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Mental Health & Trauma Release

2/24/2020

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Trauma Healing and Mental Health are hot topics these days with suicide rates, depression, violence and symptoms like Bipolarism, Autism, ADHD, Schizophrenia on the rise. On a psychiatric conference in Geneva last year I spoke with therapist and psychiatrists and they were all concerned that current mainstream methods such as medication and therapy programs are not addressing the root causes and are not providing long lasting results without side effects. Many patients are in mental health care for years – and their health doesn’t improve much. Medical treatments are mostly short-term aides to help people cope with an acute situation. They are not efficient in the long-run as they are not dealing with the underlying issues of mental health issues and trauma.
Looking at all the initiatives and concepts regarding trauma healing, I sometimes wonder. How can dysfunctional, deeply traumatized systems create healthy sustainable solutions to stabilize the systems? Every person with mental health issues I worked with over the years had one thing in common: a disconnection to natural (innate) self-regulative mechanisms to release suppressed energies and to balance themselves and, as a consequence, an overloaded, stressed nervous system. This led to all sorts of symptoms and “malfunctions”.
 
What is trauma?
Trauma as I define it is created when energies that arise in connection with an intense highly emotional experience (e.g. emotional/physical/mental/spiritual pain, fear, overstimulation of the senses) are suppressed and not released out of the body-mind-soul complex.
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Trauma can be intergenerational, meaning it originates in previous generations, and/or personal, meaning it originates in our personal lifetime. It can also be collective, meaning a whole community/culture/religion/country/nation suppresses intense energies and thus generates trauma.
Here are some examples: A mother looses a child and doesn’t deal with the pain of the loss, but suppresses the corresponding energies – this can lead to personal trauma of the mother. If the energies aren’t released the personal trauma of the mother might be passed on to the next generation (= other siblings and their offspring) and might cause intergenerational trauma. An example for a collective trauma is the colonization of indigenous people in various areas of the world. Colonization (often a result of colonizers carrying intergenerational trauma) affects a whole collective of people who are often suppressing energies corresponding to colonization (e.g. fear, anger), thus creating the collective trauma of colonization, usually passing it on to next generations (intergenerational collective trauma).
These examples show how most people de facto grow up and live in a traumatized social environment. I will write about this more below.
 
Why do people suppress energies?
The answer to this is easy to understand: if an experience is very painful, horrific, scary, intense, our nervous system is overwhelmed. To protect ourselves from a complete nervous break down, we suppress energies by distracting our minds away from the experience. WW1 and 2, and if we go further down in history, the Middle Ages, long-lasting conflicts like the Israel-Palestine war, and countless other painful experiences left deep wounds in the human psyche and body. As a consequence, all of us who are not born into a functioning indigenous/natural setting live in a traumatized environment with traumatized systems as the energies that have been set into motion by past events haven’t been fully released yet. We carry the trauma (suppressed energies) in our DNA, and we reiterate and accumulate trauma by not acknowledging the intensity of previous and current experiences (“that was in the past; that affected previous generations, not me; we have to look ahead, not dwell in the past”). This means that our actions and decisions are currently influenced by collective and individual trauma.
A traumatized nervous system doesn’t function properly! Colonization, wars, mental, physical and spiritual dis-orders are all consequences of severe trauma that affected and still affects the ability of whole generations to relate to each other in a healthy and balanced way. When our nervous system is traumatized, we cannot be present with each other, we cannot relate to and connect with each other in a balanced way as our vision is blurred and our senses are distorted by the trauma. This leads to “trauma-controlled” (= dysfunctional, disruptive, unbalanced) actions that cause more trauma and a dis-ability to build functioning relationships and connections.
 
How can we release trauma?
All (wild) animals have the innate ability to re-balance themselves. Often the rebalancing is also supported by other individuals in the community/tribe/pack/pod/flock/herd. It is important that disruptive energies are released out of the system – otherwise they will cause dysfunctions (trauma) further down the track. Disruptive energies are set in motion by experiences that trigger fear: ultimately the fear of death.
All living beings, including the human species, have innate release or self-regulative responses that help them to re-balance their nervous system after such intense experiences.
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However, as I illustrated above, humans have created another mental response as an emergency coping mechanism: denial. Denial of or distraction from the energy response to an intense (“traumatic”) experience interrupts the natural release response. By telling ourselves that “it wasn’t that bad”; that “we need to keep our act together”; that “big girls and boys don’t cry”; that we have to “get over it”, that we “need to get on with life” etc without acknowledging the effect the experience had/has on our nervous system we suppress the energies that have been set into motion by the experience. We are not releasing the energies out of our nervous system!
If there is a natural release response there is no trauma. Trauma only arises if energies are suppressed and are not released out of the nervous system.
 
How can we step out of this cycle?
Imagine that you live in a beautiful house. Whenever someone brings something into the house that you don’t like, that upsets or scares you, you throw it into one room and lock the door. You don’t look at the things in the room, and just add “unwanted items” as you go. Over time the room fills up more and more. Things are rotting, start smelling badly, some things might wither and fall apart… You might hear funny noises and other odd “occurences” coming from the room. Over time this ominous locked room affects the atmosphere of the whole house. In order to keep things in a healthy balance, you would need to clean out and/or cleanse this room every now and then – ideally, you wouldn’t even store things in there, but instead deal with any unwanted items (energies) at the time or close to the time when they come into your life.
In our individualistic societies people often carry the expectation that they have to deal with personal “stuff” themselves. We think we need to clean our house ourselves. We might get a cleaner in, but we have to pay for him or her – so if we don’t have the money, we will have to do it on our own – or leave things messy. However, to deal with an intense experience or trauma on our own is not easy! Especially if we have to deal with intergenerational and/or collective trauma. Most people will be overwhelmed by this – and, as a consequence, not address the issue and suppress the corresponding energies. Our nervous system is not designed to deal with intense experiences on our own! We are social animals, and this means we need the stabilizing influence of a functional social network around us (family/community/nation/nature) to balance intense experiences. In a functional social system there are always individuals who won’t be triggered as much by the same experience and are able to keep a calm composed state of being. These individuals can then support others who are thrown out of balance. You can observe this phenomenon beautifully in a herd of horses. Imagine a horse that is scared by a bird flying out of a bush. The horse shies and starts galloping (flight response). Other members of the herd raise their heads, some might be triggered and follow in panic. However, there is a wise old lead mare. She assesses the situation, realizes that there is nothing to worry about, lowers her head and starts grazing again – a clear sign for the panicking herd members that there is nothing to run away from, that they can stop galloping. They slowly calm down, breathing heavily, and gradually go back to grazing. The galloping, breathing and grazing are physical release mechanisms that release the triggered energies (fear, panic) out of the body.
As a lot of humans live in a traumatized society and as most of our mainstream systems (health system, educational system, economic system, justice system) are based on trauma (suppressed energies), we no longer release traumatic energies out of our systems in an appropriate way. The majority of the human population is no longer living in healthy indigenous settings and there is a lack of self-regulative mechanisms as well as a lack of healthy individuals who can support others to balance themselves. I meet a lot of therapists, doctors, educators who carry severe trauma without being aware of it. Their path attracted them to be of service to their fellow humans – but they aren’t aware of the “wounded healer” syndrome. We need more conscious support people in our communities: people who are aware of the personal and collective trauma within themselves and within others; people who know self-regulative tools to release suppressed energies, calm the nervous system and balance themselves – so that eventually “the balanced” has a regulative effect on “the unbalanced”.
Other species and intact natural environments can inspire and support us on this journey. By spending time in wild nature, with wild animals (domesticated animals often carry trauma, mostly caused by their close contact with traumatized humans) our nervous system seems to re-balance and recalibrate naturally. Depending on the severity of the trauma and the ability of the nervous system to relax this release process can take a while.
Other methods and therapy programs to calm a triggered, overwhelmed and/or stressed nervous system such as breathing techniques, mindfulness, meditation etc are often not enough to hold a safe space for trauma energies to be released, especially if
  • the suppressed energies are intergenerational,
  • the living situation of the individual is still overwhelming, unsafe and stressful (= doesn’t allow the person to relax),
  • the person doesn’t have ongoing support and social connection with at least one uplifting (balanced) support person,
  • the person lives in an unnatural environment and is exposed to or surrounded by traumatized systems and people.
In order to calm our nervous system and to release suppressed energies, we need
  • a safe space,
  • conscious and self-aware support people who are able to be present with what is and to tune into individual needs and requirements,
  • time and ongoing loving support,
  • connection to intact natural systems (wilderness, indigenousness that hasn’t been domesticated, colonized or otherwise affected by traumatized human actions) to re-integrate ourselves into a bigger picture and to remember our innate ability to release (suppressed) energies out of our body-mind-soul system,
  • connection to the “beyond-physical” and the “beyond-mental” realms = connection to spiritual realms/Spirit World.
 
Mental Health symptoms are an indication of our need and readiness to address all these issues and to release suppressed energies out of our systems. Instead of measures which suppress or distract from highly intense energies even more (e.g. medication, affirmations) we need safe spaces where we can open locked doors and clear out some “stuff” acknowledging what has been and is. This is the key to not only mental health, but also to our emotional, spiritual and physical wellbeing and balance.
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Why do Whales strand?

2/14/2017

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​I am asked this question a lot: why do whales strand? 
There are so many reasons, and people spend a lot of time and energy on discussing possible answers at lengths.

Some reasons we humans came up with, just to name a few:
  • topographic reasons - there are studies made at a gently sloping beach in Australia/Tasmania similar to the Farewell Spit region (NZ) that show how the echolocation of whales doesn’t function properly = it is easy for animals to loose orientation and get confused & strand as a consequence. Farewell Spit in NZ has always been a tricky location for whales.
  • solar storms & changes of the earth’s magnetic field – NASA is currently investigating this
  • tidal currents that cause inexperienced or sick animals to strand
  • extreme weather conditions (climate change)
  • geomagnetic anomalies
  • noise pollution – causes stress, blocks communication, makes whales loose orientation
  • social bonds - if one individual strands the pod follows the distress calls and beach themselves, too
  • warming of the oceans – rising water temperatures affect sound transmission and food supply
  • hunger/mal-nutrition - following fish and other food sources into shallow waters, inexperienced animals strand as a consequence, overfishing plays a role, mal-nutrition causes mal-functioning of  echolocation & other body functions
  • plastic pollution – whales have been found with their bellies full of plastic or other rubbish = affects their health and balance
  • earthquakes
  • seismic testing & military LFS activity
 
All the above reasons are more or less well scientifically researched and “likely”. Some can be influenced by humans, some are created by humans - and others not.
 
Animal communicators, including myself, also receive messages in correlation with strandings.
For the last 6 years, I continuously get messages from the whales that are quite disturbing (I described one here). The images and feelings I receive are intense and show how the whales (might) feel. As on land, life in the oceans becomes more and more affected by the current shifts and transitions that we can observe everywhere on this planet. The imbalances, of course, affect not only creatures living on land, but have an increasingly devastating effect on ocean habitat, too. The whales bring important messages about this effect if we choose to listen.
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My personal opinion: instead of, or better: in addition to spending a lot of time, money and other energy forms to try & find out possible reasons and to develop pre-warn and emergency systems to deal with symptoms, why aren’t more people focusing on finding out what we can do to PREVENT regular (!) mass strandings. Why not focus on looking at possible options and approaches to reduce or take away human-created factors (see above)?
We play around a lot with researching, analysing and discussing potential reasons while treating the symptoms (strandings) and intensifying emergency care (rescue efforts, Project Jonah, DOC). I am not saying this is all in vain. However, I feel deeply concerned about the lack of complimentary and/or alternative approaches – and often the active resistance against “outside-the-box” solutions and new ways of doing and being, like involving animal communicators, shamans and other intuitive and wise humans to directly communicate and connect with the whales and exploring preventive measures (e.g. divert whales with underwater sound recordings), for instance. This would mean that we promote change and take action – and deal with the potential consequences of human-created effects proactively. Sometimes, it seems that we choose “same old same old” because it seems easier (cheaper, faster, more predictable and familiar, etc) than exploring new terrain…
 
Research
There are hundreds of scientific papers, research studies, articles – here a very few selected links for a first overview. Also check out www.oceancare.org, www.oceanmammalinst.com and www.terramarresearch.org.
 
Solar Storms
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/nasa-scientist-studies-whether-solar-storms-cause-animal-beachings
 
Noise pollution
google research by Linda Weilgart & Marsha Green
 
http://www.montereyinstitute.org/noaa/lesson13/l13la2.html
 
Geographic reasons
Research study
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Forest therapy

9/9/2016

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Who doesn't know the good feeling after a walk in the woods? Especially after the rain, when mist fills the air, we come back refreshed and energised. Some have genius insights, ideas and epiphanies. Others simply de-stress and enjoy the calm that arises within after a while in forest-company. The young ones love climbing trees or playing under their branches, building huts and having all sorts of adventures in the bush... 

So when I was recently asked to write an article about "Forest Therapy" I wondered what this meant. "It's a new thing", my editor said. "Now science can prove that forests have a beneficial effect on humans." I have to admit that his statement made me smirk a bit. Here we go again, my arrogant side snorted: our mind-dominated Western culture needs scientific prove... for something that is an integral fundamental fact of life, and thus of us as a human species... interconnectedness...

Animal communicators like Anna Breytenbach, shamans and indigenous traditions all around the globe and individuals like Rupert Sheldrake, Jim Nollman, Joan Ocean and many many more have been exploring and sharing their experiences in this field for a long time - often without getting much attention. Is now the time that Western cultures re-connect with this fundamental truth of life? Is now the time that we move towards balance, from a mind-dominated life experience towards (re-) integrating emotional, intuitive, spiritual aspects?

Through my research for the article I found out that there are certified Forest Therapy Guides offering therapeutic Forest Walks and Forest Therapy Programs. In Japan, professor Qing Li from the Nippon Medical School in Tokyo started a scientific research program in the early nineteen eighties studying the effects of forest environments e.g. on the immune function. His research initiated a worldwide interest in "Forest Medicine". The Japanese tradition of Shinrin-yoku, "forest bathing", is a method to prevent illnesses, officially recognised and promoted by the Japanese health system.
Interesting how much scientific data has been gathered over the last decades. Studies show that spending one day in the forest increases the natural killer cells in our blood by almost 40 % - and that this effect last for up to seven days. Or that the forest community has elaborate ways of communication and information exchange - and that the forest system directly interacts and communicates with our human body-mind-soul system - and with any other natural systems for that matter. Some call it the Biophilia effect, others have other labels for it. 

Quite frankly, when I see all these great "new" initiatives and findings, I am surprised why we create such a hype around them. And it makes me cringe sometimes to see how many people make a business out of it: wilderness pedagogy, forest schools, electronic devices to communicate with plants and forest therapy programs... Seems to be part of human nature, too, this business-thing ;)
However, if it supports the process of re-membering, of re-connecting and feeling the interconnectedness of all life again and of learning how to communicate with other life forms, then why not?!

Long story short: if you are not doing it already, spend time in the woods, daily, regularly, to boost your immune system and your mental health. And while you are at it, enhance your creativity and your overall wellbeing. It is now scientifically justified and recommended. So you can tell that your boss or teacher or parent. 
You can do this on your own, or, if you find it easier, you can book yourself in for some "nature assisted remembering programs" - there are more and more sprouting everywhere.

My hope is, that people don't just go for forest walks because they learn that the forest, as a healthy balanced and sustainable natural system, has a recalibrating, strengthening effect on humans. I hope that these regular forest-visits will help you/me/us all to re-establish and re-activate a respectful and loving relationship based on open communication and mutual understanding. That they will help you to feel again that we are a part of a bigger system - that we are not a separate entity, but that our health and balance is intimately linked to the forest and all its beings, and vice versa. 
This goes way beyond what the scientific mind or our head brain can grasp. We need our intuition, our extrasensory perception skills in order to gain a whole new awareness of life. We need to engage not only our head brain, but also our heart and gut brain - and much more that we haven't labelled yet. 
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The Ocean-community, the Forest-community, the Mountain-community, the River-community, the Stone-community and all the other communities on this amazing planet have taught me more than I can ever share. And the connection to them makes me who I am. This is why I sometimes find it hard to understand how we can treat each other/nature the way we do... not feeling each other... not listening to each other... completely ignoring the bond that simply is, no matter if we are aware of it or not. 

​I am hugely grateful to see that more and more humans long to become "real", connected to life, and to be alive again. Strengthening the life force, chi, wairua, no matter what we call it, the energy that binds us all together, the very essence that brings life - becoming alive, once again, reconnecting...

What a great journey.
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Relationships – connecting on a whole new level

8/5/2016

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​The short version:
Relationships are the most important ingredient for a well-balanced, healthy, happy and long life.
 
Close relationships nourish us with deep connection based on an open and voluntary exchange of energies on many levels.
 
If we learn to open ourselves up and to expand our consciousness beyond the framework of our “normal perspectives” and expectations, we enter the magic of true relationship.
On our way there we need to overcome two big influential factors that sometimes can block or hinder an open and pure connection and a free unconditional exchange of energies: the negative aspects of dependency and our “user-mindset”.
 
We are all interconnected and depend on each other in various ways. There are supportive and nourishing aspects of this interdependence – and there are non-supportive aspects that limit the free exchange of energy. The ability to perceive the world through the eyes of other human individuals or other life forms can be an amazing experience of modern shape shifting: We merge with “the other”, gaining a deeper and broader understanding and vision of “the bigger picture”.  As a business owner we see the world through the eyes of our clients. As a parent we learn how to look at the world through the eyes of a child. As a teacher we receive the gifts that our students hold for us. And as humans we are able to access a “whole new world” by merging with trees and other plants, other animals, the mineral kingdom, and the “unseen realms of the spirit world”. When becoming the river we can feel the flow and the alignment of energies… When shape shifting into a mountain we can feel the powerful, stable and calm presence of thousands of years.
 
If you want to know more, keep on reading ;)

The long version:
I LOVE animals.
When I was a child, I always wanted an animal companion, so I welcomed rabbits, hamsters, canaries, dogs and later “foster horses” into our family. I cared for them with all my heart and tried to make their lives as comfortable as possible. As I strongly disliked cages and fences, I let them run or fly freely in or around the house – much to the displeasure of my parents at times…
Two birds took their chance and disappeared one day through an open window in our living room. And one of the hamsters died one morning after indulging in an opulent night-time meal of leaves from a potted rubber tree in our lounge. One rabbit was attacked by a cat in our huge garden area, but his female partner saved him and chased the cat away. Apart from these incidences, all my animal friends stayed with us and had pretty cruisy life-style. I took the horses for long walks, without lead rope or anything, together with the dogs. They were free to roam, and as far as I was concerned, we simply enjoyed each other’s company and (mostly) stayed close together.
Still… there was something “missing”. There was something deep inside of me, a tiny little voice in my heart, that didn’t “feel good about it”. There was this slight dissonance that I only became consciously aware of much later in my life, when I swam with dolphins in the wild for the first time: I was swimming in a bay off La Palma, a couple of hundred meters away from shore, all by myself, when suddenly a group of wild bottle-nose dolphins appeared. At first, only one individual came really close, within my arms reach. She swam beside me and then kept going back and forth for a short time, while I paddled gently with my flippers to keep my body on the surface. Then, she swam back to the group who had circled me at a little distance. Now they all came closer, swam around me, below me, and some even gently touched my body while passing. I could feel their clicks vibrating in my body and hear their high-pitched sounds… It was magic. They took me into their world and I completely forgot my Self…
 
There is a huge difference whether you meet somebody on an equal level, based on free will, open and without expectations. 
It changes the whole relationship experience to something that is different to what we are used to.

 
When I was about 11 years old, I had a raven friend. I first met him when he showed up at my window while I was doing homework for school. He sat on the wooden railing of my balcony and watched me intently. His shiny blue-black feathers fascinated me. I had never seen a raven from this close. After a while he flew away and I didn’t think more of it – until he came back the next day. And the next, and the next… I started opening my window and talked to him. We had long conversations about all sorts of things. He came most days, and if I was not in my room, he would track me down and knock on the windows of our kitchen or living room or wherever I was with his strong beak. My family teased me and called me “Kleine Hexe” (little witch).
He often took on the role of a mentor. I would bounce ideas off him and share my dreams and sorrows… And: I learned to see the world through his eyes as well. A very different perspective compared to mine!
 
I used to bike to school, and one day, when I opened the gate to the land where we were living, I saw Raven flying down from a big tree. He accompanied me the rest of the way to our house. From then on, he either visited me on the balcony in front of my window or he picked me up at the gate and we walked/flew home together. Somehow he always knew exactly, when I would come home. Even when I was held off at school or finished early: he was always “in time” to meet me.
Our relationship held many treasures for me (and I assume for him, too – why else would he have kept coming?). It provided the “missing bit” and stilled, for the first time, my longing for a relationship based on free will and equality.
Today, I think it was because of two main factors:
 
1. At any one point in our relationship we were both free to be wherever we chose to be.

2. Neither of us depended on the other for food, drink or anything else to meet our basic needs.
 

From my observation, these two elements hugely affect the way we relate to each other.
 
Another aspect that interferes with a deep, unconditional, open relationship is what I call the “user-perspective” or "user mindset". Instead of being interested in other perspectives and open to experience the world through “other eyes” (thus expanding our consciousness), we tend to see relationships a lot from a user-angle: what can I use “the other” for? What benefits does the relationship hold for me? How does the other being fit into “my normal world”? This is often a cause for trouble and exhaustion in a relationship, no matter if we look at innerspecies (between humans) or interspecies (between humans and other beings) relationships.
We see trees as timber or firewood suppliers; parents as taxi drivers, cooks, laundry staff, cleaners; our partners as emotional and overall personal support system; and our “pets” are often used to meet our needs for unconditional love, cuddles and as our therapists. Again: there is no “good” nor “bad”. It is about observing our Selves and learning to discern when we do what and why. 
 
There is a fine line between the nurturing aspects of “feeling useful” and “being of use” on one hand and the less supportive aspects of ab-use and exploitation on the other.
If we – consciously or unconsciously – choose to be and connect with another being, because we see a benefit for our Selves, it can lead us to expect that the other being gives something to us. Instead of seeing and receiving the gift they might have to share with us, we focus on our expectation – and completely miss the opportunity of an expansive relationship.
If there is a mutual agreement and understanding about exchanging certain gifts (e.g. between a healer and the person who wants to be healed), then there isn’t an issue. However, I often see that people seem to neither ask in the beginning nor check in along the way if all partners involved agree to take on certain roles. This is especially noticeable in interspecies relationships. Humans often seem to assume that other species are here to sustain us (e.g. as “food sources”) or to help us to keep our balance and that we can “use” them as we please.
 
Looking at relationships in regards to the two before mentioned factors – free choice/will and dependency levels –, I observed the following: No matter how much we love our animal companions or pets, our animal therapists, farm animals, etc.: They mostly aren’t 100% free to go where they want to go and we mostly provide their food and/or drinking water. They are used to depend on us for life essentials. Again: I mean no judgment here. It is simply about exploring the impact those two factors can have on our relationships.
 
I have seen humans using wild or domesticated animals as therapists and friends, with best intentions. I have been involved in dolphin assisted learning and healing programs in the early 1990’s and in equine assisted therapy for most of my life. I have seen amazing things happening – beautiful relationships, incredible healing. I met many animals who enjoyed their “job” or role as a therapist, teacher, healer – most of the time at least.  I also met many who “did the job” – but given a choice I know that they wouldn’t have chosen to do this job on a regular and ongoing basis.
In exchange they were fed, loved, cared for (most of them anyway). Most of their human relations seemed to have genuinely good intentions. However, all of these animals have been kept in captivity without them being asked J It seems to me that “captivity” almost became a norm in our human world – we don’t seem to think much of it anymore. Zoos and animal parks are seen as normal entertainment and education facilities for the whole family, and when have you seen the last wild cow, horse, dog running around freely and without any restrictions in your neighbourhood? Or the last wild child in the woods for that matter? What about your Self? Are you confined to four walls, in front of a small screen? Think about it: how many beings do you see on a regular basis that are mostly kept in check within paddocks, kennels, classrooms and fenced off school yards, offices, etc.? And how many actually choose to be there, or would, given a choice, run off and rather be somewhere else?
 
These aspects influence ALL our relationships. Parent-child, teacher-student, employer-employee, male-female partnerships all include aspects of dependency and a “user mindset” that is deeply ingrained in our collective psyche.
It can be a huge task and challenge to become aware of these aspects and how they affect our relationships. However, from my experience, it is very rewarding. You will be able to experience relationships on a whole new level!
 
Ask your Self in what areas of your life you are in a “power position”. This might not be that obvious sometimes. For example: we are in a power position compared to our young children – we provide their food, are in charge of their mobility (= we decide where they are allowed to go and when), etc.
 
Are you in a partnership?
It’s worthwhile to explore any “areas of neediness and dependencies” in your relationship J Are you or your partner financially, emotionally, socially depending on each other? Does this affect your relationship? If yes, how? Do you have certain expectations that you want to be met within the relationship?
 
Are you a parent or caregiver?
Your children, especially young ones, depend on you – by default. Normally, you provide all the basics (food, shelter, warmth) and, ideally, more than that (an emotionally and socially safe platform, a safe haven from which they can sail off into the world). Clearly, you are in a power position. How does this “play out” in your life and in your relationship with them?
 
How are your work relationships?
Are you an employer or an employee? Are you a self-employed entrepreneur? Where are the dependencies in your work relationships?
 
If you are an “animal lover” – like me – and/or work with animals, and if you want to deepen your connection and bring it to the next level, it is worth to look at your Self and your relationship to your animal friends under those aspects.
The “dependency factor” in our Western world is normally quite high: apart from bird friends, lizards, worms and, occasionally, cats and mice and rats and many insect friends you most likely won’t have many free roaming animal friends around you who care entirely for themselves and don’t depend on you at all.
Yes, we are all interconnected and depend on each other all the time – this is true. However, this is not what I am talking about here. I talk about the importance to become aware of the dependencies we created, about our “user mindset” and how both factors affect our relationships.
It is about awareness and getting a clear picture of how we relate to each other.
 
Deep inside, most of us long for deep meaningful fulfilling relationships. In fact, such relationships are seen as the main ingredient for a well-balanced happy long life. 
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This photo has been taken by Nomi Baumgartl with dolphins in the wild.
(c) 2016 by Nomi Baumgartl
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My raven friend didn’t have any apparent benefits from our relationship like other animal companions. I didn’t feed him, I didn’t give him water, I didn’t provide shelter for him. I didn’t keep him safe from attackers or other dangers. And I didn’t have any obvious benefits from our human-bird relationship either: he didn’t bring me any food, I didn’t want to eat him, he didn’t give me cuddles, he didn’t even sing a beautiful song for me, even though I got to love his occasional cawing very much. When I swum with dolphins in the wild, there was no obvious “use” or purpose either. They could have stayed away and not approach me at all. They were, at any time in our relationship, free to go wherever they needed or wanted to go. They didn’t depend on me and I didn’t depend on them (well, they could have harmed me if they wanted, too, simply because of our difference in size). We didn’t meet with expectations of “using each other”. 
This is what made these and similar relationships in my life so special and different. This is what I was craving for as a child with my “domesticated” animal companions. This is what I wish will one day transform the relationships between humans and with other beings: so that we can enjoy each others company on a free-will basis. Offering and sharing our gifts freely without being pressured or feeling obliged. Learning and growing together. Opening our Selves up to expand our consciousness and to be able to perceive more and more aspects of "the bigger whole". 

 
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How to feel connected

2/24/2016

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If we stuff ourselves - with information, food, things, beliefs, opinions, appointments, dead-lines,… - it becomes increasingly difficult to feel and sense what IS and what wants to BE, and the perception of our own inner truth is blurred. 
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Lessons from the river

12/24/2015

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Today we sat with the river, my 12 year old son and me. It was 5 am on the longest day of the year and we wanted to celebrate the light, the sun and our lives, and enjoy every minute of daylight, from dawn to dusk.
​And yes, sharing this with you is part of the enJOYment :)
After sitting in silence for a while, listening to the birds weaving their polyphonic magic - sharing pure joy of life and beauty with all -, watching the colours of the night sky shift from blue-greyish into a mesmerising kaleidoscope of pink and red and orange and yellow, I looked into the flowing water and thought of the many lessons and insights the rivers, streams, oceans, waterways on this planet have taught me over the years. I feel huge gratitude for it.

"The river holds many lessons", I said. "It has taught me and will teach you a lot, beyond words. It taught me about how to shift mountains, for instance, simply by persevering..."

We were quiet for a few moments, then my son said: "It taught me a lot already... that there are fast stretches and slow ones, and that all you need to do is go with the flow. It takes a lot of energy to go upstream, while it's much easier to go with the flow."

​Happy solstice!
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Nature/Self

8/22/2015

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Do you see the white triangle? This is an example of the brain making sense of a picture for itself, by filling the gaps. 
There is no white triangle - or is there?

Nature over there, me here? Is there an individual ME? Or is it the brain creating the illusion of an individual ME? 

When I talk about "SELF" I don't mean the "ME" that the brain creates. I mean the energy field that we are that is intimately linked to and in constant exchange with many other energy fields forming an overall pulsating, ever-changing, evolving, colourful field of life/death. 

So Nature/Self are just aspects of the same field. Through feeling Self, we are able to feel Nature. Through feeling Nature, we are able to feel Self. 
If we feel connected, it is all the same. 
(= If we are able to perceive this connection, not only with our minds, but with our whole body-mind-soul complex)
If our perception of connection is interrupted (read my other posts about Self connection), we might need to take some conscious steps to re-connect and to re-activate our connection channels.


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Listen to the trees...

8/19/2015

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Listen to the trees... 
I recently mentioned this in a talk to some permaculture students. "Well, trees don't talk. How do we do that?" one student said. The good news: Like every life form, trees do communicate = they send and receive energy. They might not speak English, and we might not speak Tree - however, we can learn to exchange and receive messages in a different way. 
Other life forms usually communicate in a very subtle way. They send energy waves, mind pictures, holographic images, feelings/e-motions (energy in motion) that aren't as strong as, for instance, words. The good news: once you are accustomed to perceive and translate the subtle impulses, you will be amazed by the simplicity and efficiency of this direct and clear form of communication. And it will also help you immensely with "inner-species communication" when dealing with your fellow humans. No more misunderstandings and assumptions. No more mis-interpretations and "false friends". 

How to start to learn this way of communication
  1. Ideally, establish a relationship = get to know each other by meeting on a regular basis, to learn about individual qualities and personality traits. Especially if you are new to this form of communicating, it helps to perceive and get used to different ways of communication. 
  2. Keep an open mind and heart, stay focused AND playful. When you are relaxed and not attached to the outcome, your body-mind-soul system is the most flexible and receptive.
  3. Observe what happens, like a curious child. There might be images that pop up, thoughts, emotions, colours... You might feel drawn to a certain place, your attention and focus might shift to something you haven't noticed before in your surroundings... You might simply have a "very strong gut feeling" that tells you something (e.g. where to plant the tree, see below). You might "see" a story unfold in your mind's eye... Whatever it is - just let it be and observe it. With time, you will be able to clearly discern the impulses that come from your mind/imagination and those that come from other life forms. Be gentle and patient with yourself. Learning something new always takes a bit of time and practise.

Here an example:
If you plant trees, ask them where they want to be planted - you will be surprised by the guidance you will get! Be still and listen...
Listen to the land, the garden, listen to all the different life forms around you... 
Get in touch with them, connect with them and communicate with them. Establish a relationship. Be still and listen!
You will receive a message or an answer to your question - give yourself time to learn how to perceive it. 

Find your individual way. A lot of people naturally and intuitively communicate with their pets or with their plants while gardening, etc. They do it in a verbal or non-verbal way: some people sing while planting, tell their dog how their day went – whatever way you choose, make a connection, establish a relationship. Trust your "gut feeling" and follow it. 

Ask the next tree you want to plant: Where do you want to be? 

Then simply wait, be still and perceive what "comes up". Where does it “feel right”? It’s that particular feeling. The more you practice the "listening", the more you will actually perceive/receive, the more you will know. Instantly. With certainty. The knowing will come. It just happens. Trust the process. Like a child that is exercising its leg muscles, playfully and consistently, until it can finally walk and run. Exercise your "communication muscles", your "language skills" - just do it, again and again. You will become more and more confident, you will become clearer and clearer, you will know - and expand your perception of life. You will gain a valuable communication tool that you can use to connect with other earthlings, with your own species as well as with other species. 

Another valuable "side effect":
The budding relationship that you are establishing, will enable you to feel and live the connection, that is already there, and integrate it more and more into your doing and being. It will help you to balance all sorts of dis-traction, things that are and have been pulling us away from feeling the connection (these things/habits/life styles can be quite dominant, noisy and loud, and persistent). 
Do it with (your) children to nurture their natural innate ability to communicate in this way. Remember the last time a 3 year old shared with you what the cat just told him? Did you ban the story into the realms of a "vivid imagination"? When children (or adults, for that matter) do what people sometimes call daydreaming, they drift away and enter a different state of perception. Teachers and parents often try to bring them back and make them focus on the task at hand, or they simply interrupt them, unaware of what's happening. In many day care centres and schools, activities like daydreaming are rarely respected and uninterrupted, they are certainly not encouraged and nurtured. 
In this way, we condition our children (and have been conditioned ourselves) to not connect, to not keep their fluency in "connective energy language" and to not enter dream space...

Hold a space for it and allow your Self to enter and to dwell in it now...
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Why is Nature connection so important?

7/26/2015

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When we connect with humans (e.g. through deep ecology exercises, the We Process, etc.) we have to deal with “human imprints”.

Human relationships constantly create imprints, they leave traits of “human stuff” that we unload onto each other. Our imprints play a huge role in how we interrelate with others and influence our relationships and ways of interaction. Parents are imprinting their children, teachers their students. We have bad/good experiences that are memorized and then become “imprinted” and determine our actions and reactions in life. Beliefs and mind-sets (do’s and don’ts) are passed onto us while we grow up and subconsciously influence the way we interact and interrelate. Whenever people get together, meet in families, partnerships, business meetings, political debates, etc., this is the cause for a lot of dissonance: Often, the different imprints clash and interfere with the relationship and interaction. And because we are mostly unaware of them, they prevent true connection.

When we are in Nature, immerse ourselves in Nature, connect deeply with Nature, we get the “pure thing”. No imprints there. This is an immense help and eases the way while we learn and practice how to become aware of our imprints and to truly connect and to open up to different resonance fields and energies. Sit with a tree, talk with plants, animals… - they don’t carry imprints, hence, it is much easier to merge, to relate and to feel the connection. It will help you to distance your Self from your imprints.

All life is born aware of connection. When we humans are born, we generally feel this connection – it is part of our whole being and consciousness. Depending on our environment, on the physical, mental and spiritual energy fields we are born into, and our experiences, the feeling of interconnectedness and natural balance are either nourished or suppressed. 

  1. We can re-activate that feeling and re-establish natural balance with games and exercises, immersing ourselves in nature, merging with the energy of other life forms and once again feel the oneness, the strong connection of all life. 
  2. We can a) nurture and support our children to stay connected and b) also strengthen and grow their ability to open their channels through all sorts of different activities and experiences. A bit like training muscles: We all learn to walk by role modeling/imitating; some of us become marathon runners, some jog daily, some simply enjoy a leisurely walk every now and then – we all have different levels of how we practice running/walking. Like with everything else: the more we practice our “connection muscles” the more flexible they become. 

It’s time to reintegrate these kinds of habits into our lives. Nature can be our biggest and purest teacher and help us to overcome our human “imbalances” and relationship issues :)


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