Flow with the Stream

Water overcomes obstacles by yielding, by letting go of how it gets past the obstacle -- whether it flows over, under, or around the obstacle. Here are a couple meditations that will help you be more like water when you need it most.

1-Minute Letting Go Meditation
Imagine yourself standing by a stream.
Step into the cool water.
Feel the cool water on your feet.
Sit in the cool water.
Feel the cool water on your skin.
Feel your skin become the water.
Melt into the water.
Become the water.
Open your eyes and breathe.

(Source: Sunemaura O'Brien, www.sacredearthcenter.org)

Stream Story Meditation
This is a Sufi teaching story by Awad Afifi.

Awad Afifi the Tunisian was a nineteenth-century dervish teacher who drew his wisdom from the wide expanse of desert North Africa. He once shared with his pupils a story that began with a gentle rain falling on a high mountain in a distant land. The rain was at first hushed and quiet, trickling down granite slopes. Gradually it increased in strength, as rivulets of water rolled over the rocks and down the gnarled, twisted trees that grew there. The rain fell, as water must, without calculation. The Sufi master understood that water never has time to practice falling.

Soon it was pouring, as swift currents of dark water flowed together into the beginnings of a stream. The brook made its way down the mountainside, through small stands of cypress trees and fields of lavender-tipped purslane, down cascading falls. It moved without effort, splashing over stones-learning that the stream interrupted by rocks is the one that sings most nobly. Finally, having left its heights in the distant mountain, the stream made its way to the edge of a great desert. Sand and rock stretched beyond seeing.

Having crossed every other barrier in its way, the stream fully expected to cross this as well. But as fast as its waves splashed into the desert, that fast did they disappear into the sand. Before long, the stream heard a voice whispering, as if coming from the desert itself, saying, "The wind crosses the desert, so can the stream." "Yes, but the wind can fly!" cried out the stream, still dashing itself into the desert sand.

"You'll never get across that way," the desert whispered. "You have to let the wind carry you." "But how?" shouted the stream. "You have to let the wind absorb you." The stream could not accept this, however, not wanting to lose its identity or abandon its own individuality. After all, if it gave itself to the winds, could it ever be sure of becoming a stream again?

The desert replied that the stream could continue its flowing, perhaps one day even producing a swamp there at the desert's edge. But it would never cross the desert so long as it remained a stream. "Why can't I remain the same stream that I am?" the water cried. And the desert answered, ever so wisely, "You never remain what you are. Either you become a swamp or you give yourself to the winds."

The stream was silent for a long time, listening to distant echoes of memory, knowing parts of itself having been held before in the arms of the wind. From that long-forgotten place, it gradually recalled how water conquers only by yielding, by flowing around obstacles, by turning to steam when threatened by fire. From the depths of that silence, slowly the stream raised its vapors to the welcoming arms of the wind and was borne upward, carried easily on great white clouds over the wide desert waste.

Approaching distant mountains on the desert's far side, the stream then began once again to fall as a light rain. At first it was hushed and quiet, trickling down granite slopes. Gradually it increased in strength, as rivulets rolled over the rocks and down the gnarled, twisted trees that grew there. The rain fell, as water must, without calculation. And soon it was pouring, as swift currents of water flowed together - yet again - into the headwaters of a new stream.

Aswad Afifi refused to say what the story "meant," how it should be interpreted. He simply pointed his students to the desert nearby and urged them to find out for themselves.

(Source: unknown)

Energy Building

These energy building practices help you call in love and light, from the sky or earth, to fill yourself up and extend that love and light to other beings.

Energy Building
There are three basic steps to this practice: bringing in the light, arm and body patting, and clapping and chanting. Do each part for a few minutes. (Source: James Twyman)

1. Step 1: Imagine light coming in through your crown and in to your heart. Breathe in and say to yourself "light be in me." Visualize your heart on fire (full of light) while holding your breath for 3 seconds. While exhaling, say out loud "light be as me" and visualize the light going in all directions and blessing everything in its path.
2. Step 2: Hold your arms out, palms down. Start patting from your shoulder down to the hand, then flip your hand over and pat the other side of your arm. Then pat the other arm. You may also pat your body, dance, jump, etc. Be creative.
3. Step 3: Chant "Hi" enthusiastically while clapping. This means "yes" in Japanese. Feel the energy of Yes.
4. Step 4: Repeat steps 1 and 2.
5. Step 5: Chant "Hu". This means the power of God. Feel the power of God within.
6. Step 6: Repeat steps 1 and 2.
7. Step 7: Chant "open", while visualizing three great streams of light coming down into your body.

Ground and Let the Energy of Mother Earth Fill You
When you are full of love and light, it seals and protects your aura and there is no room for negative energies to enter. You are also in a better place to extend this love and light to others.

1. Stand or sit comfortably with your feet flat on the floor.
2. Holding your hands at waist level in front of you, touch your fingertips together with your fingers pointing away from you. This acts as the "third leg of the stool" and helps to ground you.
3. From the bottom of your feet, send your roots down deep into the earth. You may visualize your roots like the roots of a tree.
4. Consciously set your intention on grounding.
5. When you feel grounded, let go and let the energy of Mother Earth rise up through your roots and into your body, filling you up.
   

Call in Your Energies
When we do spiritual practices, especially healing, we are "putting ourselves out there," extending ourselves (including our energetic selves) out into the world. This can sometimes leave us vulnerable and over-extend our energies.

To rebuild your energy core, call in your energies.

1. Visualize (or feel) the extension of your aura, way out there.
2. Quietly to yourself, call in your energies with your intention.
3. Visualize (or feel) your aura coming back in toward you until it is only a foot or so around you.
4. Hold that feeling and hold the energies in around you consciously for a few minutes or as long as you feel comfortable.