Kalin Art & Spirit

We can be born anew each day- with each new awakening! [so take lots of naps] : )I wish for you my friend, the ability to fly~
to ponder your hearts’ desires and make your dreams come true…
by experiencing this lightness of being!
Dream it, see it, feel it, make your petitions and then allow Source to provide.
In Peace and Lightness and All Good Things~
Namaste’
~”Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly”~

The fifth chakra is located at the throat and is considered to be the vehicle of self-expression or self-repression. The color associated with it is blue, the color long connected to wisdom.
[Mother Mary’s robes and Hindi Deities’ skin are pictured as blue, ie]
The thyroid, which is a butterfly shaped organ located in the throat, is how this chakra’s energy ties into the body. The connection between the throat, the endocrine system, metabolism and one’s vital spirit (chi) are all interconnected on an energetic level through the Throat Chakra.

So if, during your early years, of birth to age 7, you were programmed with messages like “Children are to be seen and not heard” you could internalize this to affect your patterns of speech, and repress your thought processes about your ability to express yourself. This could cause a blockage in your throat chakra – and possibly set you up for low thyroid issues down the road. Health issues related to low thyroid include depression, sluggishness, and weight gain, to name a few.
If on the other hand, you reacted to your subconscious programming by resisting or fighting back, you could go the other direction, and become someone very outspoken, with a fiery temperament and suffer from hyper-thyroid issues such as inflammation, weight loss, and foot-in-mouth disease.
These are my hypothesis, of course, but all things being related via the mind/body connection and the power of subconscious programming are becoming recognized by modern psychiatry.

The best way to address Throat chakra issues, IMO, are to come at it from both directions; from the head, via introspective shadow work- which clears the subconscious programming of youth, using awareness and proactive measures which address these messages…..
and to come at it from the Heart- via self love and compassion.
That makes the Throat chakra central to both the Head and the Heart.

Practical steps could include singing lessons, performing on stage, taking debate or public speaking classes, finding supportive groups where you feel comfortable speaking up and being listened to, assertiveness training courses or just talking with friends…especially in person.
Recording yourself reading, or speaking in a stream of consciousness mode, then listening to it as it plays back, could give your subconscious a nudge and build self-esteem via this confidence.
Everyone deserves to be heard and validated. Learning to listen to yourself with love and compassion, instead of beating yourself up for how you present your ideas, comes from hearing and believing your own heart.

Great charitable causes need idealistic cheerleaders, speakers, writers and promoters, but people also need to learn when to sit back and learn to be tactful, in order to allow ‘quieter’ people to share their stories. Silent retreats and meditation are good ways for extroverts to learn to listen to their own internal dialogue and discover a peaceful balance within. Then they can use this internal calm in social situations….which I feel is the point of discovering anything about yourself; how to better interact with this experience called “Life”.

The Throat chakra is where we connect with others, where we demonstrate our opinions and state our case. Humans are the only animals who have developed a spoken language—-but we have yet to demonstrate our collective wisdom to use it for the good of all.

Knowing when to speak up and when to stay silent is a great wisdom that will take you far in life.
One of my favorite quotes by Craig Ferguson, which just shows how wise he really is, is this:
“Does this need to be said? Does this need to be said by me? Does this need to be said by me, now?”
It’s something to contemplate often~
Namaste’

The Heart Chakra is located midway between chakras, located just behind the sternum and is typically seen as either pink or green. Pink, the color of love and happiness, and green for growth.
The Heart chakra is where Spirit connects with us and through us. It has been called by many cultures, the seat of the soul.

This chakra is a place of balance and power and healing. Just as the lower three chakras govern our overall physical existence, and the upper three deal more with our mind, this central meeting place at the heart is where the chakras converge with Spirit! It is the essential link.The heart is where you can take anything and transform it through the power of compassion.
I am a strong believer that love heals all things! There must only be a willingness to receive it and enough persistence and conviction in sending it. Some would call this Faith.
Allowing emotions to sit within the walls of the heart while understanding their ephemeral nature, allows the heart to become the fiery furnace where transformation takes place;
Anger can become impetus for you to take righteousness action, but must be tempered by the balance of grace and discretion, after the fire has faded.
Sadness can afford you to forgive yourself and others with compassion for the human condition and bring you peace.
The frustration of confusion and doubt can be held with compassion until they pass, leaving you with a sense of calm and inner strength.
And Pain, both emotional and physical, can be transformed and healed through the loving energy expressed from your heart – to your self.

The Heart is where the Mind/Body/Soul connection is made. Cellular healing occurs by the power of the will, acting in directed compassion. This is how the practice of Reiki works. The practitioner envisions and sends loving energy out of their palms and connecting to the body of the client. This happens by the directed will and is not limited by any distance. The practitioner senses and sends healing energy through their body, as a channel from Source [God] to another, by picturing their client in perfect condition; spiritually, physically and emotionally.

Dr Masaru Emoto describes in his book, “The Secret Life of Water” an amazing phenomena, where ice crystals formed from water that had been influenced by people speaking kind or hurtful words are later seen under a powerful microscope. The crystals embued with loving thoughts and words formed spectacularly beautiful shapes. The crystals, however, embued with hateful energies, formed irregular and distorted shapes. Since our bodies are mostly water, it would do us well to remember that thoughts and words DO have a great impact on our well-being! [Therefore choose wisely what energies you surround yourself with!]

A simple healing practice can be learned with patience and practice.
Even a 3 minute meditation like this one can bring about great improvements at the cellular level;
While breathing slowly, with eyes closed, focus on the still “I AM” indwelling presence of Spirit that is ‘you’. Know that this is your eternal essence. Know that you are a Spirit within a physical vessel, a temple of the Soul that has regenerative powers and can restore itself to perfect working order.
Breathe in deeply *relaxation*, Breathe out pain. Breathe in *energy*, breathe out tension. Breathe in *vitality*, breathe out illness, breathe in LOVE, sense and feel it in every cell! -then breathe out Love to the rest of the world, so that all sentient beings may share in the love you are raising~
(To begin with, you may want to choose only one of these words to focus on.
As you become more adept you will discover what works best for you.)
Continue to breathe deeply. As you have any outside thoughts/ideas come into your mind, notice them as a thought, and dismiss them. Return to focusing on your breath.
You will quickly learn to move into a deeply relaxed state with less effort each time.
And will find your meditation times may lengthen~ along with the beneficial results!
When you have finished with meditation, slowly open your eyes and reorient yourself with your surroundings. Put both hands on opposite arms and hold yourself until you feel yourself settled.
Finishing with a glass of water and a few slow body movements will help you reorient. #

You can also practice another Heart chakra exercise whenever you are feeling run down.
It brings you an invigorated sense of calm~
Visualize your heart as the center of the universe through this exercise;
Close your eyes, go inward and sense the “I AM” that is your essence. Move this consciousness from where ever it is felt, to just behind the sternum. Take a few slow, deep breaths to feel ‘centered’ there.
Now visualize opening the top of your head to receive energy from the starry realms. Feel the God-energy coursing through you and down into the Earth through the souls of your feet.
Picture that energy flowing all the way down, into the earth’s hot, molten core, connecting your atoms to every other atom. Then gather some of that ‘heat’ and bring it back up into your self.
Feel the heat warm your entire body…allow your heart energy expand so large that it becomes a glowing green energy field radiating from you.
Raise your arms and allow that warm energy of the cosmic force of love emanate from your heart along your arms as a horizontal axis…and extend to the ends of the horizon. Allow that energy to flow out into the cosmos again…as you become the center of it all!
Then slowly pull the energy back from the horizon…back from the stars above and the Earth below.
Gather that energy into your Heart and condense it. This can be your power pack. A small dynamic point of energy that will continue to power you through your day. #

Gratitude and Peace,
Compassion and Healing all lie within the Chakra of the Heart.
Be grateful for this knowledge and don’t hide your love away!
Namaste’

Secret Life of Water on You Tube www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_14nqkk-GU

I attended a Womens Spirituality conference yesterday that really recharged my batteries!
The highlight dance portion was led by a fantastic presentor, a friend of mine named Valerie, who tells it like it is in a way like no other. Shes the shortest yet most vibrant person I know, and Im always supercharged to be around her! She can fill a large room with her effervescent presence and certainly did so yesterday~ Her craft is combining the love of dance with spirit. She is truly the embodiment of Heart and Soul and I know she would be happy to be compared to a sprite. Thanks Val!~She started the exercise by quoting Nietzsche:
“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”
She told us to feel the music move through our bodies, either with closed eyes or at least looking at the ceiling and dancing like no one was watching. We were on our honor not to peek at the other people in the room, just have our own physical experience- and shake it out! Shout it out! and express ourselves through movement. ~Wow! It’s so great to be allowed the freedom to play~We first danced out our emotions to the worst scenerio we’d had~ bad interpersonal dynamics, gone physical. There were lots of angry sounds heard over the music, grunts, heavy sighs, groans, and forceful exhalations. As for myself, there was lots of punching and clawing going on. Eventually, after lots of stomping and stabbing motions I started to shrivel and cry. Wow~ it was more powerful than I expected it to be!
The point of the exercise was to become aware of where in our bodies we hold negative energy. I could definitely feel mine- and did lots of deep breathing to release it…visualizing the pain as a sensation/color leaving my body. We grounded ourselves by feeling rooted like a tree, branches to the sky and did a chant together.The next dance was our ‘happy dance’, where we danced to experience JOY! This was powerful too, but a lot more fun, of course. There was spinning, twisting, arms reaching gracefully to the sky, happy stepping and turning….and then a pause to feel the happiness located IN our bodies. I could feel this really well too. Then as we slowed our movements down, we continued to dialogue with the feeling in our bodies and each found personal ways to hold that energy, by using a small ‘trigger‘ movement which represented to us, that feeling of joy. Mine is a simple grasping hand motion- its small enough to not be noticed by other people. I can do this anytime I’m stressed to remember that happy feeling, bring my consciousness back to it, and return the positive emotion back into my body, by using this ‘trigger‘. Ive tried it and it really helps bring me back to center. It reminds me that I am bigger than any emotion, and have the power to watch them as they ‘roll on by’… as Cat Stevens would say, “Love is better than a song. And love is where we all belong.” Centered in Love.

Our experiences in life are always affected by our perception. If we are aware that our spirit, our inner core, our soul, is eternal and our emotions and experiences are fleeting, then we can retain the power to chose our perception of every experience- and never fall victim to them! It doesn’t mean that we deny pain, frustration or fear…we just decide to view them from a detached vantage point- as a non-judgmental observer, to try to discover the lessons they hold. Intellectualizing strong emotion is a skill anyone can develop. It is very empowering.

Triggers can help make the transition from the mind to the body! Then we can return to the status-quo of a calm and settled vibration. A safe place from which to make wiser decisions and a healthier place to live: Sit in experience. Acknowledge it with your mind, but let it leave your cells. Negativity causes physical harm to our bodies as well as spirits.

~I highly recommend doing this dance exercise. Forget that you ‘don’t know how to dance’ or feel foolish. Find a time and place you can be alone. Put on your favorite music, the kind that lifts your spirit and start moving however you want. Discover where your joy resides in your body. Hold it. Appreciate it. See if you can build it up using your attention and intention. Then make it smaller and create a tiny movement that can become your ‘happy trigger’. It will be your secret tool to use as you see fit to keep your feet on a path of joy.

May you each be Spirit Scouts toward happiness everyday,
and may you find your happy Triggers and happy trails!
Namaste’ pardners 😉

originally published March 11, 2012

Be There~ Listen~ Love~
Have you ever heard a friend, who was really down, say “I hate myself” or “I’m thinking of doing something…” “I just cant take it anymore!” They dont have to say they feel suicidal— just feeling down and confused is a state of hell where the suffering FEELS like it will last forever!
A person doesn’t have to be dead in order for part of their soul to die.
Certain statements should set off alarms that mean, “Im scared, confused, angry, overwhelmed”.
So, what do you do when this happens? Are you shocked? Concerned? Scared that you dont know the right thing to do? Of course, that’s natural. But what do you actually do?

Sometimes people recognize negativity and depression and evade it at all costs, thinking it is contagious…and in a way, they may be right. Depression has its way of spreading to you if you open your heart in caring and allow yourself to fall into despair with them. But it is your CHOICE to decide if you want to give in to the prevailing emotion and suffer along with them, or not.

Standing in your own power is probably more of what a depressed person needs…for you to be strong when they cannot. A listening ear, a gentle touch, holding hands or, if you know them well enough, putting your arm around someone who is down can allow that person to relax, center and face their greatest fears is what they need. Just to be able to sit silently with someone or hold them while they are crying, gives them the strength to find their inner core of self, and find their own power within. Sometimes that is enough to help them stop their mental wheels from spinning out of control. To pause and regroup.

What can we do? Care. Be there for them. Be brave enough to sit with them to show your support. Share a kind, quiet word. Be non-judgmental. Allow them to be themselves….even though it may be the dark side of themselves. Open your heart to them. See them. See their humanity. Love them. Then help them find someone else more experienced or qualified to talk with after you’ve given them your support.

What should we not do? Shun them. Avoid them. Judge them. Berate them. Offer advice, unsolicited. Tell them antecdotal stories to distract them. Paint their suffering as small, or try to ‘fix’ them – because there is nothing ‘wrong’ to fix…..

The easiest way to show your caring is to simply sit and listen. Encourage them to open up and speak…because some people just need to talk things through in order to process them, especially if their problem seems overwhelming. And if, after doing this doesn’t seem to resolve issues or lessen the pain of the moment…find a number of a crisis hotline or counseling service for them, because they could be in such a confused place that they can’t do it for themselves.

~Yesterday at church, our sermon was on depression and mental illness. When asked who in the congregation (which was a packed house, I might add) knew anyone with a diagnosis of any sort of mental illness, be it depression, anxiety or other illnesses—
almost every hand went up! It was amazing.

Our minister said that 1 in every 4 people is, at any time depressed. Some of them clinically depressed. And although they may be out of touch with their emotions, numb or confused, they look completely normal and function as if nothing is wrong. They’ll say they are “fine” and even smile, yet inside they are suffering and feeling alone. If they are not brave enough to say anything…they continue to suffer.

The highlight of the service was when we joined hands and sang “Lean on Me” at the end of the service. The feeling of community was palpable! The buzz in the commons afterward was loud and vibrant…people finally discovered that it was okay to open up to one another and share~

*All of us have been sad or depressed at one time or another. The spectrum of emotion is wide and universal. Maybe we experience all of our emotions in order to be able to sympathize with others, and in that sharing, that empathy, come to reinforce the better, stronger sides of us all,
—share our strength and uplift humanity, one person at a time?

*As humans we have a capacity to feel all kinds of emotions and the capacity to communicate our feelings with words. Why do we have such skills, unless it is to advance our spiritual evolution?

*The Best we can do, is to ‘Bloom Where We Are Planted’~
Do our Daily Best and Be There for the others in our lives.
Namaste’ to the brokenhearted – and the healers – may you both find peace –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPoTGyWT0Cg –

Lean On Me by Bill Withers

origiinaly posted March 3, 2012

Love. It’s a powerful word, and is interpreted in so many ways.

Today is Valentines Day~

If you’re aware of it, Love is affecting you, in one way or another….

You can express it and share it, or you can scoff at it and deny it. It’s your choice.

Many people are afraid to love. I find this sad.

They’ve been hurt in the past by not receiving the love they wanted or needed in the past. Sometimes they actually HAVE been loved, but have not perceived it as being enough.

So they have set up walls around their vulnerabilities in order to survive and feel safe.

This is sad, but not hopeless.

They think that by being callous or sarcastic they can protect themselves and survive without being hurt again. I’m sorry, folks, but life is change and full of unavoidable hurt.

Putting on emotional armor closes down the natural energy that flows through everyone’s body at birth. This is literally Unhealthy. The mind/body cannot thrive without the flow of Love coursing through ones Soul. The energy stays stuck at the root chakra and keeps people from opening up to the amazing experiences of living fully. To really live fully, you have to take risks! Especially with your heart.

You have to be a Warrior for Love in order to Live well.

Just think, if Everyone’s goal were be to live life to the fullest, and to come to the end, full of bumps, bruises, scratches and scars….without regret for any of the experience,

how much Humanity at large would progress!

Our souls are eternal, and will come back for another body, another chance to experience everything – in order to become filled with the blissful essence of wisdom. Every experience, even the hurtful ones, are for the growth and development of our Character, and our Soul!

So come on-  Give It Up- Take a chance on Love today!

Look at infants. They wail and scream because they are disoriented and uncomfortable.

But given loving attention, the cries stop, the coos begin, and smiles appear. It’s that easy! Well, it make take awhile…because some natural temperaments are ‘easier’ to soothe than others, but eventually, babies get the message that they are safe, and it is okay to feel comfortable in their new bodies.

A child that is loved has tremendous energy that flows naturally through the lower chakras of security, relation, and self-esteem. Look at how they play so happily & easily.

As that child grows, if they are encouraged to become themselves, they grow into their heart chakra and are able to freely express their love. As we mature, we learn to give our creativity space to move through our throat chakra.

This is the Sacred Work of Parenting.

Once we are on our own, we typically come to a place of knowing that there’s something MORE to life; whether during that disgruntled teenage period, young adult or midlife point, we start to sense that there is MORE than the mundane, physical life.

We must Seek it out! We can learn to connect with our Spirit and the Godhead within each of us!

We Can Become BORN AGAIN! ~by discovering our Spiritual Self and learning to Love the World and Everything in it! When this happens, Everything changes for the Better: we can live in Love’s flow!

When we feel safe, that we belong, that we are a valuable asset to our family and community, when we are allowed, by our Self and society, to express our uniqueness we CAN find Heaven on Earth, by connecting with our loving Spiritual Selves.

This is the motivation of LOVE that exists in each one of us!

Believe me. It’s in there. All we have to do is look with open eyes and awareness!

We need to come to an understanding that we ARE Love at our soul essence.

Each soul is a part of Universal energy and we are all connected…

beyond the boundaries of our bodies, by love! <3

We are drops in the ocean of all-that-is…so when one is hurt, we all hurt, though we may not be consciously aware of it. When one of us grows, we all grow.

When we suppress Love, we cause harm, to ourselves, and others.

We need to come to the realization that The Greatest Love of All is within ourselves.

This is one of the most important reasons we exist in this schoolhouse called Life.

To Learn this Lesson: Love is all around us– it IS us. It is the driving force of the Universe. It is the energy that makes us come alive, be creative, feel deeply.

Many people are living without this understanding. It can be helped. Whatever amount of Love you have in your heart – share it with others.

Give it to your Self in ways that pamper you and make you feel happy.

Give it to those you know and see everyday. Then start sharing it with strangers,

by doing small acts of kindness whenever you get a chance.

The WORLD needs our love. What you want, you must share. This is a Universal law:

~!Even a tiny spark of love can set off a wildfire of positivity all around you!~

Be brave.    Love.    ~and open your Self up to receive the love you are given!

You will Be Amazed!!

Namaste’

“The Love you take is equal to the Love you make” – John Lennon

originally posted February 14, 2012