Fall Equinox by Sue Schmidt

Happy Fall Equinox Everyone!

The Equinox occurs 9:52 AM MT.

At the Equinox, the sun rises due East and sets due West. You can determine where due East and West is where you live by going outside at sunrise or sunset and notice where the sun is in respect to familiar landmarks.
Then, as the sun continues on its journey, you will still know where due East  or due West is. It feels good to know where you are!

For more info. on the equinox go to www.earthsky.org

From a 5 Element, perspective the time of the Equinox is the Earth Element. Since about the first the week of August the Yang energy of Summer has been moving toward the more Yin energy of Fall and Winter. At the Equinox, there is a energetic pause, much like the pause of a pendulum when it reaches its full arc before falling back the other way. In this pause, we can more easily access the energy of completion, stillness, fullness, and equilibrium. We feel more grounded, balanced and calm.

Earth Element by Sue Schmidt

In general, Fall is the time of Metal Element: 

Color: White

Emotion: Letting Go, Sadness and Grief, Boundaries between inner and outer

Organs: Lung and Large Intestine

This is a time of year when the leaves let go of their leaves to nourish the Earth with their decay. The upward rising of fire begins to settle downward and inward. The plants let go and die back into the earth. 

With each breath we take, we Receive  and LET GO. We have to let go so we can receive. We could never just inhale. We take in nourishment and  let of the waste (large intestine). This principal of letting go is inherent in every aspect of nature. 

Sadness and grief are an inevitable part of being alive, but with the continual letting go we allow our sadness to transform and become nourishment. 

A really good very simple Metal Element  Meditation is to sit quietly and begin to relax. Feel your body letting go downward into the earth. Let the earth support you.

 Let go down your bones, muscles, heart and mind. 

As you inhale, say in inside your mind and heart "I Receive" 

As you exhale say, "I let go." 

Keep repeating this mantra in time with  your breath  for 5, 10, 15 min.

 Then release the mantra, release the breath. Let the mind roam wherever it wants and let the breath flow into its natural rhythm. 

Notice the natural rhythm of receiving and letting go. 

Be Well Everyone and Enjoy Fall !

Sue Schmidt CMT, C.Ht

mindpowersue@gmail.com

www.healingmeditations.net

www.transformativetouch.massagetherapy.com

Spring Equinox: The Energy of Balance

Spring Dream by Sue Schmidt

Happy Spring Everyone!

There is alot happening in the next 24 hrs! The Spring Equinox arrives on March 20 at 4:45 central mountain time. And in Europe, Scandinavia and Russia, the moon is passing in front of the sun to create a solar eclipse.

Many people feel that Spring begins on the Equinox. Five Element theory says that the Equinox is the  middle of spring.  It is the time shen spring energy is at its strongest,  before it  begins to fade into the energy of summer. But.... everyone can feel the warmer breezes, see bulbs coming up, sense a faint shade of  green in the trees, and just a general quickening of life.

We know that the Equinox is created by the relationship  of the earth's axis and orbit to the sun. At the Equinox the earth's axis and its orbit around the sun interact in such way that the earth is not tilted away or toward the sun. This why at the Equinox day and night are roughly the same length.

From a Chi Kung perspective,  we are energetically connected to the  earth and celestial environs. At the Equinox, the earth is in balance on its axis, day and night are in balance, and so the energy of balance  is more apparent and available to us now.

Try this meditation, if you like, tomorrow evening to enliven, integrate and feel the Energy of Balance. 

Energy of Balance Meditation by Sue Schmidt C.ht.

1. Begin by sitting or lying down somewhere comfortable and safe.

2. Close your eyes and resting your hands on your belly, feel yourself breathing. Begin to gently relax into your breath, letting it become softer, deeper and slower.

3. Let your body relax into the surface beneath you. If you are in a chair or bed, allow yourself to relax downward, through the furniture,  into the earth. If you are laying or sitting on the floor or ground let yourself sink into the earth.

4. Letting your eyes remain closed, become aware of the center of your forehead. Breathing in through your nose gently feel and relax center of the forehead with your breath. Do this for 3 breath cycles.

5. Then move your awareness into the center of your chest. Breathing in through your nose gently feel and relax the center of  your chest with your breath. Do this for 3 breath cycles.

6.  Then move your awareness into the center of your belly.  Breathing in through your nose,  gently feel and relax  the center of your belly  with your breath. Do this for 3 breath cycles.

Then move your awareness into the center of your perineum (pelvic floor).   Breathing in through your nose,  gently feel and relax  the center of your perineum with your breath. Do this for 3 breath cycles.

7. Now, feel the earth beneath you. Let your awareness move downward through the earth's layers into its molten core. You may see this in your minds eye and feel it.

8. Now, become aware of the sun, moon, planet and stars above. There is infinite space above you.

9. Now, feel yourself in the center or earth and the sky above. Try to feel all your centers: forehead, center of chest, center of belly, center of perineum all at once,breathing into all equally.

10 Finally, let your awareness drop into the your belly and relax your whole body and breath. Just feel yourself here, balanced and aware.

References:

 www.earthsky.org
http://www.usatoday.com/

Sue Schmidt Certified Hypnotherapist
www.healingmeditations.net
mindpowersue@gmail.com

The Energy of Spring

Have you ever seen a plant growing out of a crack in a rock? 

That is the energy of Spring....pushing through. 

According to 5 Element Theory the impetus or beginning of Spring is manifesting now. The energy of Spring will build, expand and rise, like the rising sap in the trees and plants, untill the Equinox on March 20.

 At the Equinox, Spring is at its most full, embodying  all the energy of  plants pushing through ground, leaves unfurling, buds bursting, eggs hatching, baby animals being born and  is at its most fulfilled.
After the 20th, the energy of Spring begins to move toward the  ripening of Summer. 

 The Element associated with Spring is Wood Element: 
 Color: Green 
Organs: Liver and Gall Bladder
 Emotion: Anger and Power 
Wood governs the ligaments and tendons, "the wood" of the body Taste: Sour 

 The Wood Element helps us  to plan, store energy and to push through obstacles. It helps us to make our inner dreams manifest in the outer world. 

For many of us, the sudden warmth, growth, and busyness of Spring after the still, sleepy winter, can bring out feelings of impatience, irritability and a kind of shortness in speech and movement.

 For others, Spring wakes us up, makes us want to go outside into the world again, and emerge from our hibernation.

 I usually get energized in the spring and want to make everything happen NOW! (: 

During meditation today, I had the feeling of my energy field getting very strong and had an inkling of what it might be like to flow with the Energy of Spring from an inner place of expansion and power without the striving, impatience and pushiness of ego driven activity. It was feeling of expanding into the Energy and flowing with it. 

 How does Spring feel to you?

 All the Best, Sue

The Energy of Love

Mandala by Sue Schmidt

Valentine's Day is here and so  our minds and hearts turn to the subject of love. 

Personally, I feel a bit ambiguous about Valentine's Day. I like the opportunity to celebrate and so that includes all holidays. I like the idea of a small gift, a nice dinner, time with my husband.
On the other hand, Valentine's Day commercializes love and focuses on only one kind of love...romantic love. 

Valentine's Day  can be a tough day for some people. I think we set ourselves up to feel badly when we  focus on what we are receiving  or what we think others are receiving, instead being a generator of positive energy. 

 Love is the strongest force in our world. It is an energy that is warm, expansive and actually good for us on a physical level. Love feels good when we receive it. Love feels just as good when we give it.  Being a positive generator of loving energy is the same as being the recipient of loving energy.

 The emotion of love has positive effects on our neurotransmitters, brain wave frequencies, and heart rhythms. In fact, when we are in a state of love... our respiration, heart rhythms, and brain waves become coherent. Coherence is a state where the frequency and  amplitude of our oscillating heart, breath and brain waves are in sync.

Graph by The Heart Math Institute
Heart Math Institute

In a state of Coherence, our electromagnetic field  becomes stronger. Then the strength of our field acts as an amplifier of coherent energy that can help the  nervous systems of those around us into a calm,positive sate. 

When we are in a coherent state, the Sympathetic and Para Sympathetic nervous systems are balanced and we experience this as ease, confidence, and well being. 

Buddhists have always known and practiced the power of love. 

There is a Buddhist meditation known as Tonglen or Loving Kindness Meditation which trains the practitioner to be a generator of positive energy toward oneself and the world. Love can be consciously cultivated and nurtured with practice and intent. 

Please feel free to download the  free audio program  Loving Kindness Meditation. This practice will strengthen and sweeten your mind and heart. 

Loving Kindness Meditation Download

The binaural tones in embedded in the music in the program will guide your brain waves to the  Gamma Frequency where feelings of focus, bliss and compassion for self and others naturally arises.

Happy Valentines Day!

Full Super Moon July 12 2014

Photo credits
Rebecca Lacey
www.earthsky.org

The moon became full today at 5:25am MDT. This moon is a Super Moon which means that it is a full moon coinciding with perigee(the moon's closest orbit to the earth. Scientists tell us that this moon does not have any "super" effects on this. Although it does have effects on the earth such as larger than usual tides.

Personally...I feel the anything that effects the earth effects me! I do notice Super Moon in terms of being able to sleep soundly. I wasn't aware that this was a super moon until today but spent last  night tossing and turning. It was an opportunity to view the moon however!

www.earthsky.org

Supposedly we are unable to discern the size difference of the Super Moon with our eyes. But as it is closer it does seem like it should be possible to notice that it is perhaps brighter? 

Some American Indians Names for the July full Moon are: 

Ripe Corn Moon --Cherokee

Hot Moon--Comanche

Full Buck Moon

Moon of the Home Dance--Hopi

The full moon is wonderful opportunity to stop for a moment and feel the completion of a cycle. With our endless to do lists and general business, it is a good reminder to pause, and just be. The full moon represents this clearly. It is also a time to celebrate and give thanks. We are so lucky to be alive on this earth. There are challenges and horrific things happen daily, and yet there is immense beauty everywhere. 

The full moon shines on everything equally...children being born, people dying, people celebrating, people in sorrow, everything is equal and full. 

We all share the same MOON!

In gratitude, 

Sue

www.healingmeditations.net

mindpowersue@gmail.com

Summer Solstice June 2014

The Summer Solstice occurs on Saturday June 21st at 4:51am MST.  At the Solstice, the sun is at its zenith.  The hours of sunlight are at their longest and shadows are at their shortest.





Summer Solstice is time to celebrate the strength and energy of the sun, light, fire and creativity. It is time of Spirit rising within!

 Some ways to celebrate are:

• Arise before the sun rises and facing east, wait, meditate and as the sun rises draw that light into your body by breathing it in. Appreciate the abundance of your life.Once you feel the fullness of your life at is begin to dream, visualizing your dreams, hopes and desires. Any dreams visualized now will be driven by light and fire.

• Fire Ceremony: Build a small fire in a safe  place. The fire is mirroring and helping the energy, light and fire of the Sun!  Dance and drum. Celebrate life at its fullest!

• Burn and use essential Oils: Sun oils are Orange, Basil, Ginger, Frankincense, Rosemary

From a 5 Element point of view the Solstice is the middle of Summer. It is the time of utmost Yang energy. Yang energy embodies the attributes of daylight, Spirit, male, heat,outside of the body, and the Sun. Yin is cool, nighttime.  feminine, Earth,Soul., inside the body, and empty- ready to receive/  Yang is always becoming yin and yin is always becoming yin. We see this in the cycles of day and night. Daytime is always moving toward nighttime and nighttime is always moving toward daytime.

So when the Sun is at its utmost Yang it has the feeling of completion, fullness and stillness.  It is a  time to pause and feel the abundance of the earth and all that you have received. The word Solstice is the combination of 2 Latin words Sol and Stice which means Sun Stopping. From a 5 Elelment theory the sun never stops. But it does reach a sort of resting point where it begins to move toward Yin and darkness or Winter.

So take some time to celebrate this time of completion and power!

In Spirit,
Sue Schmidt CMT, C.Ht
www.healingmeditations.net

Full "Honey" Moon June 13 2014

The full moon occurs at tonight at 11:11 MST.!!
This moon is often called the "Honey" moon. Its been traditional in many western cultures, dating  from the 1500's, to get married in June Hence, the term Honeymoon. The full moon near the Solstice  represents the culmination and fullness of a relationship. Happiness, fulfillment and completion.

Just as the sun is now traveling it highest arc in the sky the moon is rising the closest to the earth. The Earth's atmosphere bends the moon's light rays and this bending causes a drop in frequency of the light wave causing the moon to appear amber or honey in color. It is a color of warmth, good feeling and satisfaction.

This moon falls under the sign of Sagittarius encouraging us to expand our visions. We can see through many levels or reality on this full moon. And this perceptive viewpoint can allow us to consider new and surprising opportunities.



Some American Indian names for this full Moon are:

Green Corn Moon--Cherokee
Leaf Moon--Comanche
Moon of Planting--Hopi


Honey Moon Meditation: Go outside tonight and watch the moon rise at the horizon! Breathe into your belly and solar plexus and draw feelings of completion, fulfillment and happiness into your body. Absorb the warm amber color. Feel a pause, a temporary break in onward energy. Just appreciate yourself and everything exactly as it is.

Happy Honey Moon!

Sue Schmidt CMT, C.Ht
www.healingmeditations.net
healingmeditations1@gmail.com