Monthly Archives: July 2024

Sometimes, one thing, is everything

The Life-Giving Sword…

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Satsujinken – This is the Japanese phrase that translates to “The Life-Giving Sword.” But when you hear that, does anyone else feel like it doesn’t quite make sense? Like there is something that doesn’t quite compute.

That is because the statement foreshadows that there is something hidden, and this is only part of the truth. It took our Sensei a long time to get someone to write out the full statement for us.

The scroll I photographed above is painted by my friend Josh Ross, Sensei.

The full scroll says (Left image) The Killing Sword is (Right Image) The Life-Giving Sword. This is SO important to the way I look at the world. But I realize that even hearing: The Killing Sword is The Life-Giving sword is not always immediately clear. Let me give you the more poetic translation to allow you to grasp what the means.

The Sword that cuts down evil is the Life-Giving Sword.

This idea that we need to shed the heavier parts, or the parts we don’t like to highlight the brighter side of things is a trend I find to be incredibly destructive and it NEEDS TO STOP.

The is a trend in Neo-pagan and modern spiritual communities that highlights Love and Light as the solution to all our problems. There are many very powerful and skilled practitioners that have moved to this paradigm and I fear that because it is so enticing, it can be incredibly insideous.

My training and experience only shows me the dangers of ignore and shunning the parts that people are struggling with.

I have seen EFT sessions where people ignore the heavy or hard parts and only state the positive parts. I have seen places where someone start sharing the depth of their struggles, and the practitioner stops them to ask them to phrase it in a more positive way. I could go on for a long time with the ways I have seen this cause trouble.

When we work to actively limit the shadows, we amplify the message that it is not safe to share, and that those messages should remain hidden. No matter the intention, the mind is really good at finding reasons to hide things that are hard to deal with. And if you have amplified the message to hide something heavy, then it is harder to bring out later.

Dodging the parts we don’t like amplifies the problem, and amplifies peoples pain.

I would invite you to honestly think about what it means when people say Toxic Positivity. This is where the phrase comes from.

When you are looking at a situation and your tendency is to push away the heavy part, ask yourself why it scares you so much. Think about how incomplete the phrase “The Life-Giving Sword” is. Try to limit your hesitation in looking at the heavier part. Feel free to reach out if you need help.

Meditations

Breathing with the Trees

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One of the things that I find it hardest to do when you feel stuck, is to find a way that allows you to connect to the world around you and start letting go of the things that are holding you down. (You know, getting unstuck.)

This is an exercise/meditation I came up with that really felt like a fantastic way to approach resolution to this very problem. For those of us who have a hard time when we are out in public stepping into spirituality, this process allows you to appear as of you are simply leaning on a tree. No one has to know what else is going on.

First of all, I invite you to find a place you feel safe. A place you can walk, be in nature, and still with a tree for a while. You get to pick the tree, but I also invite you to listen, and see if you can find one that is calling to you.

As this process requires you to be focused in on you, and your direct physical surroundings, I strongly advise building a strong shield first, and if you have someone that is safe for you, invite them to come with you. (You may need to be very specific that energy from the tree and the earth are allowed through.)

Once you have found your tree, please place your feet firmly on the ground, and place one hand on the tree.

Remembering that consent is ALWAYs the way, please ask the tree for consent to draw upon its energy.

Once you have its permission, I want you to draw your attention to your breathing. When you inhale, I want you to imagine that your breath is tied to energy drawing in from the tree, through your hand, and into your chest. Let it sit there a second, and simply be with you.

When you exhale, I would like you to think of that energy in your chest, and with your breath going out, I want you to visualize that energy leaving your chest, going down your legs, and offer it to the earth below as a gift of energy.

You make breath in this way as long as you need. With each inhale, you draw energy from the tree. Hold it in your chest, and then offer it to the earth on your exhale.

Once you have this process flowing, I invite you to think of where the weight of your heaviest energy lives in your body. And when you inhale, drawing that energy from the tree, visualize that a small bit of that heavy energy comes from wherever in your body it is holding on, and meets up with the energy in your chest. If this is something that you need to feel, hold it for a couple of breaths in your chest, and give yourself permission to feel that energy. And when you feel ready, let the built up energy in your chest leave you as an offering to the earth through your feet.

I imagine that after you have done this breathing for several rounds, you will see how you are creating a cycle between the tree, yourself, and the earth. The energy you are offering up to the earth is being drawn back into the tree for you to draw in.

When you feel ready, ask the earth for consent to draw energy in from it. When you have that consent, draw energy from the earth on your inhale, and offer that energy up to the tree on your exhale. The reverse allows the energy to flow in the opposite direction. This process is simply a reverse of the original instructions, so please to remember to draw that energy into your chest, and offer it up from there.

I wish you the best of luck, this is one of my favorites.