Playing with Qi Gong - by Karen Steinbrecher

Bring joy into your being.  Visualize your child within.

Bring joy into your heart as you practice Qigong.  Do this around children and watch the difference in the way that they respond to you.  Watch how differently they may react to one another in your presence.  Practicing and dancing the healing dance of Qigong works on adults as well.  It helps us let go of  stress, pain, worries.  It is so simple, amazing.  But you must practice.

Remember that as a child you played with the world around you?  You may have imitated a bird’s song, trying to fly like a bird up and up towards heaven and then gently (sometimes) landing on Earth.  When we practice Qigong, we connect with Heaven and Earth, Yang and Yin.  As a child did you chase a wave, toss stones, or did you run away from the wind, or did you race with it?   Let us bring it back, return to that feeling of freedom, that letting go, and connection to your being, you.  This is healing for all beingness.  As adults we often forget to include joy and play in our lives. Let us let go and be. That is part of the essence of this healing dance called Qigong.

Practicing Qigong with regularity can bring you in touch with the common sense that is your nature, a common sense that may become less common as the pace and pressures of life continue to increase.  How we feel and what we think has a powerful effect on our word as well as upon our ability to heal.  The ancient sages of China believed that thinking was a form of Qi.  Our thought and attitudes do influence not only our own bodies, but everyone and everything around us.  Qigong reminds us of this in a very tangible way because its slow, flowing movements and deep breathwork help us to return and get in touch with our connection to the world around us.  Qigong can be a tool, a strategy for freedom from our cage of isolation.

Qigong practice brings you into a relaxed state, the deep breathing oxygenates  your body. Qigong can motivate healing and inner transformation.  It cannot really be explained; it can only be experienced.

I invite you to play Qigong and breathe deeply.  Let us dance this beautiful exercise together. With each and every breath that you take, think of filling an empty glass.  The glass is empty, and as you breathe deeply you fill it from bottom to top with oxygen and Qi.  Then empty from top to bottom.  Gently move your diaphragm down, inhale and pull it up, then exhale.  Notice the feeling of the air, the Qi, moving in and out, your body and brain relaxing.  Practice this balanced breathing, this conscious breathing towards Healing and Peace and Alignment and Love.

Karen Steinbrecher practices, leads, and teaches QiGong at the Resiliency Center on Thursdays at 2:00 pm and 6:15 pm. The class fee is ten dollars for a 50-55 minute class.    RSVP in advance by contacting Karen at karensteinbrecher@msn.com

Miracles Around The Bend

Does it seem to you like there are a lot of changes in your life? They say that 2012 may not be the end of the world, just the end of the world as we know it. Isn't that reassuring? In addition to drastic changes occurring almost daily, I'm frequently hearing about people meeting an untimely death, some of whom have been struggling a long time and others who seem (from outside appearances at least) like they may be off course. With all the shifting going on lately, it seems as if the earth itself may be screaming, “Shift or get off the planet!” Could all challenges we face be a spiritual invitation to change? Changes – and changing – are really tough. There is no easy way around it. It just involves getting up each day and putting one foot in front of the other and walking through whatever comes.

I received a newsletter from a psychologist and author named, Susan B. Apollon. In the letter, she wrote about the emotional stages that we go through when dealing with change. Apollon wrote:

"With every change we experience there is always a period of letting go of the familiar and the comfortable, followed by a period of uncertainty and, very often, grief. Whether it be a loved one who has transitioned, a job that has been lost, a marriage that has dissolved, a home that we must leave, or even one of our children going off to college, all change requires a period of adjustment to our new circumstances--an adjustment to a space that was once filled and is now seemingly empty. And, as difficult as these adjustments are for some of us, this is the time that miracles often become part of our lives; if we will only open ourselves up to the beauty of the unknown by embracing the very personal experience of letting go". 

This was a bit startling because it felt as if she was talking to me.  All of the above mentioned changes have occurred in my life recently.  My mother passed away in April; my job changed; my divorce was finalized; I moved twice; and my only daughter (and sometimes my best friend) moved hundreds of miles away.

With all that upheaval and uncertainty, miracles can't be too far behind. Does it matter if we make life changes voluntarily through careful deliberation or if we are forced to change because of what seems like random occurrences? My Guess is, not too much. It always requires a period of adjustment which is fraught with ups and downs. What is really going on when life-changing, unexpected stuff happens? Why does it seem like everybody is experiencing life-altering challenges? Some people say that there are no such thing as accidents or coincidences. It seems to me that there is a universal consciousness and that consciousness is saying, “Come on people we’ve been playing it safe for too long. Life is supposed to be grand. Let’s stop being complacent and get out there and really live.” Deep down, we know that living a life that vacillates between okay and intolerable is just not good enough. Because we have free will, we can go through life choosing the safest path we know but usually that path is not the most fulfilling. Perhaps when “s--- happens,” it’s really our spirit guide answering our subtle prayers for something better. We are left with no choice but to adjust to the change. Sometimes that means starting all over.

A friend was telling me about a beautiful hydrangea that was so vibrant and healthy that people stopped to ask about her secret.  She said that it was an ordinary plant until her neighbor ran it over and left it for dead. The next year, it grew back as this magnificent specimen. All living creatures go through life cycles. We all have stressors along the way. Some die and some survive. As the saying goes, “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”  

If you would like support while going through life changes, please contact me, Delia Nessim (Trapuzzano) by calling (610) 416-7535.

In the next few months, I will be presenting workshops at The Resiliency Center on understanding and making the best use of the subconscious mind. Stay tuned to learn more at www.meetup.com/resiliencygatherings.

A June Swoon by Dean Solon

perhaps it is the connection that matters,
not the results.

what if outcome does not matter?  does NOT matter.
what if connection is what matters?  connection to the whole and all that is expressed and all that is experienced in and of and as and with the whole.

connecting in and of and with the whole is the whole shebang.  connecting in and of and with the whole allows a seeing of what is and what has been and will be, and this is the bliss, this is the real and true, this is the golden path of awakening and enlightenment:  to be viewing all of this and to be participating in all of this, everything included, nothing left out or shut out or sat out.

connecting...to each and every star in the big sky, to each and every drop in the vast waters, to each and every unfolding and arising embodying of life encountered, to each and every moment in THIS surprising lifetime.

what if outcome does not matter?
what if connection is what matters?

outcome, a blind alley.
connection, a clear-seeing path.
\