Beyond the Veil: Tuning into Body, Spirit, and Soul
As we approach Halloween and Day of the Dead, I like to tune into the connection between spirit and matter. What I love about this holiday season is our willingness to find meaning in subtle, unspoken encounters, whether those are with departed loved ones or animal spirits.
When my daughter was in second or third grade, she desperately wanted a hamster. We went to a pet store to get one and I somehow ended up coming home with two hamsters instead of one. I assumed they would appreciate having a friend, but within a few days, rather than bonding, they were fighting and about to kill each other.
I got an extra cage and separated them, then felt guilty about building a village of lonely hamsters. I gave them as much attention as possible, but the feeling of restlessness from these poor souls was sometimes unbearable. Then the day came when one of them--Teddy---died. I was devastated. I sobbed the whole day.
Even I could see that my feelings were much bigger than the situation warranted. My emotion was clearly about something bigger.
Fast forward many years to my Transformational Breath® training. As I was breathing, Teddy showed up with a message for me.
His message was, “We were fine. We’re hamsters!” He pointed out that my sadness was about me feeling caged and confined in my own body. It was about my own Soul and me needing to take a deeper look.
And that wasn’t all. I needed to step into more freedom. It was true. I was feeling that there had to be more to life. That life does have more than this day-to-day stuff.
The gift of that hamster was that he opened my heart, giving me permission to expand and be present. His wisdom taught me it is safe to be here and expand.
That’s the beautiful thing about transformational breathwork. It causes an activation to happen, strengthening the connection between the physical body and the higher world. Yet it is clear that I have to choose to surrender to the breath to meet that higher world in my body.
At this time of year, the veil between the two worlds is thinner. We stand on the threshhold of winter, ready to turn inward and become more receptive to subtle energies.
Yesterday I went for my power walk. I didn’t want to do it even though I knew it would be good for me. In fact, I could tell I was resisting something because my house was cluttered, I was eating junk food, and my thoughts were disorganized. But I let my body guide me. I followed a path to the back of the nearby Waldorf school. As I walked I focused on grounding into the earth and allowing and suddenly I was moving and letting my body just flow. As I did this, the tears came streaming and I was crying. It had been a tough month, and tears were the release my body needed.
I’ve learned that, no matter what the trigger is, to go with it. I don’t need to know why. This is why breathwork is so important and powerful. We are all unconscious in many ways and we’re going to be thrown harder curveballs if we don’t stop and listen to both our physical and emotional bodies.
The breath is a tool that helps us listen. Oxygen rises up and sweeps out the lower-density stuff. By breathing intentionally, we clear our emotions, which leaves us more aligned and grounded in the here and now.
It’s only from this place of presence that we have access to the higher planes.
I poem I found online, called ‘Beyond the Veil,’ says:
The thick, murky darkness
Blots out the light,
I can't dispel it
With all my might.
If I knew the secret,
I'd have the tool
To break its cocoon
And find the hidden jewel.
That secret is the breath. The breath breaks us out of the cocoon of unconsciousness.
This is the perfect time of year to use the breath more intentionally to go beyond your current understanding and connect to a greater, invisible wisdom.
Happy Halloween!