Silence by Dean Solon

clouds passing across the big sky.
mind-forms informing, re-forming.  mind-forms disintegrating, evaporating.
in this space, perpetually and eternally under the orange-red sun in the center of the big blue sky, there is nothing to be forgiven, nothing to be forgiving. 
          all there is
          is God,
          within and without.  all there is
                                                    is God,
                                                    within and without.
all else is included,
all else is nothing
other than illusion,
other than distraction
and drama
and wrestling.
           release, relief, resurrection, redemption.
           connecting with all there is
           ...God, within and without.
           silence
           recreating and renewing
           everything.
holding to the hem of the garment
holding to the hem of the garment
holding lightly, holding loosely
holding loosely, holding lightly
           loosening the ties to limitation,
           opening mind, opening heart
           as presence, your presence.
           all presents.
                
         

SHARING SOME STORIES ABOUT STRESS & DANCING QIGONG from Karen Steinbrecher

The September issue of Shambala Sun, a magazine,  speaks about finding Peace during stressful times.  Are you familiar with that word, stress?  Here are some inspiring ideas   to share with you from this issue.   .

“Life is stressful, and no matter what we do, that blunt fact will never change.  Yet we’re not powerless.  The way we think about stress and the way we react to it-that is always up to us.”;  Judy Lief’s article on the “;Middle Way of Stress” tell us that  “Not only do we have to lean into our own stress at times, but we also have to be willing to allow others to learn in that same way.  It is hard to watch someone struggle without feeling anxious and wanting to help out…but it is not always so simple.  For instance, if you see a butterfly struggling to break out of it cocoon, and you try to ease its struggle by prying open the cocoon, that butterfly will emerge in a weakened state and may even die.  The butterfly needs the stress of working its way out of the cocoon to build up strength and to dry its wings.  Clearly, a certain amount of stress is part of life, but how much stress and what kind of stress?  How can we navigate a course that is challenging but no overwhelming?

We think that if we were smarter, prettier, wealthier, more powerful, living somewhere else, younger, older, male, female, with different parents-you name it-things would be different.  But things are not different.  It makes more sense to learn how to deal with the stresses that inevitable arise.  Yet Lief teaches that there is real hope for relief and that it lies in practice.”

.

This leads us to  QiGong.  Here is a flowing dance with gentle, stretching movements that help us, enable us to let go, let go of the stress, the pain and the worry as we seek to find our balance.  Balance is like happiness, it can be fleeting.  But the practice of QiGong,  the Gong, the focus, the intention as we move the Qi [Chi – life force, energy]  toward aligning Body, Mind,  Heart,  Spirit and Soul towards who YOU ARE, is my secret that I want to share with you.  And her basic suggestion about getting to know your own mind by following the breath RESONATES with Qigong.  The Breathwork is an important element in QiGong practice.  As Lief suggests, and also in QiGong practice, we bring our attention to our inhalations and exhalations, thereby discovering that there IS something steady and reliable about our mind.  That when life becomes stressful, we can draw upon that inner strength that lies within each and every one of us.

Join me and others as we Dance and Practice Qigong here at the Resiliency Center

every Thursday @ 2 P.M. and @ 6:15 P.M.  in the open work space.   $10.00 charge.

"Hypnosis: Use it on anything" by Delia Nessim, MS

           Clinical hypnosis is not just for weight loss or smoking cessation.  More and more people are realizing that since the subconscious seems to be running the show, it behooves us to get in there and have some say over where it’s leading our life.  The motto of the national guild of hypnotists says, “We help ordinary, everyday people with ordinary, everyday problems of all kinds.”

How does it work, you might ask? Well, the subconscious mind is good at recognizing patterns and speeding things up by jumping to conclusions. This way, the things we do routinely get done quickly and easily without troubling the conscious mind.  For example, I used to drive a car with a stick shift.  At first, it took concentration and coordination to learn to press down on the clutch and shift gears.  After a while my subconscious took over and I hardly thought about it.  Then when I drove an automatic car and I prepared to stop, my left foot instinctively looked for something to press down on.  After slamming on the brakes a few times, I realized that my conscious mind had to be activated to remind me that there was no clutch and my left foot could just relax and enjoy the ride.

So one goal of the subconscious is to automate our life and another goal is to keep us safe by doing what is familiar because those things kept us alive up to this point.  These two things make it difficult for us to welcome changes of habit into our life. New behaviors are threatening to our security and they are in conflict with our familiar patterns.

Hypnosis is not an attempt to control anyone’s mind. Contrary to what some people believe, a hypnotist cannot make people do things against their will. The client’s values and morals can never be violated. Another fact is that all hypnosis is self-hypnosis.  The client must allow the hypnotist to assist him/her into trance.  The suggestions the hypnotist uses are a combination of standard scripts interspersed with suggestions gleaned from the conversation between client and hypnotist regarding the client’s desired changes.  Although everything that is suggested while under hypnosis is for the highest good of the client, the client has the wherewithal to reject any suggestions that don’t feel right.

So what does hypnosis do exactly?  Hypnosis gets the critical mind out of the way and allows the hypnotist (or the self in cases of self-hypnosis) to convince the subconscious mind that it is safe and desirable to make certain changes.  Once the subconscious is on board, it becomes easier to make behavior changes.  The client no longer relies solely on willpower, which we all know is not very powerful or long lasting.  Hypnosis is safe, pleasant and there are no unwanted side-effects. So it turns out that you really can use hypnosis on anything.

For more information about hypnosis and to participate in a group demonstration, Please attend a free workshop to be held in the Resiliency Center community room on Wednesday, October 3, 7:00-8:30 pm.

For private hypnosis sessions, please contact Delia Nessim at (610) 416-7535. Or email Delia@soulsibling.com.