EnerCHI - easy peasy ways to Flow

Can you imagine a morning when you pop out of bed, energy flowing, ready to face the day, accomplish everything you want and feel great? This state of mind and body can be achieved before your first cup of coffee.

Most non-traditional medical systems (shahamans, ayurvedic physicians, Chinese medicine) believe that there is an energy flowing in the body which gives it life and health.  Therefore, imbalances and blockages in the flow of this energy leads to dysfunction and dis-ease.  Moving the blockages and creating a harmonious and balanced flow is the goal of healing.

I'll shaHAre with you 3 easy peasy techniques to boost your enerCHI every day.  The key is consistency.  You need to do these things regularly to feel the cumulative effects.  With a daily practice, these new hahabits will quickly integrate into your new way of being.

Let me better define what EnerCHI is - CHI according to the Chinese is the term for LifeForce or Universal Energy - energy that permeates everything around us.   It is the energy inside our body, as well as the energy outside and around us.

The development of chi can increase our energy -making us robust and enhancing our mental capacities and balancing our emotions.

To maintain pain-free, optimal health, EnerCHI needs to circulate through our entire body, without disruption, in a smooth and powerful fashion.

CHI

My 3 easy peasy techniques to boost your energy every day:

MOVE YOUR BODY:  Shahake it all about.  Shake your fingers.  Shake your left hand, your right hand.  Shake your leg.  Shake your tail.  Do a Shahakti Shahake and get that energy moving.  A little Hokey Pokey and putting our whole selves in will do or any other aBUNdance will do.  Take the bike out for a spin, go for a walk, throw the ball with a dog.

LAUGH:   Laughing feels good.  It allows the whole body to get in on the action.  It helps you breathe deeper and get the endorphins flowing so you can look good and feel great.

If you cannot laugh by yourself, seek out people who laugh.  (Join a laughter circle, call a laughter line).  We absorb good vibrations and positivity.  The energy transcends - the healing effects make us feel better immediately.   Set your intention to laugh as much as possible.  Regularly laughing increases our energy field.

MEDITATE:  There are all sorts of meditation one can do to BE in the MOMent.    The point here is to slow down and be still long enough to connect with that enerCHI and see what it needs from us to be balanced and stronger.

We can sit cross legged or we can have a walking meditation or a laughing meditation (check out this fabulous 3 part Mystic Rose meditation from Osho).  We can even whirl and spin for another type of active meditation (Sufi whirling)

These 3 easypeasy techniques practiced 10 minutes a day, consistently, will raise your vibration and your enerCHI.  Since we are building new muscles - daily practice - small baby steps - and a lot of love are required.   

Here's to our good health and great enerCHI

Gratitude for ChaHAhange

ChaHAhange is not always easy.  Sometimes it comes with heartbreak and tears.  This week, my LittleMan, Zeko Meow, passed away.   We adopted him 15 years ago at the Humane Society when he weighed less than one pound.  

My littleMan was a lover who let himself be held and stroked.  He would purr loud and proud as he rested his little body on yours.  He loved to walk over to the neighbors and keep an eye on the hood. His sleek skinny body and beautiful face was a familiar sight on both sides of our street.

He would serenade me in the early hours of the morning to let him into the house and feed him.  He and GingerMama were close - often sharing the couch facing the kitchen as Loverboy and I would uncook and create recipes.

This feline Zen Master taught me how to meditate and stay still.   He would sit in my lap for hours as we chilled - learning the Art of Doing NoThing while being aware and present.

Last month his body began to show signs of the wear and tear that comes with aging.  He spent 5 days under the loving supervision of Dr. Darko and came home to surrender to the process.  

A few days ago, he lost interest in his food and water.   He let me brush him and massage him and then he wandered off.   Yesterday there was no meow at my door - no furry face meowing a familiar tune.    We found him in a safe space where he could see our front door as he left his earthly body.

I've been feeling a little sad even though I know my Zeko is free and all around me.   Every time a memory wells up in my head, I feel like a little part of my heart is tearing off and it brings tears to my eyes.

I've been in this space of loss and grief before - with no energy to laugh or smile - no oomph to make an effort or try to be haHAhappy.   And yet, I know,  my LittleMan would want me to be in the MOMent - with my Elly Belly Meow and our dog-God, GingerMama.

I start humming laughter, a peaceful practice of purring from the inside out.  With my lips sealed, I start to make a sound in my throat.  I keep at it and now this vibration fills me from head to toe. I feel it warming me up and reminding me the importance of sound expression to release the stress and tension of sadness.

I keep on humming until I feel my mood shift.  I focus on gratitude - gratitude for our 15 years together - gratitude for Zeko's existence in my life and knowing this LittleMan.  

Zeko - I am so grateful that you blessed our house with your presence and essence.  I am so grateful for all these wonderful memories I have of you with my nieces and nephews and every single child in this neighborhood.  I am so grateful for sitting outside in the grass with you and GingerMama while we talked to the trees.

I am so grateful for all the nights you snuggled by my left hip and let me wake up to you in my arms.   I am so grateful for our meditations and our purrs and our catnip romps.   I am so grateful that you are no longer in pain and are free.  I am so grateful for you my little Kooshkoosh.   May you rest in peace Zeko.  We love you.

What I Know TO BE TRUE about GRATITUDE

Truth:    WHAT I FOCUS ON, I GET MORE OF

Shifting my understanding of myself, changing from a half-empty to an AbunDANCE kind of perspective, in all aspects of my life. The haHAhardest part of that is my self talk. How I view myself. The words I use when talking to me.   I used to be very haHAhard on myself, focusing more on what I haven't yet accomplished rather than what miracles I have created in my life.  I'd get stuck in what could have been rather than what IS.  Making peace with the past became easy as I learned to laugh at myself.  But for THEN, I would not be here NOW, sharing myself with you, dear Reader. And THEN had a lot of juicy stuff as I am relishing the adventures that have brought me to the HERE and NOW.

It took the lens of GRATITUDE to see all the yummy and exhilarating life lessons that have created me, Goddess Diana, the human bean that I am becoming. Looking at THEN and seeing how it has shaped NOW. And finding the gifts of THEN in the NOW. 

I am so grateful for THEN. I am so blessed for where it has brought me NOW.

Truth:  GRATITUDE IS A MUSCLE

Gratitude - saying thank you on the INside and out - to each and every thing that comes my way, no matter what it looks like when I receive it.   This was not allways my way.  I would go from experience to experience without taking the time to digest and savor.  Now, I stop and breathe and process all the juiciness that is in my life.   Expressing gratitude when I first wake up for the legs that let me stand, for my heart that beats, for the arms and hands that let me move and feel.  Singing gratitude for what my eyes see and my mouth tastes.

When I get lost in my thoughts or lose my focus, I stop and breathe and go into gratitude - counting my blessings and thanking the Universe for all the chaHAhallenges and opportunities in my life to love.  The Universe works in mysterious ways and what I see is not always what is.   Being in gratitude allows me to chaHAhange my perspective - see things differently or just be in appreciation for my life right now.

Before I go to bed, I get quiet and do a Pussy Ritual.  I put my hands on my core (the space where 8000 sensory nerve endings and I think of all the pleasure in my life and I give thanks - 12 times.  12 things that I acknowledge that brought me pleasure and I am truly greatFULL for.  12 things that I love about myself and how I be in my world.   12 people that touched my life today.

I flex and strengthen this muscle.   I work it out by putting my gratitude on paper and writing thank you notes or doing a Act of Random Kindness (ARK).   I expand my muscle by knocking on a neighbor's door or calling a friend and just listening.  I cultivate gratitude by sitting in the grass and taking in the nature that surrounds me - hugging a tree and talking to the squirrels and being One with my surroundings.

Truth:  GRATITUDE IS A MULTI SENSORY EXPERIENCE

Gratitude is more than just something we say.  For it to multiply in our lives, we have to feel it, deep inside, so it bubbles over on the outside and can be felt - this reverence and irreverence for life.    

It's feeling GREATfull for the smell of a fresh peeled orange in the morning or squirting lemon in my morning cup of water.  It's feeling pleasure for the cotton modal fabric I adorn my body with and the lotus flower that sits on my tush when I put my yoga pants on.  It's tasting the dew on a leaf outside my door as I prepare for my morning walk.  It's breathing in the sunrise as the clouds dance and change colors.  It's touching my cat's fur and feeling him purr in appreciation for our loving exchange.   

Using my senses to experience gratitude heightens the experience.  It keeps me focused on the good in my life.  It fills my reservoir of delightful and delicious experiences I can draw upon in my memory bank.

All is good in my life as I pray for this gratitude that keeps my altitude high.

BODY MAINTENANCE

For years, I would equate maintenance with getting an oil change in my car.
It took time to apply this word to my body. 

What does it mean - maintenance - in my life? 

It used to be 3 square meals a day, roof over my head, clothes on my body, couch under my butt and TV to get lost in for hours after a stress filled work day. That was my SURVIVAL mode.

After leaving my job and getting rid of the TV and learning that I need 5 mini-meals/snacks a day rather than 3 squares and lots of exercise to keep my heart happy and my cells rejuvenated - I have redefined what MAINTENANCE of body means to me.


1. STRETCHING - do you know how complex the human body is? I went to see BODIES. What an amazing educational experience about the sacred vessel my soul resides in. By stretching, I give my joints and cells a chance to receive oxygen and flush out whatever toxins are stuck, static or stale. YOGA which is the connection between breath and body has been a wonderful addition to my maintenance program in helping me stretch and grow.

2. WALKING - Maintenance of my body requires at least 1/2 hour of revving my motor up. I create this opportunity for myself by walking every day. It helps me get my body temperature up and brings good clean oxygen in and I get to check out my neighborhood and talk to the birds and trees. I get up early so I can commune with the stars and stay away from the cars.   And a dog-god makes a great partner and gets you out there consistently.
3. DANCING - I spend another 1/2 hour for body maintenance by DANCING - putting on a good beat and letting my body pick up the rhythm and the rhyme. Shaking every little cell in my body and feeling the flow of life as I heat up my core and rechaHAharge my enerchi.4. LAUGHING - Maintenance of my body requires me to LAUGH. Deep and from my belly and releasing all the muscles in my face and jaw as I allow my heart to tell my body to smile. And it feels so good. I get flushed and oxygen rushes in and the feel good chemicals my body produces course through my cells. I LOL every opportunity I get.

5. EATING - Maintenance of my body requires me to nurture my cells with food that is full of life and energy - once a week, we go to Josh's Organic Garden on Hollywood Beach and fill our box with greens (chard, lettuce, spinach and zucchini) and reds (beets, tomatoes and apples), yellows (bananas, lemons) and oranges (sweet potatoes, peppers, papaya).  I juice in the morning to start my days and have a big salad at lunch and eat fruit in the evening.
6. NATURE - Maintenance of my body requires me to BE outdoors - BE in NATURE - watch the clouds go by and marvel at the cosmic patterns as I relax my mind and connect to the natural world. Listen to the birds, smell the flowers, hug a tree, dance with the butterflies. So many possibilities.


7. PLAY - Maintenance of my body requires me to CREATE each and every day. I find that I create best when I have an atmosphere where I can play. My mind rests and I connect to the Divine within and co-LABOR-rate to manifest a vision, a feeling, a vibe. This was my latest creation:


8. SLEEP - Maintenance of my body requires me to sleep early and get 6 hours of snuggles with my pillow. I am noticing that when the sun goes down to bed, I too am ready to call it a day. Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise said Benjamin Franklin. It definitely seems to work for a Goddess too.

9. CHOICES - I choose what goes in my body. What I see, what I hear, what I read, where I am. I choose not to be in toxic environments - second hand smoke, loud noises, violent media (TV & Movies), environments with alcohol and angry people. These toxins get under my skin and tense up my spine. Body maintenance requires awareness to what goes in and what gets absorbed.
When my physical needs of maintenance are met - my motor revs and PURRS. My body is then so grateful, it fine tunes with my soul to create a SWEET HARMONY. The feelings of bliss and peace achieved in this state are what keep me coming back for more.