For today's Winds of Change time, I first lit 2 incense sticks - Awareness, for myself, and Devotion, to all of you, turned on the Himalayan salt lamp, and then started a fire in the small wood burning stove, bathing the living room in a soft glow from shimmering flames and lamp light.

I sat on the floor by the wood fire, mesmerized by the play of orange flames, rising in bursts and settling into flickers, over and over, around and through different parts of the 3 igniting logs. I then lay down, knees bent, in silence, listening to the the hum of the Rinnai heater, the crackling of birch bark, and a gentle whirring of the ceiling fan blowing a warm breeze over my body. I watched through the south windows as the sky turned from sunset to stars, like magick, with mighty warrior Orion appearing ever brighter in the heavens. 

I basked in the stillness of my body, the coziness of my home, and the community of you all. As my life is enriched day-to-day, moment-to-moment, through a conscious effort to be presently aware during routine tasks at home, daily walks, commutes to and from work, work responsibilities, and communications with family and friends, I am finding the extraordinary in the ordinary and sacredness in the mundane. Lying on my living room floor, I felt part of something much bigger, beyond words.

In my contentment, I was moved to listen to several Tony Parsons' audio clips, sensing the aliveness he speaks of with humor and simplicity and directness. I contemplated separateness and Wholeness, this illusion called life, ego and the dissolution of ego, and Consciousness vs. Beingness. I realized that when I first started Winds of Change, I opened my home to weekly hour and a half group sessions in hopes that it would spark routine conversations about the very same concepts I was contemplating today. 

Perhaps it is time for me to once again try to organize discussions about the great leap in consciousness evolution, however it translates for each of us, and how each of us is navigating these forceful Winds of Change. I would love to hear if there's an interest in this, and if so, your ideas about the frequency and location of such meetings. Let me know what you think.

January 21st Winds of Change

In the past several months in particular, I've been very aware of a shifting in perspective in my life which I attribute to the great shift in consciousness that is taking place on all levels - personal, local, global and universal; physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. I see and hear of its impact on a day-to-day basis, in the news - weather patterns, the Occupy movement, toppling of governments - and in the lives of family, friends, and acquaintances.

I recently read and have re-read the Tony Parsons' book As It Is: The Open Secret to Living an Awakened Life, in which he attempts to describe Beingness, which I experience as "the Field." Like many other sources I've read, he describes this life in our physical bodies as a play, "an illusion of a journey in time."

During one particularly striking instance in his life, while walking across a park in London, he describes his own shift: "What happened then is simply beyond description. I can only inadequately say in words that total stillness and presence seemed to descend over everything. All and everything  became timeless and I no longer existed. I vanished and there was no longer an experiencer."

He goes on to write, "Oneness with all and everything was what happened. I can't say I was 'at one' because 'I' had disappeared. I can only say that oneness with all and everything is what happened, and an overwhelming love filled everything."

What I am experiencing in bits and pieces of my life feels similar to what Tony Parsons describes, and also feels like a "crises" in awareness, only in that it is critical - of decisive importance - to my life as I know it. I've been sharing my path for years, through letters to my friend Loanne, who in turn shares her journey. I also have been sharing my evolving with my mother, while at home growing up, and once I left home, in meetings, letters and conversations.

At times, it is difficult to use words for what I am experiencing, and yet, I find it significant to share with others. During this Winds of Change time, I spent the entire hour and a half with my mom on the phone, talking about what has no words. (This makes me smile as I write it.) We've discovered in these past few months that we our experiencing very similar alterations in our awareness to the point that, if there is such a thing as "soul mates," I believe that is what my mother and are to each other, just as Loanne and are "celestial soul sisters," and each of us together are WoC'ers, harnessing the Winds of Change, for which I am truly grateful. With that, I look forward to your comments, and to our scheduled time together tomorrow. Namaste.

Greetings one and all.
Winds of Change will be held from 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm, EST, Saturday, January 21st. Let's  join together at that time in being consciously aware of our shared presence/presents wherever we are and whatever we may be doing.
Namaste.
Claire
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“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”
  ~ Rumi

It was a chilling -9 degrees this morning as I began my Winds of Change, a low sun reflecting off a pristine hard-crusted snow cover, with elongated shadows of tree trunks patterning themselves amidst the sparkle. I offered a prayer of gratitude for the beauty surrounding me both outdoors and indoors, the warmth of propane heat, the coziness of my living room, the comfort of a thick rug on which to stretch and meditate, the awareness of our shared time together. Knowing where some of you were, I pictured you in your own spaces, walking, sitting, gathering together, driving.

I wanted to skip my stretches, a good indicator that I should indeed do them, which I did cautiously, having experienced a bout of vertigo yesterday, not the debilitating dizziness, but the feeling of being top heavy in my head, as if I would topple over at any moment from the imagined weight. Though none of it lingered this morning, I felt light headed and nauseous. I invoked the healing presence of each of you to steady me through my stretches, each movement a prayer of thanksgiving for your "presents."

I then decided to lie on the floor, knees bent, hands resting on my solar plexus. I chose not to listen to any soundings or music, but simply to feel presence deep within, as my mind wandered in opposing directions. It was an exercise in ebb and flow, wandering and centering, breathing in and breathing out, being aware of stiffness in my body and letting go to relaxation, hearing the Rinnai heater turning off and on and listening to stillness within, listening with my ears and listening with my heart, holding the image of my spinning chakras and not holding any image at all. 

In the past, I would have struggled through this meditation, considering it a failed attempt. Today, as I experienced the differences in my state of being, I remained calm, accepting each occurrence as part of my meditation, with gentleness and nonjudgment. There were no visions and sensations, no quivers or sounds. My meditation was quite ordinary, and yet there was an underlying extraordinariness (extra: outside of; ordinary: commonplace) about it, a genuine joy and an all encompassing peace.

I know that bringing all of you along through the Winds of Change enhanced my meditation, which I experienced as a collective meditation, and as a result, I was able to find wonder in my meditative wandering. Thank you for participating in the Winds of Change.

I invite you to share your response or your own WoC experience by posting it here. I would love to hear from you. Namaste.

As I sit to write about my Winds of Change experience, I gaze out from my living room windows, seeing a dark sky and a layer of newly fallen snow blanketing trees, rooftops, and earth, our first real snow of the season.

In preparation for Winds of Change, I re-played one of my favorite Om chant videos as background music, having just finished watching the beautiful array of colorful mandalas fading one into the other. As I listened, I built a fire in the small wood stove cornered along the north wall of the living room. With every action - crumbling old newspapers, opening the windowed doors to the wood stove, placing the crumbled papers on the grate, gathering sticks stacked beside the stove, strategically placing them over the papers, selecting two sticks of wood, one a birch log, my favorite wood scent, positioning them on top of the pile, striking the match, lighting different pieces of paper, putting the protective screen in place - I was conscious of sounds, smells, textures, positionings and motions. I also opened myself up to the "presents" of each of you, wherever you were, whatever you were doing, inviting you into my experience.

As I entered the kitchen to freshen my cup of Egyptian licorice tea, I heard my phone ringing in the living room. Though I missed the call, when I checked my phone, I noticed that it was from my mother, so I decided to call her back. Talking with my 86-year-old mother is always inspiring - in~spire - in~breath - to take in a fresh breath - and the entire hour and a half was dedicated to our sharing. I wish I could have recorded our talk, it was that powerful, uplifting and holy. Our topic - our own day-to-day, moment-to-moment evolution in consciousness - was truly aligned with my original idea for Winds of Change as a conversation about the great shift that is taking place on a global and universal level. I am eager to hear how your own WoC was, as you all were WoCing along, side by side with my mother and me. Please feel free to post your experience here. Namaste.