Welcome to the “in2thelight” blog-ezine with Penny Mckay
April 2009

“Your soul is more immense than any one moment or event in your past.”
                                                                             John O’donahue

• Feature article – Movement in the Moment

• Personally yours…… Hugs from the heart

• In the pipeline……….Workshops Carolyn Myss

• This months link – Patanjali Inspiration

• Yoga yarns – Tales from the yoga mat…………

PLUS - 
Book worms ~ Highlights “Cygnus Review”
Kids corner ~ “Getting them involved” by Vicki Poole 
Have you heard of………? ~ The ‘M’ technique

New this month -
Energetic Antics ~ ways to channel energy and intention to enhance every day living with your “pets and plants”

Feature article

Movement in the Moment

For many of us our patterns of movement on a daily basis are habitual and routine.
We don’t actually think about what it is we are doing we just get on with doing it.
Whether on a small scale or a larger scale we literally find ourselves in a place of unconsciously residing in our comfort zone, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  

In small ways perhaps we have a well established routine from day to day. We sleep on the same side of the bed so the day begins with the familiar emergence from that side of the bed. We can map our journey predictably to the bathroom, then getting dressed and then sorting breakfast. The kettle, cups, tea and milk are all in the usual place and require minimal conscious thought to pull together as we operate on automatic out in to the rest of our day. The car, with the steering wheel always on the same side and pedals in the same position just reinforces the way we climb in and climb out of the car, typically using the same muscles in the same movement, time after time.
So it is little wander that at some point our bodies start to show us where we have become stuck in our routine by reflecting back to us our own stiffness, our own loss of mobility, our inflexibility and ultimately our pain. It starts with a twinge here and a tweak there, just a little call for and to your awareness.
“Listen” your body asks, gently at first but more insistently as time goes on and with growing pain demands your attention to change.

For familiarity read fixation, for safety read stagnation, for routine read rigidity. All these are against our very nature and at some point will cost us. This cost will not just be at a physical level, it will spill out to our thoughts, our feelings and ultimately our very soul.
Yet to be living consciously is to have the ability to flow and have a sense of fluidity within each moment. Welcoming progression and developing maturation means allowing perpetual movement and constant change. This is what we must come to terms with. We cannot stop it, no matter how strong willed we may be and how much our ego’s may fight against it.  

When you change your mind, you change your body and when you move your body, you move your mind.

We are born to move.

Our incredible bodies have the capacity for movement that is both active and passive.
Active movement is movement we are consciously engaged in (allegedly) such as standing, walking and washing up. Passive movement goes on without our consciously willing it, so even though “we” may appear to be still, our body is still actively moving through the processes happening within such as the heart beating,  the lungs breathing, nerves firing and food being digested and so on.
At no point does the body cease to move whilst living, even with total body paralysis there is still life.

Movement begins in the womb with the dynamic of those first vibrating cells, moving, changing and transforming in to the embryo. It begins with the first heart beat fired by involuntary tissue. “We” do not initiate that first heart beat, that first vital movement, it initiates us. It moves us.
Throughout its development our foetus is in perpetual motion exploring its ability to move in the terrain of the womb. Ask any new mother who has been kept awake at night by tiny legs kicking or witnessed a tiny elbow or tiny foot suddenly protruding from her abdomen! And all this is preparation for entering this physical world. Once delivered the new born continues to flex and extend its legs and arms and is spurred instinctively on to being able to roll, sit, crawl, stand and then miraculously, walk.
A toddler is such a perfect example of the wander of both flexibility and stability (once they have their legs!) working in perfect harmony in the moment.

If we expand on this thought of the continuum of movement we will find it reflected in the very nature of the earth spinning on its axis, the blade of grass reaching to the sky, the tides of the sea and the cycles of the moon. Who are we to believe we can stop the world because we want to get off. We are part of this great movement, the movement of movement!

So how can we begin to reconnect with a sense of what it means to experience that magic of movement in the moment?

The mind, body field offers us the ability to break with our habitual cycles if we have courage enough to take it. This means embracing change! Not always easy, usually always with an element of discomfort but the end product of liberation has to be worth that effort.

Finding ways to break your habitual, daily routine are so easy and need only be small changes at first. Immediately you will find yourself awakening to a new sense of the moment that somehow escapes you when you have become conditioned to this item being here and that object being there. So the first thing I would suggest you could do to shake it all up is to move the toilet roll. I’m sure you’ll soon find yourself becoming more aware when it isn’t where you expect it to be!  
Just small things, like putting the teabags somewhere different will find you opening the usual cupboard or reaching to the usual spot without thinking and that’s the point of the exercise, you will notice it!

Another alternative is to find a more creative way to move your body again.

With awareness and appreciation of the mind/body link the practise of yoga or T’ai chi can really come into its own. Through these types of practise you are invited to move the whole of the body in a very different way to our habitual daily movement. You are called to engage with movement that is both strengthening and supportive and thus bring full awareness to the moment. 
The awareness of movement in the moment is what will then spill out into your every day life.

Through conscious movement we can re-learn how to remain true to who we really are, the ever aware authentic self, constantly changing and yet, somehow, unchanging.

Lol

Personally yours

Hugs from the heart

I was in bed with my husband the other night (no, don’t worry this is not that sort of blog!) and we were just sort of resting together, not really hugging or embracing, just resting in each others arms.

It was, for me, one of those “bliss” moments and I was lucky enough to “rest” in it and be with it and I felt and thought what a privilege it is to be resting in someone’s arms.

So I got to thinking about my mum (don’t let Freud analyse that!) and I really felt for her because we lost my dad over 10 years ago and she has no arms to rest in anymore and generally it made me think about all the people who are alone, and some who aren’t alone who are missing out on the comfort that a hug can bring.
A hug can convey so much in so many ways and is sometimes the only option left when words fail us.

Then I got to thinking about all the different kinds of hugs that are out there.
Now personally I like a bear hug, I mean who doesn’t! My dad used to give great bear hugs, to qualify as a bear hug a hug must meet the following criteria – it must be big! It is strong, firm but not crushing. It is warm and usually soft with a definite sense of body meeting body in a deliciously enveloping way. Mmmm!
Now, I have also been unfortunate enough to encounter the opposite to the bear hug, you know the one I mean – the clearly keeping you at arms length type of not a hug at all experience. It leaves you with a sense of disappointment and loss, (well it did me) perhaps a missed opportunity of not only nurturing but being nurtured.
Cold, detached and seriously lacking in contact, no not a hug at all, tell you what let’s just shake hands instead and be done with it.
But one of the most memorable and, in my opinion the hug to beat all hugs, is the running hug from a small child. I mean any small child is usually very adept at the running hug, but something about it coming from your own child is very special. This type of hug can be identified by its complete and utter commitment and its total trust  in the receiver. The run up followed by the launch, has you excitedly anticipating its arrival and when it arrives it completely fulfils all expectations. Little arms and legs seem to grow big as they open wide, latch on to you and wrap around you. This hug is a total body experience. It is full on, fantastic and fun! Yes please let’s have another, all day long.

So I am actually in the process of cultivating the art of the bear hug at the moment and my mum is the primary target of my objective. (It’s ok she is aware)
Now when it comes to hugs my mum is the hit and run type, a quick squeeze or a rub or pat on the back and she’s off. So I’ve taken to whispering in her ear when we’re locked on and in the words of my yoga teacher when encouraging you in supreme mountain pose, “just when you want to come out of it, stay there and be with it and then be with it some more” and then she starts laughing, so I’ve even managed to get a few more seconds in hug pose as a result. It’s as simple as that and she so gets it - its great!
Tonight she was hilarious as she stood in the kitchen with her legs in bear stance and her arms up in the air going “Grrrrrr!” at any sniff of a hug.
 
So get hugging guys! Seek out those who are in need of bear hugs and get to work. If you are one of the needy then the best way to get a “bear” is to give one.

Huge happy hugs.

x 

Yoga yarns

Tales from the yoga mat and the Traditional Yoga Foundation Course.

Sunday 1st, 15th and 29th March 2009
Days three, four and five – With six weeks in March we were present to three days of the course falling at two week intervals. Six of us continued with our journey to deepen our practise and thus deepen our understanding of ourselves.
Over these three days we were introduced to the Kosha’s, the tattva’s and the chakras. We were made aware of the dance between carbon-dioxide and oxygen by experiencing ratio breathing and of how vital it is be aware of lengthening the out breath. We experienced the cleansing practise of Netti for the sinuses and inner ear.
The repertoire of chants became more familiar to us as we practised them and more were added. We continued to increase our knowledge of the philosophy and teaching behind yoga and were introduced to the great sage Patanjali. Through the postures that embrace rotation we encountered a different sense of the body’s potential for our personal liberation.
Postures – Sumeru Asana, Shankasana, Uttanasana, Hasta Uttanasana, Purvottanasana and rotating asanas Jathara Parivartanasana, Bharadvajasana, Sukha marichyasana.
What I uncovered – Appearances can be deceiving.
Without expansion there can be no contraction and without contraction there can be no expansion.
The quantity of CO2 in the body is actually more important than oxygen.
Quote of the month – When in rotation “Sense the connection to the two sacred directions, lighten and lengthen to feel the strengthen”
of Arjuna

Book worms

for books and authors from the body, mind, spirit genre 

CYGNUS REVIEW – written with love to guide, uplift and inspire you.

This month, rather than an actual review of a single book I want to share a fantastic little magazine called Cygnus Review. The books featured in Cygnus are always interesting and wide ranging offering a truly comprehensive selection in the genres of mind, body and spirit, alternative health, complementary therapies, healing and spiritual transformation and many more. Within its pages you will find so much fantastic information about the books that are out there and with regular features from the likes of Diana Cooper, William Bloom and Pierre Pradervand you cannot fail to find something of use within every edition. The prices of the books that are featured are so incredibly reasonable and they run many special offers. There is also a gift service available, where you can purchase a book as a present and it will be gift wrapped and delivered on the special day. What a fab present!
Finally, the thing I really like best about Cygnus is its very down to earth nature, as readers we are encouraged to be a part of this very special magazine either through writing in ourselves or through being a supporter. I mean £10 a year is hardly going to break the bank for access to all those lovely books.
You can receive Cygnus via snail mail for free or check it out on the website www.cygnus-books.co.uk

Kids corner

A place for parents to share body, mind and spirit hints and tips for the kids 

Getting Them Involved……….

Having put the garden to bed last December it is lovely to see the arrival of Spring and with it those tell tale daffodils!  We went mad last year planting lots of bulbs in the back garden and the ones that the dog didn’t dig up were completely worth it!

I have two little girls and last year they loved filling up their little watering cans and following me around the garden with little trowels. Digging things up and finding worms to carry around.  The pleasure they get from having their hands in the soil and getting good and messy is immeasurable!

This year I have decided that they are going to be involved in all things garden!  

Studies have shown that children are far more likely to eat fruit and vegetables they have grown themselves than shop bought ones.  Having children that aren’t naturally drawn to fruit and vegetables, taking after their mother in the chocolate –v- raw carrot stakes, I see this as a fantastic opportunity!

So, off to the Garden centre we went with our list of seeds and bulbs to buy…..  They have some fantastic little gadgets that are perfect for getting children involved and make growing your own fruit and veg so simple in this modern age of compact gardens covered with plastic slides and play houses. 

From patio pods in which to grow your veg to little discs of compost that once soaked in water, become little plugs of earth perfect for sowing seeds.  Gardening, be it flowers or produce, has been made accessible to all! 

The girls loved soaking their little discs of dried compost and watching them expand – they thought it was hilarious!!  They had a competition as to who could plant their seeds the quickest and blew kisses into each one (the most difficult part of the afternoon was that I had to judge this competition – of course, it was a tie!).  They picked where, on the sunniest windowsill , their seeds would go and then drew pictures of what their flowers would look like!  They look at them every day to see if anything has happened.  Imagine the joy when the first green shoots appeared.  We now have 24 sunflowers in the making ready to pot on before planting in the garden. 

Whilst all this is going on our seed potatoes have been chitting in the shed.  A daily expedition  in which both girls have to be lifted up to check the progress has, at last, revealed that they should be ready to plant in their patio pods in April.  We have a few carrot seedlings showing through and our onion bulbs and garlic cloves are in another pod sunning themselves.   Our blueberry bushes are starting to show fresh shoots and the strawberry plants are on order.  We are even trying Goji berries this year.
I love the sight of the girls pottering around the garden, looking at the flowers and plants and asking me if they can do any watering or digging. 

For me, this process of growing our own fruit and veg, tending to it, feeding it and the ground in which it grows,  gives me another avenue in which to love and nurture my family, myself and the Earth.  A way to feel closer, again, to nature and the seasons.    To plant and grow my own herbs, vegetables and fruit, to turn those ingredients into nourishing, nurturing and healing dishes for my family and friends.  Another way in which to love my family and the earth that supports us.

As important, though, it is a way to teach my children about nature and the seasons, about the magic of the sun, the moon, and rain, the value of food, of planting and nurturing, our own vegetables and fruit.  About the need for flowers, the wonder of wildlife. 

Interestingly enough, since we started planting our seeds and talking about all the vegetables and the things we could make with them when they are grown, the girls are suddenly asking for carrots for tea, asking what vegetables are in the casserole and how they were grown.   I can only imagine what they will be like when our home grown food is ready for the table…..

Vicki x
 

Have you heard of………? The ‘M’ technique
What’s that? A simple method of structured touch.
Each movement and sequence is done in a set pattern, at a set pressure and set speed which never change.
It has been described as “physical hypnotherapy”.
Who’s it good for? Those who are physically fragile, critically ill and/or actively dying.
Who can do it? Caregivers, family members, volunteers, friends, nurses and doctors.
How do I find out more? www.mtechnique.co.uk

Energetic Antics

ways to channel intention and energy to enhance every day living.

Pets and plants

1. Do Reiki or healing with your plants and pets to help keep them healthy.

2. Try stroking your pet gently and ask if they would like some healing, if you sense ease and a relaxed feeling that’s a yes. Any uncertainty would be a no.  

3. As you stroke your pet notice any where on the body you feel drawn too. You may feel hot spots or cold spots, let your hand remain over these areas until you feel it is time to move on.

4. Look for signs that energy is at work such as twitching or shaking and be aware when your pet indicates they have had enough.
My cat will sit perfectly still when receiving healing and will jump off the minute she’s had enough.

4. You can call on Reiki and energy healing when you pet is sick. Instead of feeling helpless ask, in your mind, to be guided to what you can do for your pet. You will get a sense of where to put your hands on the body or you may just be guided to hold your hands over your pet and let your intention do the work.

5. Animals can recover quickly and easily with healing but if it is time for them to pass on Reiki will assist in a smooth transition.
My friend’s cat caught a rabbit and brought it to her door. She realised the rabbit was going to die so she sat with it and held her hands out towards it to allow energy to sooth and calm it in its final moments, soon after it passed peacefully.

6. Your plants will also respond to healing and it is possible to see the leaves twitching and moving as you hold your hands over the plant.

7. Use intention and Reiki when planting your vegetables and outdoor plants. Run your hands through the soil as you prepare for planting and ask for it to be energised with life giving force.

8. As you plant your seeds and flowers, chat to them and be aware of your contact with them, maintain a nurturing and supportive intention all the while.
Give thanks to mother earth for the privilege of this contact and keep awareness to the cycle of nature that we are all a part of.   

9. If you intend to do some pruning or it is time to cut back hedges and trees, hold this thought for a number of days before commencing. Let this holding of the thought be your way, of letting the plants know that this is your intention. This allows the energy of the plants to adjust accordingly.

10. Let yourself enjoy sharing the love with healthy pets and happy plants.  You will be a healthy and happier you!           

April’s link – Patanjali Inspiration

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M6nd1RYaCs

In the pipeline

Workshops for APRIL

Caroline Myss: Beyond Reason

Saturday 18 April 2009

Featuring: Caroline Myss - One Day Workshop
Date: Saturday 18th April 2009
Time: 10:00 - 17:00
Price: £75.00
Venue: The Shaw Theatre, 100-110 Euston Road, London, Greater London, NW1 2AJ 
Description: In this workshop, visionary author and intuitive, Caroline Myss introduces the subject of her new book, Defy Gravity, which explores the mystical qualities involved in the experience of healing, instructing readers to move beyond the dilemma of needing to find logical reasons for why an illness has developed and instead get on with the task of personal transformation.
To book check out www.hayhouse.com

INDOOR HEALING FESTIVAL WEEKEND

9TH & 10TH MAY 2009

 BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY TALBOT CAMPUS

www.healingweekend.org

Put this date in your diary and check out this website as the energy around this event is building and building. I will be giving a talk on both days,entitled “Where the spine and the chakras connect ”
It would be great to see you there!
xx