Thursday, October 12, 2006

True Balance-Third Chakra


I'm pretty excited about this chapter of the book. I actually read it before it was scheduled. I was having some problems with what I've always referred to as an ulcer. This happens when I am feeling overwhelmed or vulnerable. When those near me are especially emotional or emotive, I can feel a need to escape or flee and that isn't always possible. It's also a function of peri-menopause (peri=denial of actual menopause ha!). The feeling is this...imagine that you are getting ready to bungee jump or speak to a crowd...or imagine a large truck is coming toward you in your lane and you can't move. That's the horrible feeling I was having and it would make a spot right below my ribs hurt like..umm....alcohol in an open wound. I'm sorry if that's too graphic but I want you to understand fully the actual physical pain I was feeling.

It dawned on me one evening that the next chapter in the book just HAD to be the solar plexus and I knew that this would be the correct area for what I was feeling. I grabbed the book and read the chapter. Boy, did they ever nail it. I was having some real problems with my stepson and truthfully, I allowed him to intimidate me. I almost moved out because I could not imagine how I was going to continue living this way and I certainly couldn't ask Tim to throw his son out. I came to an exercise in the book in which she taught us to take a breath and imagine our solar plexus getting warm and growing. We were to continue doing this as we breathed rhythmically and allowed it to encompass us. This sort of imagery works very well for me. When I think of the Holy Spirit, I imagine this same sort of filling up and being surrounded. This gave me a lot of comfort but it didn't really make my stomach stop hurting.

She gave another exercise of doing the above but in our thoughts to picture the person who was intimidating us and then to get a good breath and sort of snort..meaning to forcefully blow air out and imagine this breath blowing that person out of our "space." I did this a couple of times and like magic, my stomach stopped hurting. I have had that feeling try to come back a time or two and I've started this breathing and didn't even have to get as far as picturing anyone and I was better. I have suffered off and on with an ulcer since I was in jr. high school. This is the first thing that's ever had this sort of instant cure. You can imagine how happy I am. So happy that I was able to be nice to Caleb and not avoid him and he is civil to me. That makes everyone happier and less tense.

This was a small piece of this chapter. It's really about knowing who you are and knowing that you are of value and that you are personally responsible for what happens to you. There is no reason to let someone intimidate you or to berate you. There is noone who has more right to their opinion than you have to yours.

It may sound like she wants us to get puffed up like a bird trying to fool its attacker, but that isn't it at all. Once you realize your own power, rather than make you more rigid, it actually softens you. There is no need to prove yourself and try to make yourself seem larger. When you realize your own power, you realize the power of others also and respect it. I think this is meekness that is spoken of by Jesus. Meekness is not weakness. Meekness is recognizing your power and using it wisely and lovingly.

There is too much in this chapter for me to even touch on it all here. That's why it's so great that this group is reading together. We will each get different gifts from reading this one chapter..and this one book, and then we can share these gifts with each other and our families and neighbors.

I'm really happy to be taking this journey with so many wise and loving women. I feel richer already and we're only on chapter three. Imagine.

22 comments:

Melissa said...

Very nice collage - I love that you used a crossword puzzle grid for the figure1!!

Maybe I should use that technique for my MIL - I am just leary of stuff coming from that area...chakra, zen, some of those areas frighten me.

Melissa said...

btw = I've had the same problem with your posts - I have found that hitting refresh usually brings up new posts - so if I see nothing new for awhile, I hit the refresh buton...

Melissa said...

btw I am posting a pillow for my baby niece I don't know if you are gaga for babies (I am rather partial to them) but if you want to see her gallery here it is: http://www.pbase.com/marybell/grace_eileen

each thumbnail opens a new gallery - I decided not to put in the blog cause my mum would probably wig out...

Lisa said...

Me, thanks. I was pleased with that too. I've noticed the refresh thing on other blogs since I changed to Firefox, too. I looked at that gallery. The pictures are beautiful..what a gorgeous baby and family. The photographer is amazing. :) You have so many talents.

about the chakra thing...this book doesn't really deal, so far, with any religious connatations about chakras. She approaches it from a physical and psychological standpoint. These areas of our body really do exist and they really do interact, for lack of a better word, with the very real psychological aspects of us as humans. Frankly, I think using chakras was just a way for her to break it into 7 definable (is that a word?) areas and there is no denying that the feelings she discusses do coincide with those parts of the body.

I'm not trying to talk anyone into going this route. I'm only talking about my experience..which, incidentally, is how I approach Christianity as well. I think we're all different and this is me and I'm not afraid of it.

Melissa said...

Well shall we just call this our discussion thread? I just thought it was interesting I didn't connect it to Firefox but I use firefox too...I bet that might have something to do with it...

Well your experiences are definitely worth listening too as far as I am concerned - I feel that we think similarly in certain areas - and frankly I find that refreshing - it gets old being an oddball to everyone but my family!! :)

Lisa said...

I think my family sees me as an oddball more than anyone else does..always has. I've learned to live with it. lol

Lisa Oceandreamer Swifka said...

Lisa I finally started the book, although i am not in the discussion group I am doing it for me...but I know I can discuss it with you and on my blog as I get further in to it. I can't wait to get to chapter 3 because that's ME - allowing others to intimidate me etc. I am so glad this book is helping to lighten things for you - I can feel it in your posts!!

KaiBlue said...

this is some interesting stuff.. :)
peace, kai

Lisa said...

Lisa, I'm so glad you started it. I was thinking earlier that it would be a great one for some of the things you've talked about. We can definitely discuss it. Robyn just started it too.

Melba, it's so exciting that you consciously own your power and that it makes a real physical difference. I think it's an amazing thing. I'm telling ya..we could get rid of the pharmaceutical companies if this gets out. :)

Kai. :) It really is!

Daisy Lupin said...

That was a really interesting posting, I understand what you are saying about your feeling in the solar plexus, and find I am becoming more and more interested in chakras. Thank you for the kind thoughts you left on my site. The paper I used for the chunky book pages, was so handmade Indian paper, that I bought a bundle of for a ridiculously cheap price at a discount stationery store. There are some really exceptional sheets amongst the plainer one in the bundle.

Anonymous said...

wow, makes me wanna get a copy of that book! all those chakra kind of words scare/confuse me but I suppose I could insert my personal religious reference into it to understand it as you have done.

very nice collage too!

good luck with your "situation", yes, it's always so nice to have peace with a difficult person. hope your tummy continues to feel better!
lia

Anonymous said...

p.s. I LOVE the crossword puzzle dress in the collage..so creative!

Anonymous said...

I'm so happy you've found something that is working quickly and effectively, both to relieve your stomach pain and reclaim your own power as an individual. Go, Lisa!
p.s. I love this collage with the crossword puzzle dress, it made me smile as soon as I saw it - thank you!

Pear tree cottage! said...

I have been ennjoying very much your posts and look forward to the next chapter of this journey from within. We are the owners of so much self power yet often never use it for the good of us.

enjoy your moments.
Lee-ann

Lisa said...

Daisy, Ah, well the pages looked so great! I think this particular book would be a disappointment to someone trying to learn about chakras. I honestly think she used the chakra thing as a "hook" and organizational tool.

Lia, I think the writer is quite possibly a Christian; just a feeling from some things she says. There is really nothing in it that sounds "out there" to me so far..then again, I'm pretty open to "out there." lol Thanks about the puzzle dress. It was one of those things that just happened. Love those.

Tinker, I can't think of anything I'd rather here about the collage..it made you smile. That makes me happy!

Lee-Ann, that is so true. Sometimes we waste it and sometimes we're using badly without realizing it. For me, that turns out as passive-aggressive behavior..pouting, stomping, sighing..oh I'm very good at sighing..shaking my head.....I'm working on it. :)

Lisa said...

ahem, that would be "hear" not here.

A bird in the hand said...

I really like this exercise. I've done chakra balancing before, and I hasten to say to your readers that all it is, is the energy centres that are in our bodies. The author, Sonia Choquette, is a very loving, spiritual person. Probably a Catholic...hahaha!

xoxo

Lisa said...

Colette, yes, thank you!I'm so afraid of sounding defensive when I say it that I am hesitant to keep bringing it up. To me it's just a common sense approach to finding balance in your life and there is just no denying the corresponding areas of our physical bodies with the emotional and psychological effects.

Anonymous said...

Hi Groggy Froggy,
Somehow this post slipped past me. I like your reading of the third chakra. The idea of becoming comfortable with my own power is helpful. Like you, I tried the "snorting out" technique with someone who was intimidating. Wow! It worked.

Thank you for the insightful note on my blog. That image is powerful for me also.

Lisa said...

Potato Print,
I'm so glad to hear that someone else tried it and found it helpful! I think that's really exciting. I'm glad we're reading the book together. :)

Isabella in the 21st Century said...

I'm really glad you found something to help you through this (an ease your ulcer). Opening ourselves up to new ideas is often a voyage of self discovery.

PS. I'm *definitely* the oddball in my family too...or perhaps just an oddball full stop. "Oddballs of the world unite...you've got nothing to lose but your ulcers!"

Miss Robyn said...

haven't read all of this post - but that ulcer: try 1 teaspoon of slippery elm bark powder in some yogurt each morning. It will help the physical symptoms.
I am playing catchup today & tomorrow xo