Riding the Dragon

Ride The DragonIs there someone that I can Love, for you…?

Riding the Dragon

Dear U(nicorn),

I shared last, that I had been experiencing BIG energies. I’m currently in the tail end of what I call: “a period of great receiving” (and what some medical professionals call “a manic episode.”)

For me that means huge feelings of urgency, gratitude, fear, joy, confusion, etc., a steady barrage of fresh insights… along with pieces of mythology within which I have a central role (“grandiose ideation” if you prefer!)

These energies and thoughts used to sweep me along until my behavior was ’interesting’ enough to attract notice… And then I’d end up hospitalized. Now, (thank you God and all your helpers!), I have a number of tools that help me “Ride the Dragon” of these powerful energies.

There are a few basic concepts to this as I understand it…

 

  • We are not the seemingly solid objects (bodies) we appear
  • We are Spirit – or the energy of Love, having a physical experience
  • Spirit is One – with God and All Creation – infinite and eternal and safe
  • We perceive ourselves as separate, limited, finite, and at risk (bodies)
  • This view creates our physical experience – a “bi-polar” experience – Truth vs. fiction
  • Seemingly unmanageable quantities of energy — The Dragon – come when…

a) …a blast of our True essence – Spirit energy – enters the body. Folks that know about ‘chakras’ talk of this; some term it as a “spiritual emergency.” This is what gives us the “high.” (At least in part.) It also generates fear because it threatens our mistaken idea of who we think we are.

b) …The Dragon also shows up when life events create energy “charges…” Trauma, conflict, inauthenticity in relationship (dishonesty about feelings), physical hurts, etc. feed this energy. This is the part that gives us the “low.” (At least in part.)

  • Both avenues present opportunities to become more fully myself, if I keep the energy moving! (And that can be as simple as noticing feelings, and allowing them!)
  • We are built to “discharge” or release energy charges & to incorporate or allow more Spirit… (a.k.a. “Ride the Dragon”) but generally, we don’t realize how to &/or we resist. Ways include experiencing feelings fully (allowing them… and even allowing resistance to allowing them!), energized talking, crying, laughing, yawning, shaking, etc.
  • If our energy “stockpiles,” without discharge keeping pace, it can pressurize and ‘blow!’

Voila, colorful episode!

The “Essentials on my Journey” interrelate in ways that affect how much energy gets stockpiled…

 

1) Belief Believing brilliantly (or at least better!)

When I believed terribly, my negative thoughts came with their own energy “charges.” Those thoughts affected body chemistry so I was chemically “imbalanced.” Believing brilliantly produces different chemicals and facilitates me letting go of mental-anguish-energy more readily. An example of a ‘brilliant’ belief is that Love/God’s got my back… and all situations arise for my self-realization – no matter how apparently sucky!

2) Energy Managing/releasing energy

3) Skills Gaining interpersonal skills/learning to be authentic

Gaining interpersonal skills like listening, empathy and assertiveness facilitate better relationships. I’m more able to be honest about who I am and how I feel, and to encourage others to do likewise. This means I’m not holding all my angry secrets in, and feeding the stockpile. I also get into fewer and gentler conflicts.

4) Presence Becoming ever more aware of NOW

This is probably the simplest, and paradoxically hardest of all! Also the most important! Just being present NOW! This involves giving up the addiction to thinking, and allowing myself to live fully in each moment. When I do, whatever is gets dealt with as it happens. Energy moves through like water moves downstream. If a traumatic memory arises, ideally, I experience it fully. If I sprain my ankle, ideally, I experience it fully. If a sunset moves me, ideally, I experience it fully. If energy is fully experienced in the moment, it moves along, plain and simple! Then I’m free to live as Spirit – the flow of Love energy –

I am!

5) Service Love!

Serving Unity gives me purpose. It offers a channel for the Love energy as it flows with less and less obstruction. Some people call it living in the Tao (pronounced “Dow”) or (natural) Flow… It’s a surrendering to a “Higher” will and allowing it to use my power for “good instead of evil.” It’s effortless (I hear… I’ve always exerted effort, but lately, less and less). What a relief!

Here is a brief sketch of some practices, skills & activities I use to keep the energy flowing… What’s underlined can be Googled for further information (someday I’ll figure out “links”). Also, see related handout for more ideas…

  • Meditation (my brand) – I sit, noticing breathing when I do. (I breathe with the mantra “aaaaaaaahhhhh!!!”), fully experiencing whatever sensations arise, for a minimum of 20 minutes.
  • Laughter Yoga – I laugh! If you want to do it “right” (most beneficial ways of breathing, etc.) do the research. I didn’t bother. I guffaw when I drive.… I shoot for 20 minutes at a pop. It looks silly but it’s incredibly useful for moving energy. It cured what had been a long-term chronic back problem! (Along with debilitating energy stockpiling when several family members died in close succession). When I laugh, I also yawn intermittently. The laughter is forced, the yawns are not.
  • Walking – Walking burns some energy and is also peaceful and meditative.
  • Stretching – This releases energy that hides in my body.
  • Re-Evaluation or Co-Counseling (also adapted as “Peer Counseling”) is the practice of two or more people trading attention for the specific purpose of releasing stored emotional energy. Non-repetitive talking, crying, laughing, yawning, shaking, yelling (usually into a pillow, etc.) are some of the forms this takes. This has really been a major part of my healing journey and has deepened my capacity for meaning and closeness in relationship. [There is some cost for training, initially, but then free for life! contact: Rational Island Publisher, or… for free, Google Mary Ellen Copeland’s Wellness Action Recovery Plan (W.R.A.P.) She describes “Wellness Tools.” Look for a description of “Peer Counseling” and go find a partner!]
  • Sedona Method – is the most gentle/painless way I know of to release energy. It heals without dredging up and mucking about in thoughts and stories of past events, or having to figure anything out, etc. It involves asking the mind specific questions, such as: “Could I allow the emotional experience I’m having now to be exactly as it is?” Could I welcome it? Embrace it? Make it even bigger? Could I let it go? Could I? Would I? When? etc., and simply noticing what the questions do to the energy. I do this alone, with a partner, and in a group with a leader. [Formal involvement generally costs… I’m fortunate to have a local Sedona Method instructor who donates her time. The book The Sedona Method by Hale Dwoskin and other books, offer the methods you can use solo or do in partnership.
  • Energy Release Through Sound – I’ve met people who use sound to release energy. One fellow draws energy from way down in his diaphragm and hollers “f**k off” like a brawking chicken! Another swears by the sound “creeeeeeeeee,” which, he said (if I recall correctly) comes from the Sanskrit word crea (sp?) and has to do specifically with “cleansing” or “clearing.” Both of these sounds work for me, though I have to wonder if it’s my sense of my own ridiculousness that shifts the energy! Chakra-savvy people “balance chakras” with sound – and the whole point of balanced chakras is energy flow.
  • Chakra Balancing – This I’m just learning. If you don’t know, chakras, as commonly known, represent 7 energy centers along the spine (and points surrounding) from perineum (below the pelvic bone) to the crown of the head. Each represents some expression of energy (Love)… from love of survival at the root chakra to LOVE… Divine Infusion… at the crown chakra. Energy gets blocked for various reasons in different chakras. There are all kinds of ways to balance these energy centers and enhance energy flow. All energy work affects the chakras (&/or vice versa?). Working directly with them is likely a short cut!
  • Circle Work – Includes various types of interpersonal work in groups. One of the most powerful has been The Alternatives to Violence Project (A.V.P.) These activities develop interpersonal skill, and chip away at personal “blind spots” that create and sustain painful energy.

Well, that’s way past enough about me and my road! I’m very eager to hear any new tips for “Riding the Dragon” from you!

Love, Noelle

Please click the link below entitled,
“Alternative Modes of Healing”
to access the related handout