath the atomic level. They are not particles they are calling them energy packets. They have no mass. They don’t weigh anything. Why does anything weigh anything if the stuff that makes it up has no mass.

What we took for granted as solid matter, thought to be up of “billiard ball” atoms, is – according to quantum physicists is simply 99.9999% empty space filled with energy.

The cell is so smart that even if you have damage dna in a cell even when you are still alive. The cell heals the dna damage. Energy follows thought. Where you put your awareness is where the Universal life force energy will go.

by Brenda Bates – Medicine Woman

Is letting go a means of Liberation? If Liberation is a process, how does it work and what do fear, anger and pain have to do with it?

What do we do when we are experiencing fear, anger or pain? The first thing is to actually notice and acknowledge what we are feeling. Next look where in our bodies it is vibrating. If we can do this we have immediately stopped being the emotion and it is now something happening, in a particular place, that we can be present to.

Where we find the emotion vibrating in the body we will find tension. This tension is the physicalizing of resistance we have to the feelings. The feelings are ‘past’ held by resistance in unconsciousness. Our resistance and denial then are directly reflected in the tension and holding in our bodies. By choosing to stop holding and allowing the body to open, we begin both the release of our resistance, and can also become conscious of the denial.

As the holding is largely subconscious, we first need to become aware that we are actually doing it. In the Living Liberation meditation practice, the aim is to develop an ongoing process of deepening, softening and opening, while remaining alert and attentive. ‘Holding’ will be reflected in different levels, physically, emotionally, mentally and other energetically subtler.

When we become conscious of a pattern of ‘holding’ on any level and begin to release and let go, there will be a corresponding softening on the other levels of our being. At different times engaging in the release process will begin at different levels, none is better than another. Each of us may also find a particular level an easier point of connection, some people it’s the physical, another emotional or mental.

Ideally whatever the initial point of connecting, we will develop the ability to follow its thread all the way through our ’system’ releasing on every level. As we are largely so mentally dominant we must be aware of the tendency to stay only on a mental level with our awareness. As we become more sensitive to the feeling level of our experience and can connect and release from here, the more thoroughly and effectively the release will be.

Softening and opening is not something that we do, it is what happens when we release the tension of holding and begin to let it go. We begin the movement from ‘doing’ to ‘being’. Where there is tension in the body we are doing something already, we are tensing, contracting, ‘holding’. Relaxing – softening and opening, is then stopping doing what we are doing already to maintain this holding.

Since we aren’t usually aware that we are ‘holding’, and it is the result of deeply entrenched habits and a physical response to the feelings held in the body, it is important to practice ‘letting go’ regularly and diligently.

The holding patterns that we notice when we pay attention to the feelings of tightness, tension and resistance in the body are there all the time, our bodies are ‘holding’ in this way all the time, and probably have been doing so for a long time. The process of the body letting go of these deep patterns of holding isn’t likely to be a speedy process; it will take time and continued attention and commitment. It is though in my experience and opinion the process of Liberation, available in every moment.

Ray Baskerville is a healer meditation teacher, certified hypnotherapist, yogi and proud father. He has worked as a healer, taught meditation and yoga worldwide. Ray is also the creator and editor of lifedivine.net an online magazine for yoga, meditation, spirituality and personal development. Please visit for more free quality articles like this.

In this article we are going to focus on the dynamic concept of the chakras. To clarify, almost all references that you will come across to opening, balancing, healing, energizing, clearing or meditating on, the chakras, are referring to the dynamic concept and not the yogic/ Tantric concept. These two concepts are quite different and incompatible as components of a single system. Most writings and descriptions of the chakras indiscriminately blend components from each of these two different concepts of the chakras. Most of the information is simply a repetition of these same misunderstandings and confusions.

The point I am wanting to convey here, is that perception and interpretation of the chakras  is from a state of relativity. So if we look at two reputable and contemporary exponents of chakra concepts, like Barbara Ann Brennan, and Carolyn Myss, for example, we find both similarities and significant differences. This doesn’t mean that one is right and the other is wrong, it is simply an example of the relativity of human experience of the chakras. Both of these womens work and systemologies have validity and credibility. They have both interpreted the dynamic energy system of the chakras from the unique perspective of their individuated perception.

Let’s continue by listing the seven main chakras of the dynamic system as they are widely agreed upon. From top to bottom located near the major nerve plexuses of the body.

Chakra centre seven – Crown

Chakra centre six – 3rd eye – brow

Chakra centre five – throat

Chakra centre of four – heart

Chakra centre three – solar plexus

Chakra centre two – navel

Chakra centre one – perineum

But what do the chakras do? And how? Barbara Ann Brennan’s view is that the “chakras function as intake organs for energy from the universal energy field……. The energy taken in and metabolized through each chakra is sent to the parts of the body located in the median nerve plexus area closest to each.” While Caroline Myss says “every thought and experience you’ve ever had in your life gets filtered through these chakra databases. Each event is recorded into yourselves in other words your biography becomes your biology. When chakra energy is blocked or misdirected emotional and physical illness can arise.”

My own experience is that the dynamic chakra system act both as energy portals from the subtle bodies into the physical body, and into the stored contents of the subconscious mind. We can also see them as a vibrational scale, from the lowest vibrational frequencies at the base chakra, to the highest vibrational frequencies at the Crown chakra and beyond. It is not my experience though that the spiritual process follows an ascending clearing of the chakras from base to crown. The karmic energies held in the subconscious are tangled and interwoven in many patterns between the different centers.

A process of clearing may for example begin in the second chakra weave through the heart, the throat, before descending to the third chakra at the solar plexus. This is because karmic energy can be woven from multiple dimensions of experience and hold different levels of vibrational frequency. Again from my own experience of many years doing healing work, the heart chakra is almost always impacted, and a central key in the process of healing.

Barbara Ann Brennan is unique in attributing different qualities to the front and rear energy vortices of chakras two through six. In her model of the dynamic chakras a front funnel of chakras two to five are feeling centers. The rear funnel of centers two to five are will centers. And both front and rear of chakra six along with the crown chakra are mental centers.

The 7 major Dynamic Chakras

The first or base chakra, situated between the sex and anus, is associated with the first layer of the energy field or aura. They relate to automatic and autonomic functioning as well as physical functioning and physical sensation. It directly relates to the will to live, to be ‘here’ in the body, on the earth, and issues of physical survival.

The second chakra, hara or sacral is situated below the area of the belly-button and relates to the second layer of the aura. They are associated with the feelings, emotions, sensuality and sexuality. This is the center of personal power, self image and money. It is easy to see then how sexuality – power – self image and money gets so confusingly entwined.

The third, solar plexus chakra, is located unsurprisingly around the region of the solar plexus in the opening of the lower ribs, and is related to the third layer of the aura. They are associated with will, and the lower mental or linear thinking mind. It holds the mental dimension of self image and self esteem. This Chakra is deeply connected with the nervous system, as such it is the primary place of holding fear in the body.

The heart chakra positioned in the center of the chest, at or above the level of the breastbone, is linked to the fourth layer of the aura. They are related to all aspects of love and compassion and the emergence of higher will. This chakra is quite literally at the center of our being, it holds the essence of our humanity and the meeting of spirit and form.

The throat chakra is found above the hollow of the throat, relates to the fifth layer of the aura, and they are associated with, communication, and Divine will, the expression of the truth. It’s here that we undergo the surrender of personal will.

The sixth, brow chakra positioned in the centre of the forehead slightly above eye level,relates to the sixth layer of the aura. They are associated with light, the intuitive mind and psychic perception. Here is a capacity to visualize a conceptualize, it is the seat of the higher mind and creativity.

The crown chakra at the top of the head, relates to the seventh layer of the aura, they are associated with connection to the divine and direct knowing. It is the place of spiritual integration with the personality.

I hope at this point is it’s clear that the associations with the different chakras above are by no means definitive. You will note that I have not attributed colors, crystals and the like. Instead I invite you to explore and to discover for yourself. You may find that over time your perception changes. Just as every person on the planet is unique, so too is in every chakra. So again I invite you to explore with an open mind, to use your own sense and feeling where for example a particular crystal might resonate in you – should you be so inclined. Remember that life itself is a dynamic process, constantly in movement and our dynamic chakras are constantly moving with it.

7 Chakras

Another GREAT meditation came through on a client call – I’m very grateful to this client for her permission to use this and the Heart Chakra meditation here on my blog.  Both were so powerful and I believe will be of great benefit to many.  This one is a beautiful activation of the union of the sacred masculine and divine feminine in each chakra – Listen here:

Divine Union 7 Chakra Meditation

Make sure you take some time after listening to allow the energetic shift to integrate for you.  This meditation is a very powerful activator.  It might serve to follow it up with a listen to some of my music from Divine Union – A Crystal Singing Bowl Healing Journey  (Click to listen to the title track).  The CD is now avaiable in a downloadable format at Amazon.com and at ITunes.com.

Sound Healing is an incredibly powerful tool to assist us on our evolutionary journey – It’s easy and fun to receive and facilitates shifts at the deepest level of your being.  A sound healing session can be easily performed over the phone which allows you to integrate in your own space.  All sessions are recorded too so you can play them back at your leisure.  Find out more about sound healing or book a session on my site atwww.amethystwyldfyre.com

I’m planning on adding a whole lot more sound files on my website which will include both guided meditations/visualizations and music based sounds.  Look soon for downloadable files of chants for each chakra which will be reasonably priced for download onto your computer or IPod.

I always welcome testimony from clients or from anyone who has been impacted by my work.  Here is a new comment about Divine Union from one of my colleagues (and friend) who is a massage therapist:

“I have so ENJOYED working with the sounds and vibrations during bodywork sessions this past month or two. Wow!!!  The sound often guides the body to respond, open, shift or vibrate in a new way. ” - Peace, Sarah-Elizabeth 

For a GREAT Massage or Cranio Sacral Therapy session Sarah-Elizabeth is the one I recommend here in NH – With office locations in both Concord and Wilton she is easily accessible for services to most of the state.  Tell her I sent you!

Amethyst Wyldfyre
www.amethystwyldfyre.com
www.answersfromyourangels.com

Author of Celestial Voices – An Invitation to Ascension from the Archangels Now on Sale $19.95 Plus S & H

Creatrix of Divine Union – A Crystal Singing Bowl Healing Journey Now on Sale $18.00 plus S & H Order today! 

“In the Moment that I transform one person from being wounded to being healed and that person is me then I have transformed the world!”  – Amethyst Wyldfyre

In this three-part series we’ll look at some of the common misunderstandings around the popular teachings of Reiki, and how it’s really an enlightenment path.

What is the Essence of Reiki?

The word ‘energy’ is bandied about so much these days. And it’s highly relevant as energy underlies life. It’s important to also understand that there are different kinds of energy. Metabolic energy is what we use to fuel the physical body. There’s psychic, emotional and mental energy. Then there’s healing energy.

Even if we were to understand Reiki purely on energetic terms, the distinction still needs to be made that Reiki is spiritual energy, or rather a way to tap into it. What might that be? It’s the all-encompassing, overarching common denominator.

Energy is undeniable and there is an energetic manifestation of Reiki. Before that aspect can be experienced and effective, however, a subtler causal level acts as a backdrop.

This backdrop is nondual consciousness. Nothing has separated or differentiated from it yet. It is One and all-pervading. This consciousness has no distinctions of subject/object, mind/matter, words/concepts, or space/time.

In this sense, Reiki is a practice to participate in non-ideational consciousness, be informed by it and evolve, with all other benefits condensing from there.

In Reiki terms, when nondual consciousness begins to differentiate, i.e., move into manifestation, it does so in polar fashion. Before going on, let’s identify nondual consciousness and nondual or primordial Ki as being one and the same. Yes, Ki is a form of energy, but it is also a ground state, a grand backdrop.

The two polarities that first throb out of an undifferentiated source are Celestial Ki and Earth Ki. These are primordial qualities and vibrations. In fact everything in creation is created with as a blend of these two polar forces.

Fortunately for us, Earth and Celestial Ki are available to be experienced spiritually, mentally and physically, and in the material world. Reiki practice is a simple and direct way to do so.

That we can work and play with these pulsations of pure consciousness makes Reiki much more than a modality or even art of healing. This is the stuff of the universe we conduit and receive. Whether you’re a practitioner or recipient, universal powers are interacting with you.

Being in natural balance between Heaven and Earth is one of the core mindbody states Reiki cultivates.

© Pamir Kiciman 2008

Pamir Kiciman is a Soul Whisperer^SM specializing in healing, spirituality and conscious evolution. He provides Reiki services (Reiki Training & Healing) for those seeking to make spirituality, healing and meditation a conscious part of their life. His approach to Reiki is that it’s a way of living with wisdom and compassion, not only a healing art, and definitely not a modality.