Transformation

 

 

drawing © bob schrei

 

The word “Transformation” emerges frequently in the study and practice of SourcePoint Therapy®.

Source, Grounding, Activation, Transformation.

These words and the points of the energy field associated with them are the foundation of SourcePoint practice for ourselves and for others.

The progression of these words is simple:  In alignment with Order, Balance and Harmony, we experience Transformation, moving through the rigidities that block the steady flow of the primal creative energies that are our ground. Our ground is not the solid ground beneath our feet. What we begin to see through the SourcePoint lens is that our very Being is Flow.  To be centered means to be centered in Flow -to move freely, grounded in the information of Order, Balance, and Harmony present in Source, and the precise energetic structures that manifest from that information. Health is not a static state. Structure and Flow are not two, they are interwoven and related in every moment of our Being. Flow is not a matter of “following your bliss.” Flow is moving in alignment with and guided by basic energetic principles and practices attuned to the flow of river and sea, wind and clouds, inhalation and exhalation, arising and subsiding.

That Flow is Transformation. We emerge into form from a Flow, also called often a dance, a vibration, a frequency of energy; we maintain the flow within that form, as that form, for a while, shed that form and re-emerge, transformed. This continuous Transformation happens from breath to breath, moment to moment, day to day, year to year, life to life.

In the Buddhist tradition the material world, and our life in it, are characterized by Anicca. Translated from the Sanskrit (or maybe the Pali, or both) the word is Impermanence.  Traditionally the word takes on a certain coloring when one first encounters it, a sadness, a grieving, a sense of loss. Joy always contains the seed of imminent sorrow, of loss, yes.  However, sorrow contains the imminent seed of joy. The same with suffering and bliss, life and death. Phenomena, including ourselves, arise and stay for a while and subside. Continuous becoming is our natural state of being. (See last month’s post on The Seed of the Opposite.)

This New Year I happen to be near the ocean, with family, and I sit on the beach and watch the waves flow in – and ebb – and return. I watch surfers catch a wave at the crest and ride smoothly to the shore, sometimes struggling to stay upright, sometimes not making it.

All around us we can see and feel this rhythm of continuous Transformation, of the waves we ride, the waves we are. We can also feel the pain of rigidity, of clinging and grasping, of the stubbornness of anger and greed and ignorance, patterns of conditioned reaction, blocking the Flow, bringing the seed of ill-health always present to the forefront. We feel it in ourselves, and in the world.

Individually, we can resolve to live our lives in alignment with the light of divine love and wisdom (awareness). To nourish the seed of health in ourselves and in others. Especially if we are able to take time to connect to the rhythm of arising and subsiding, inhalation and exhalation that is our ground and let go of old conditioned patterns. We at one time used to speak of the Transformation Point as being subtitled “The Letting Go Point.”

Which brings me to a topic dear to me currently, in the depths of my heart, in the core of my being. That is, the reality of aging. The ultimate (in our lifetimes) letting go.

 I chose not to call this post “SourcePoint Therapy and Aging” because a) that word is too loaded in today’s world. And b) because very likely there would be numbers of people not interested 🙂

This process of aging is without a doubt the most profound of my life. And, I have a history of profound experiences-  peak experience, experience of other dimensions and worlds, spirit beings and guides, long hours of meditation once upon a time, seeking the ultimate depths and heights of consciousness. The privilege of speaking for spirit. The Presence of Source, its vastness etc. I’m deeply grateful for these experiences, I do not mean to treat them lightly. The Presence of Awareness and Spirit have shaped my life profoundly. This is said as a simple statement of fact, not coming from the desire to advertise myself as a spiritual teacher or even a spiritual person. I’ve been blessed to be guarded from that label by the stubbornness of my ancient patterns of fear and anger, doubt and judgment, envy, too much self-involvement, a rejection of the material world etc. Always reminding me. So I mention this background only to emphasize the potency of this phase of life I’m in now. ( I turned 77 recently)

Now, it all looks different. So different. So much simpler. So much less wanting to be something I’m not, or, equally, wanting others to be something they are not.

What really matters. What I need to be doing. The intense preciousness of every moment of what we call life. Of this journey, of the cosmic beauty of this world, this human being, and all its relations. Of the stars and moon and sun, the moments, the moments, especially the moments…The beauty of the “ordinary” moment.

And suddenly, I don’t want to continue writing about it too much now. Because there’s so much to say. For now, it distills itself to this:

Aging is so natural, so much in harmony with the natural, original rhythm of this universe, of life. It’s so precious. Yes, it hurts, the body changes, more than it has since I was going through puberty. I’m shrinking, literally. Not as strong as I once was, deaf, also, but that’s not from aging and I’m used to it.

I’m not going to say aging is blissful. It’s the  most intensely demanding letting go period of my life. It’s really clear: cling, and I get rigid and scared. Let go, and I’m carried by the wave of all that is. Easier said than done. But necessary. Letting go stretches from personal possessions to these habit patterns I’ve been lugging around for years, if not millennia, if not lifetimes. Are those what I want guiding me in this transformative time? No.

Aging is a mindfulness practice. Be careful not to fall. Be careful to do all kinds of other things we’re told to do to avoid dementia and this and that and this and that. Be careful to remember the appointment I just made, not being able to carry my entire calendar in my head any more. Having a chronic balance issue I move carefully in the world, slowly, with awareness and care. The moment to moment need to pay attention is such a practice. I’ll go into more detail about that later in my next post.

The energetic structures of SourcePoint Therapy are a clear support to this aging body. As the physical body begins to experience the ebbing of the flow, the energetic structures take over, come into a central role. Details about that next, also. It’s never too soon to work with those precious structures, to receive instruction from them.

All this is the background now for my next post, Aging and SourcePoint Therapy. And after that comes death, so we will look at SourcePoint Therapy and Dying also in future posts.

Remember, as soon as we emerge into the world we’re aging. Aging carries us up the crest of the wave and down the other side, where we subside and re-emerge in another wave. Old age is not an illness in and of itself. Old age is obviously a time when many illnesses worsen, and indeed turn fatal.  I don’t mean to deny or minimize that. Death gets very real. It’s there in the future in a much more palpable way than ever. Our current culture blocks out awareness of these natural energies/experiences in the same way it blocks out so many other natural energies. I hope next month as I write more specifically about aging, people of many ages will be receptive. Old age and death are not subjects to turn away from.

Source, Grounding, Activation, Transformation. The rhythm of life includes the experience of old age and death. Health carries the seed of ill-health. Ill-health contains the seed of health. Life contains the seed of death. Death contains… the seed of life.

May this year bring you Transformation in alignment with Order, Balance, Harmony and Flow. May you adventure from your ordinary consciousness and into new dimensions of consciousness of energy, awareness and healing, always with altruistic intentions, to expand your consciousness to connect more palpably with Source, bringing healing to yourself and those around you.