Each day I awaken grateful for each of you ….and my beautiful family, friends, colleagues, clients, and patients in my life.
There is so much beauty to access.
The idea is to find a way to remain in balance so that you can connect to it and be in harmony within and without. It requires releasing negative habit reaction patternings, feeling and finding forgiveness, and aligning with the perfection of the now.
This is a pithy article on how to connect through your sensory guidance system to the Taoist five elements and realign your being with the tapestry of life.
Your personal sensory guidancesystem is built within your automated central nervous system. It uses your five plus one senses: sight, smell hearing, taste and touch plus your integrated intuition.
You may think, “I don’t have a sensory guidance system” – “I feel like I am always directed down the same wrong path”...fair enough…here’s why, you may be caught in a feedback loop that just keeps replaying the same scene, with you taking the same action, over and over. This is usually a result of some trauma, loss, or injury.
Once you know that, you create your way out, your free will choice: you can shift out of that feedback loop by changing your perspective and healing your spirit.
A simple shift in focus, release of the weight of trauma or loss, and you can find your way home.
The first step to changing your life is to stop doing your habit.
From that centered space you can then make a choice to release… to let go of the habitual way of seeing and doing so that you can connect to your true inner source, your truth.
Once you have released, you can reset how and who you want to be in your balanced state.
Your way home is following a path to grace…Allowing your heart to lead, guided by your internal sensory guidance system.
From that interior space all of your movements will be holistically in your best interests and support you and your community shifting from Me to WE.
Change your attitude, Heal your Soul, Balance your Life
To find out more about how to Shift away from habits that harm Toward habits that heal you can look into Beth’s groundbreaking book on relationship styles and the insecurity drivers, MAAPS, at the foundation of ineffective, narcissistic relationships. Find out more about Beth at www.bethgineris.com You can purchase the Me to We book there at a 30%discount…see the buy beth’s books page. offered in love and light, bg
In the world of energy healing one of the most important things your need is to remain grounded when you are opening to your energetic healing powers.
Your capacity to ground
allows for increased light to run through you
this in turn increases your capacity to hold energetic light
That light powers your healing field
it increases your capacity to create a healing opportunity for yourself and another.
The practices of mindful meditation, focused breathing, and yoga ALL increase your capacity to hold more light energy.
To ground
First, move your consciousness into your heart center. Feel love for all living beings and things. From that space imagine golden light pushing out from your heart space and encircling you and your energy field. You may also imagine the golden light coming in from the top of your head and running along your spinal column and out your arms and legs. Additionally, imagine that you have roots coming out of the bottom of your feet growing into the earth below; remember how warm sand feels on your feet at the beach to get a sense of the roots moving into the earth. In this space you will experience an inner strength or solidity, while simultaneously feeling an overall lightness of being… your are tethered and expanded at once devoid of pulling or tension.
To create a sense of protection and avert negative energy or attack from another
after you have grounded and encircled yourself in golden light.
Add encircling in beautiful pink light the other person, or the physical space, from which you feel the attack.
Pink light encircles the other or the space in self-love.
It discharges the negativity and creates a space of neutrality.
To enhance the protective quality for use when another is intentionally attacking you
Envision a light opalescent veneer around your outermost energetic field.
This veneer will hold a slightly repellent quality so that negative energy is repelled, while positive energy is received.
You may add a lightly reflecting quality to this, or you may add a repelling/deflating quality to this field. ..if you are unfamiliar with this level of energetic interchange it is best to simply create the field to be repellent and use the pink circle of light around the other person.
Trust your instinctive intuition to guide you and always act from your enlightened heart-center-consciousness
3 tips to cleanse your physical body and energetic field
Use baking soda to help cleanse your energetic and physical body. Simply apply baking soda to your skin while you shower; this releases any attached negative energy. Brushing your teeth and drinking a teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in water will assist in releasing negative emotions that may be attacking you internally; and will result in a cleansing effect. Do this daily.
Epsom salt or sea salt baths will assist in rebalancing you, as you release any toxins that may be held in your cellular structure or energetic field. Make a habit of taking these once a week to maintain balance.; if you are actively working as an energetic healer, add these daily.
Use apple cider vinegar, one cup to your bath, to help in cleansing and sealing your energetic field. One teaspoon of apple cider vinegar added to a glass of water, weekly, will assist in maintaining your balanced nature, physically and energetically. If you are actively working as an energetic healer create this as a daily ritual after you have completed the above steps and after clarifying meditation or yoga.
May you discover a greater more profound connection to spirit through these steps and recognize your increased energetic healing power. Namaste, in love and light, bg
I was asked last weekend to give a lecture at the ABWA, American Business Women’s Association, New Mexico Fiesta on Turning the Triple Play – Keeping Life in Balance. Here are some of the important tidbits I shared with the 40 or so attendees.
If you want to be successful in the three arenas of your life, self, family, and business or work, then you will want to follow develop these 4 Habits:
Habit 1: SPIRIT meditation, Breath, prayer
Meditation, Prayer, Breath daily or twice daily to redirect and refocus your energy, attention, and intention.
This connects spirit, mind, and body, increases access to your balanced core self and increases your ability for critical thinking, flexibility, and quick responsiveness.
Belly breathing alone can reset your cells, mood, emotion, realign and center you.
Brain scans on long-term meditators show that regions associated with attention, self-awareness and sensory processing are thicker in meditators, and that this can offset age-related cortical thinning: “evidence for … cortical plasticity” (Lazar SW, Kerr CE, Wasserman RH, et al. Neuroreport. 2005;16(17):1893-1897).
“The regular practice of meditation may have neuroprotective effects and reduce the cognitive decline associated with normal aging.” (Pagnoni G. Cekic M. Neurobiology of Aging. 2007;28(10):1623-7).
Evidence found as a result of mindful meditation: Increase in cortical thickness in areas assoc. w/ attention, interoception, & sensory processing such as prefrontal cortex and right anterior insula, using this network to attune to internal senses via the social neural circuits involved in interpersonal attunement, including the middle prefrontal regions, insula, superior temporal complex, and the mirror neuron system – all from mindful meditation practice AND more positive Amygdala responses: positive affect regulation by optimizing prefrontal cortex regulation of the amygdala. AND Left sided anterior activation: develop tendency toward positive emotional responses & approach /reward oriented behavior, (which aids in decreasing symptoms of depression and anxiety)(Applied Mindfulness Current Psychiatry Vol8.no12p40 2010).
Consider the power of the serenity prayer: release what you cannot control, shift what you can control, discern the difference
Any of these activities can increase your spiritual meditative connection : Soothing/meditative music; Meditative walking,running; hiking, dancing; yoga practice; Prayer; Gardening. Any activity that brings mind/thinking to neutral and offers a spiritual connection with whatever feels spiritual to you
Habit 2: MIND release anger,reduce stress
Address anger and frustration early to extinguish them from your daily routine. Paradigm shift, Forgive, Be compassionate, Be Mindful
Understand Anger’s role: The Alarm aspect, your sensory guidance system: Alert, Respond, Clear
Step out of your Survivor scenarios and Habit reaction patterning – if you want more information about these and how to do that search this site with these phrases, I have written a lot about them – or you can read my two books on mindfulness in parenting and partnering see link below.
Befriend your Anger. Discover what messages it is giving you, which boundary has been crossed and then see if you can reset your internal alarm system and let it go but releasing it and taking the required action.
Focus on the attitude of Gratitude.
Ways to reduce stress and release anger include: Inverting misbeliefs and focusing on what you want rather than what you fear. Breathing through until you can reset yourself and be mindful. Using mindful communication. Practicing yoga. Journaling to investigate underlying issues or to dump worries. Using a time-in or stop, look and listen method, thought stopping, and EFT.
Activate the power of gratitude and Forgiveness
Prolonged stress (and unresolved anger) leads to wear-and-tear on the body (allostatic load) Mediated through the Sympathetic Nervous System; Allostatic load leads to: Impaired immunity, Accelerated atherosclerosis, Metabolic syndrome (hypertension, high cholesterol, type-2 diabetes, central obesity), Bone demineralization (osteoporosis), and Chronic stress can sensitize the brain for the later development of depression (McEwen BS. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2004;1032:1-7).
Mindfulness practice increases: Neural plasticity, Immune modulation, Anti-inflammatory, Enhancing immune function, positive Behavior/ lifestyle change, Improvements in sleep, Rumination reduction, and General wellbeing (Ivanovski B, Malhi G. Acta Neuropsychiatrica 2007;19:76-91).
Habit 3: BODY Eat, drink, sleep, exercise
Eat whole foods that are grown or cared for in a humane loving way, are primarily prepared by you or someone you love, and look like a rainbow to support your physical health.
Drink 3 liters of water a day, more if you exercise or live in a dry climate. Water, not tea, or coke, or coffee etc…H2O positively helps with your cellular health. It positively affects your cognition, heart, electrical gastroenterological, kidney-urinary, and immune system – WOW, right?!
Your hydration needs are affected by your exercise habits, the altitude at which you live, whether you are menstruating, and your personal system imbalances ( ie: slow digestion, toxicity, meds etc)
Exercise 1 hour a day for maximum health if you are not currently doing this, move up to it slowly to build your muscles and systems in a healthful way. Begin with 20 minutes every other day then move to 15 minutes daily, then 30 minutes every other day and them 20 minutes daily, until you make it to 60 minutes a day. Choose an exercise regime that suits you, holds your interest, brings in fun. Positive Benefits of Yoga -> reducing depressive symptoms, and inducing remission in mild to severe depression in depressive disorders – WOW! (Current Psychiatry Vol.8,No10,p39-47).
7 benefits of exercise: 1/ Controls weight, 2/combats health conditions/diseases heart, cholesterol, breath capacity, strength, cognition, 3/improves mood, 4/boosts energy, 5/promotes sleep, 6/increases interest and capacity for sex, 7/ fun – creativity, healthy competition, focus, endurance, social, widens interest. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/HQ01676 .
Sleep 6-8 hours a day. Sleep is the most powerful health promoter! It balances your brain, blood, spirit, reduces pain and inflammation. Don’t ignore it! Sleep is the great neutralizer and reformer.
Sleep plays an important role in learning and memory consolidation.
Sleep deprivation can result in memory loss and diminished fine motor and cognitive skills; can impede response time in crisis situations and increase psycho-emotional problems. Lack of sleep can increase pain experience.
sleep 7-9 hours each night/get to sleep by 11pm. School-age children need 9-10, Babies/Toddlers require 12-14 hours of sleep; Teenagers need 8-10 hours of sleep. For kids sleep debt can lead to an increase of restlessness, attentional, oppositionality issues
Habit 4: the power of community, rejuvenation, and networking
Connecting, collaborating, networking, and groups offer a special kind of balance. Finding a space to belong, share struggles and get support increases your power in maintaining the balance in these four habits.
Studies show that women respond to stress with tend and befriend. Connecting in ways that help with self growth and rejuvenation, work interests and social endeavors through focusing on learning or maintaining knowledge helps keep your mind healthy.
Focusing on groups that sustain your body like exercise groups or training or food. And connecting with spiritual outlets will keep you centered and grounded.
See how you can institute these four habits today. Enjoy, enlighten, and inspire your self, and your life in every aspect of it, Namaste. in love and light, bg
Gineris, Beth. Turning NO to ON: The Art of Parenting with Mindfulness, 2011; Turning ME to WE: The Art of Partnering with Mindfulness, 2013. www.bethgineris.com
Negotiating the treacherous waters of parenting can be anxiety provoking and discouraging.
This results from both internal insecurity and external unpredictability.
Three steps will keep you in the flow and having fun as you reclaim the role of mama/papa/leader.
Step 1. Strengthen your connection to your personal sensory guidance system. This is the connection to the information freeway from your five senses and your intuition. This is information about your environment, your child, and others that assists you in making thoughtful decisions. Step 2. Trust your knowing of your child. Listen to him or her – listen with your ears, your heart, and your sensory guidance system. Step 3. Guide with strength and lovingkindness. Be self-confident and go with the flow. Be patient, kind, and firm. Say I am sorry, and make efforts to shift your responses to best meet you child’s needs. Model respect and trust by being respectful and trustworthy. In all your disciplinary responses focus on learning and loving; be loving and sensitive to the multi-level issues involved, respond quickly and clearly, and use the opportunity to teach joy and strength in being a responsible person; an individual connected to a community.
To help you embrace the three steps, understanding the nature of the parenting is key.
Parenting is modeled.
This means that you learn how to parent from your interpretation of your own parenting. This concept of learning social interactions through your group associations is a function of how the human brain develops over the first 24 years of life; and a part of what happens whenever you enter a new social group, environment.
What you see done is what you incorporate into doing to others and to yourself; as you age the internalized reflection of yourself becomes solidified. Once you are into middle age the malleability of your reflection, your internalized sel-persona/picture requires a release of the accepted self and a reevaluation of ‘who you are’… due to the solidified nature of your introjected self, often this requires a traumatic event to shift your internal accepted picture of self.
There is a strong desire to be accepted and approved of by your significant others (beginning with moms and dads, and then moving on to peers).
You know who you are and how you should be treated, what you perceive as your role in relationship, from what is reflected to you by your parents, your primary caregivers, and your first social groups –> your siblings and cousins, and then your peers, friends.
So, if there is dysfunction or trauma or damage in those early relationships you have deficits in your ability to navigate the waters of parenting your children.
Cognitive/behavioral therapy, meditation, yoga, and mindfulness development uplevel your consciousness so that you can shift and rebalance your inner self perception and your outer actions.
Trust, be trustworthy, act with strength and kindness, be forgiving and persevering.
As you guide, be willing to incorporate new information about your child or your beliefs and make adjustments to your course to align your actions, beliefs/values, and your parenting.
Parenting is a dynamic, organic (as in living and responsive to environmental changes) process.
Be confident, proactive, reflective, flexible, and trustworthy in your actions and intentions.
Be willing to adjust your response and be flexible as you see the need to do so and be firm when you perceive this is important.
Respond with seriousness to serious problems, and playfulness with problems which are not serious; stay responsive and discern the difference.in love and light, bg
The Path to Grace is a journey that cycles between these two steps.
These 4 simple phrases assist you in this recovery path, which I call the Path to Grace.
Stop, look, and listen. It is the perfect mantra to create the neutral, present moment, open-minded perspective required for moving through roadblocks. Stop the harmful behavior; look at your thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and actions, to discern what may be underneath your resistance; listen to you heart, tone, whole language to comprehend an underlying covert message.
The attitude of gratitude. Identify the gifts of your history, your drama, and your shift into recovery. Reaffirm your choice for health. Focus on your strengths, reframe your limitations. The attitude of gratitude creates an inner structure of resilient positive self-esteem rooted in a solid foundation.
Focus on what you want rather than what you fear. This mindful mantra directs your attention to precisely where you have power. Things feared tend to be things unknown that are out of your control. An inner locus of control puts the resilience, power to create, and basic capacity to respond to whatever comes your way into your own hands, so that you believe, have faith and have evidence that you can create what you want.
Be the Change You Wish to See in the World. This is a phrase made famous by M. Gandhi. He was interested in major social change, but this phrase is just as useful in small social worlds. Act mindfully, show respect, be loving, and compassionate as a style of being in the world. Live your change in every cell of your being, allowing breath, faith, forgiveness, and lovingkindness direct your actions and personal relationships, beginning with your relationship with yourself. Covey called this change Have to Be, which is to say focus on being what you want to have (Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, 1989).
Keeping these simple mantras close to your heart and mind will increase your capacity for mindfulness. This will increase your experience of compassion, harmony, and balance in living, and keep you on the recovery Path to Grace. Namaste, in love and light, bg
Anger, fear, discouragement, and insecurity have oxidative properties to your spirit, mind and body. When you choose a path that brings you strength, empowerment, joy, and confidence you are creating anti-oxidant properties that regenerate your cells, your thinking power, and your spiritual health.
This is a natural outcome of mindfulness and mindful meditation, focused breathwork, and heart or breath-led yoga practice.
I have a neighbor who cannot let go of any perceived injury. She plots and plans to get back at any individual who in her mind has ‘injured’ her. These perceived injuries feel very painful to her. Her face carries the look of a person who has been in battle for many years; deep furrows between her brows as if in a perpetual frown, loose skin that has deep furrows around her mouth make her look as if she is angry when she is at rest. Strangely, or perhaps understandably because she is always looking for injury, she has difficulty with any service professional who comes into her home… either she feels they are cheating her or they overcharge her or they do not correctly complete every job assigned. This spills off onto the constant negative, fearful energy of her constantly, fearfully barking tiny dog who seems to be in a constant panic attack. This woman actually has a great deal of prosperity in her life which she appears to not receive any comfort from. She owns her home and another rental (of course her tenants are always taking advantage of her from her perspective), has a good job and a nice retirement pension coming her way…. yet she is not happy – she is rich in things but poor in her sense of wealth and her style of relating in the world.
This is an example of how the oxidative energy of vengefulness, anger, and dissatisfaction are wearing away at her wellbeing. She cannot experience the comfort she actually has, and her face and body show the signs of advanced aging so that she looks older than her years. Even when she chooses to smile the anger and dissatisfaction comes through.
This kind of energy so close to my own home can be destabilizing. It can spill off onto my space and my interactions. The first step in dealing with such a being is to remember that defensiveness ties you into the negative path, so use the verbal aikido methods of deflection of the tone and negative behavior, deflation of the negative energy, and then definition of how you desire to act regardless of her actions. This is choosing the path that brings you joy
Regardless of another’s choice you are free to choose your own way. If another indeed is harming you or injuring you with his or her actions, taking a step to set it right is good. Do so with a lack of vengefulness or anger in your ideation, intention, and action. This will keep your cells vibrant, your face and voice and heart glowing and bring prosperity to you. This is healthy living and results in vibrant health in your spirit,mind, and body.
If you have been drawn in to a difficult relationship. Give yourself a chance to re-choose and to set your intention on this joyful path.
You can always choose a different path, a different response.
Consider this if you are feeling discouraged with previous choices which turned out less than well…
When are able to act in this loving responsible way, even saying you’re sorry when you make a mistake and resetting your plan, you teach your children to be resilient, flexible and truly responsible… and you build your own inner resilience.
Choose this anti-oxidant style of living in every interaction and you will see the positive results in your health and wealth… you may even be able to turn back the hands of time in how you are aging. Namaste, in love and light, bg
For those of you who follow how the stars in the heavens affect your inner pulsations and energies, this is a difficult time with Uranus and Pluto in a direct square. Often this results in a flash of change through a flash of catastrophe or a flash of insight like an Aha experience. This is like the Tower card in the Tarot.
What is useful to remember is that following the Tower is the The star which is all about renewal.
First destruction or revolution and then rebuilding anew… stronger, better, with more clarity.
This process has been ongoing for a year now with two previous meetings of these planets coinciding with challenging events in our society and culture and there are four more to go over the next two years… this process is necessary; like forest fires bringing new growth and prosperity in nature, so can these traumatic and insightful shifts offer opportunities for growth and change to your societal and personal structures.
I have been in a process of deep renewal that has felt like living within the Tower card for the last two and a half months. It has been a powerful experience to see through the fear, difficulty, and challenges to identify the irrepressible seeds of new growth in my core self. This process has brought to me a revolution of my core being…. how I respond to the pressures of society, group expectations, my perceived internalized values, and my personal needs; how I view my place in the world; what I perceive to be my core strengths and my core limitations; and what is the focus of my life-soul-plan. For me, this has been a mixof painful release, letting go – like a weeding out of misbeliefs and mis-directed strategies and a healing attraction, health promoting, and strengthening of my true authentic self and inspiration. I have been living through the energies of a mix of the Tower and the Star – destruction and renewal.
If you have been experiencing this too, then you are aware that to move through this process with the least amount of pain and the highest degree of renewal: What matters is how you respond to the catastrophe or insight.
The process of meditation, and mindfulness can guide you. Accepting truth while simultaneously letting go of misbeliefs takes a willingness to focus your mindful attention and observation upon yourself.
That which causes you fear may be the key.
Make an effort to understand whether the fear is something dangerous that you must fight against or a sense of not knowing, a sense of something unfamiliar that may indeed portend a cleansing away of debris and inauthenticity and a deeper connection to your true self.
Be kind to yourself, kind and loving. Embrace the change, go with the flow, see the beauty and the gifts in the shifting internal landscape. This will offer you that sense of peace so that you can experience the power in the renewal and the beauty in your authentic self.
Connection to spirit is the most useful tool at this time. Spirit in any form that has valence and meaning to you.
The following phrases can be helpful. Jot these down to remind you of the positive power in your shifting environment. Tether yourself so that you can feel the strength of the tree, rooted, and the height of your spirit. Even if you are feeling pulled at your very roots like the image of the Tower know that Renewal follows and allows a rebuilding process that makes you truly stronger and more flexible.
May you live in interesting times (Robert Kennedy, 1966 originally attributed as a chinese curse but this is not corroborated in Chinese studies)
For those with much to offer, much is expected. (To those whom much is given, much is expected. John F. Kennedy)
Be Grateful for the problems you have, See what gifts are set inside of them. My own inspiration.
In the center of health is heal… pay attention to how you focus your energy.
The opposite of evil is live. Shifting your perspective helps, heals, and creates connection.
Fear and love cannot take up the same space, choose love, choose joy, release fear and insecurity –> this allows you to live free, to call the renewal to you. This moves you away from the pain of the destruction, the despair of destruction toward revolution and renewal. This is the pattern of scientific, social, and personal revolutions – paradigm shifting-that creates self, relationship, and society anew. Namaste. in love and light, bg
“Be like a tree” when under stress. Allow your roots to dig deeply into the earth and ground you. Allow your branches, and trunk to sway with the pressure of the wind. Know that your center is strong and holds you stable as you flexibly respond to the assault and pressure of the storm. In this way you will find peace and resilience, inner knowing, strength, security, and flexibility so that you are not torn asunder and bereft.
“Be like water ” when in danger or working with tender beings. Gently yet with perseverance flow, guide, assist, and lightly wash away that which does not serve yourself or others. In this way you will find peace and resilience, inner guidance, clarity, strength, security, flexibility, and truth so that propaganda and ill-will cannot affect you.
In all things patience, action, attitude and intention matter. Feel the joy in every moment and your heart will sing, Namaste, in love and light, bg
In honor of Mother’s Day, I wanted to share two poetic experiences of motherhood for me.
Max and Beautiful Alien (kate). I am so lucky to understand the world of mother through Birthing and Grafting to my family tree… These beings filling my mothering world with joy, challenge, and satisfaction.
Max
Secretly, I want to hold you here
Keep you right here with me
Never let you go.
I want this moment to be held in time.
This perfect moment,
When my dreams come true in a kaleidoscope of joy.
Waiting
my whole life Before I knew you,
Before I knew myself really;
I have been waiting this whole time to hear you call me MOM
And now this moment has happened.
This joy, so profound, I don’t want to let go.
I don’t want the next moment to come.
I want time —————– Suspended.
Perfection transforms into the mundane.
The miracle
creates a new world;
opens a reality that changes everything;
Creates it’s own time-suspension through transformation.
what was
no longer
is
Joy like an inner smile, constantly warming me, knows only the new world.
What we created transformed us both;
Birthed us each anew
to this perfect brave new world.
beth gineris
Beautiful Alien
(kate mary sophia)
This being in my belly grows
She consumes my energy
Transforming each molecule into her growth
I am struck by her sheer, survivalistic nature
driven,
just taking what she needs to grow.
As for me I graciously give, in a protective, one-minded sort of way,
Through a deep feeling of care and maternalistic nature
Dissociating myself from my own needs in order to first meet hers.
Thank god for the chemicals in my brain that endear her to me
Without that, my body might dispose of her, interpret her a parasite…
Like a caterpillar engorging himself with each green life he touches
Building energy to transform
So does she devour whatever energy available, taking from my reserve if necessary
This process of development is deeply ingrained in my being
Stored in the center of each cell
Awakened by the first want of her
Never to be extinguished.
Her conception
Creates me as the chrysalis,
transforming not just one being but two.
I now understand the plight of the caterpillar driven forward
Toward his destiny of metamorphosis.
I too feel the hardening of the walls
The change looming
Until I am someone
Not previously here…
Forever changed into Mother
Never to be the other again.
beth gineris
What fun to mark mother’s day with remembrance of the power of caring, and the inter-transformational effect of mother and child….write a poem for yourself to mark the beauty of your relationship either with your mother or your child; this exercise can shift your perspective positively. In love and light, Namaste, bg
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