Once in a Blue Moon

In the 1500’s this expression meant ‘ridiculous or highly unlikely’.  We now know that blue moons are a naturally occuring phenomenon when two full moons occur in one calendar month or seasonal cycle.  On average blue moons occur once every 2 years.  Tonight’s full blue moon is also a supermoon appearing 14% larger and 30% brighter than normal .  

Ancients, mystics and sages have long believed in the power of this moon.  As the moon affects the tides, so do the waters in us rise and our sensitivities shimmer under the complete fullness of her light.  What was hidden is illuminated, and rises from our inner depths to the surface.

Three things cannot be hidden, the sun, the moon and the truth.  Buddha

Tonight we will close our eyes and slip into the other world submerging into our inner waters of receptivity and silent communication there to receive the transfer of feelings as communication from our soul.  Theperculiarbrunette.com 

The moon never beams without bringing me dreams. Edgar Allen Poe

Tonight I invite you to reflect on the dreams closest to  your heart and set considered intentions.

Full moon light shines tonight, gates break down, change enters to host life afresh. Djinn

New Year

I played last night on Deep Water Bay beach. The nearly full moon cast long shadows as the waves crept ever closer to my toes.  The juxtaposition of light and dark is particularly relevant as we move into 2023.  As a universal year number, 7 implies developing reflective spiritual practices such as regular meditation (or gong). Going within, listening to our intuition and allowing it to guide our actions while simultaneously reaching out to help others.  This leads to a life of choice, contentment and community.

As Steve Jobs said, the journey is the reward and to follow your heart and your intuition. They already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary

Solstice

This is the solstice, the still point of the sun, its cusp and midnight, the year's threshold and unlocking, where the past lets go of and becomes the future; the place of caught breath. Margaret Atwood

The winter solstice, or longest night is celebrated in HK on Dec 22. It is a time when the pendulum of night reverses and days become longer.   A time where yin/cold exceeds yang/ hot. So we gather together to enjoy the harmony of family over a warming meal such as hot pot finishing with tong yuen or glutinous rice balls resembling the moon.  In both the east and west the winter solstice is a time of transition, of letting go and turning the page. David Bowie says You can't stand still on one point for your entire life.  As the seasons turn, we too turn towards the light, to longer sun filled days with optimism and opportunity.

Procrastination to patience

Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience.  Ralph Waldo Emerson

If I have learned anything over the last two years it is persevere. We open again on April 21!

Sometimes I procrastinate. Ever since we added a second coat of paint to the labyrinth on the floor of the studio a year ago I've faced a tacky dirt magnet.  Reluctantly the only solution was a fresh start. 

The journey of 1000 miles begins with one step.  Thanks to COVID I had the time. I lacked motivation.  With the studio closed I ran out of excuses. After testing a number of options from a heat gun to soapy water, alcohol and finally goopy paint remover and elbow grease.

A week ago I sat down and discovered a new moving meditation, inch by inch all 6000 of them.  Once I began, the universe conspired to help. Kaman, Aimee and Makin generously appeared to edge the lines with tape.(thank you 🙏 ) and then paint.

Like this snail I kept moving towards my goal. Native peoples associated the snail totem with patience and prioritisation. Did you know that current research proves that patience engages the frontal lobe therefore allowing better decisions, less health issues, you'll procrastinate less, and experience fewer negative feelings? This week I invite you to find opportunities in your day to slow down, observe and listen.  Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was my labyrinth!

Silence heals.

John Beaulieu, a leader in the field of sound, began his career in an anechoic chamber. After calming his mind he tuned into the sound of his breath, heart and eventually the hum of his nervous system. This revelation was the source of his life’s work.

In sound healing we believe that every moment of our life and every action is in harmony with the Universal Energy Field. Abraham Maslow, called it ‘cognition of being in the peak experiences’, others,  being ‘in the flow’.

 The starting point is silence. Yet, most people are perfectly afraid of it. EE Cummings

The anagram of silent is ‘listen’. And the first step in meditation is withdrawing the senses and coming to a still point.  Here your soul is at peace with your thoughts. Here wisdom awaits. BD Schiers Silence has much to say and is a source of great strength. Rumi and Lao Tsu

Try listening to the sounds around you one at a time until you listen to your own breath and heart to see for yourself that Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom. Francis Bacon

Lunar Lessons

The moon is magic for the soul and light for the senses. Anon 

We continue to bask in the energetic glow of the first super moon of 2021 and a full lunar eclipse.  The moon appears larger because it happens to be closest to the earth in its elliptical orbit.    I do not know anyone who is not a selenophile or moon lover and the past few nights here have blessed us with a clear sky in which to observe and simply gaze at the moon.

It is no secret that the Moon has no light of her own but is, as it were, a mirror, receiving brightness from the influence of the Sun. Vitruvius  And being in a synchronous rotation with Earth, it always shows the same face. Not so dissimilar to us.

This week take inspiration from the moon.

It is faithful to its nature, and its power is never diminished. Deng Ming-Dao

It stays bright when it doesn’t avoid the night. Rumi

The Sun may watch what I do, but the moon knows all my secrets. J. M. Wonderlan

It is the first milestone on the road to the stars. Arthur C. Clarke

What you seek is seeking you. Rumi

Don't tell me the sky is the limit when there are footprints on the Moon. Paul Brandt

What's the buzz

'Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.' Henry Ford

Did you know Aerodynamically, the bumble bee can't fly, it's short and fat.  But it doesn’t know it so it goes on flying anyway. Mary Kay Ash.  How?

The hum of bees is the voice in the garden. Elizabeth Lawrence
Sweeping their wings back and forth at 150-200 beats per second creates vortices lifting them off the ground.  We hear buzzing.
  
Ralph Ring proved bees levitate. Next to their throat is a tube acting as a resonance chamber.  As the wings flap, the frequency builds in the chamber until it equals that of earth or the Schuman Resonance, freeing the bee from gravity and allowing it to hover. (Watch Ralph explain Bumble bees can’t fly)

This week I invite you to  free yourself from earthly cares by creating your own buzz with this simple meditation.

Hope is the only bee that makes honey without flowers. Robert Green Ingersoll

Reality is something you rise above. Lise Minelli

Faith, trust and pixie dust.

Faith is like the little bird that can feel the light and sing when the dawn is still dark

The sheer joy and awe of a wild animal trusting you enough to feed from your hand  requires patience, stillness of mind and body and an open heart. 

Learning to trust is one of life's most difficult tasks. -Isaac Watts  If you do not trust life to unfold, the mind takes over and it becomes a game of strategy, motivated by anxiety. - Mooji

Our bodies convey 65% of our message, thus actions speak louder than words.  We trust movement. Life happens through events not words. Anon  Begin with an open heart  and you can learn to trust life, it will trust you back. - Dharma 

 Then have faith and trust yourself. You must also trust and believe in people or life becomes unbearable. Anton Chekhov  Finally, Be willing to take the next step not knowing where it will lead you. If you do, it means you are ready for any new possibility. - Sadhguru.

This week I invite you to open our hands, our hearts, our minds to trust ourselves, each other and the universe.

Ebony and Ivory

If only the whole world could feel the power of harmony.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Today is World Mathematics Day, a day to celebrate. The ancients understood the interrelationships between sound and space, between music, mathematics and the physical universe. Pythagoras identified '.. geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the spacing of the spheres' and created our first musical scale based on ratios. 

Harmony exists when you play more than one note together.  When I play my gongs I create a sound envelope overflowing with the harmonies of the universe for you to connect, align and become one. 
This week I invite you to reflect on how, like Ebony and Ivory keys on a piano we can live together in perfect harmony, harmony with its roots in mathematics!

"I think music in itself is healing.
It's an explosive expression of humanity.
It's something we are all touched by.
No matter what culture we're from,
everyone loves music."
~ Billy Joel ~

The 25% Rule

The key to success is often the ability to adapt. Confucius
 

To adapt is to change or conform oneself to new or different conditions. (Webster) Steven Hawking said 'Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.'  We've witnessed the innovative solutions to the face mask shortage and the hedge hog strategy to hunker, hoard and limit social interaction.

Life goes on. Yesterday I conducted a kundalini yoga class for a boy scout troop over zoom with participants in Madrid, HK, Japan and elsewhere. Who would have thought?

Bruce Lee said Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.  If we work from the neutral mind, stay well informed, take prudent precautions and thought positive,  WE could be contagious.  Research indicates that in order to change the behaviour, beliefs or norms of a group we only need to convince 25% to start a persuasive domino effect.  (coglode.com).

Last weekend we chanted a 3.5 hr miracle mantra meditation and for the month of March will continue each Saturday. Please do join us to evoke, embody and project positivity and wellbeing. Let us be the change.
 

A wise man adapts himself to circumstances as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it. Chinese Proverb