BE the River

BE the River

"Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like water.
Now you put water into a cup,
it becomes the cup,
you put water into a bottle,
it becomes the bottle,
you put it in a teapot,
it becomes the teapot.
Now water can flow or it can crash.
Be water, my friend.”
~Bruce Lee

     Nothing like sitting next to a waterfall on the river to help you to feel the importance of flow. The importance of letting go of our attachments and control.
     One of my personal mantras in life is "BE the RIVER not the ROCK." It helps me to remember to Go With The Flow.
     Holding the index finger harmonizes FEAR and increases our ability to FLOW and ALLOW. I encourage you to take time to sit by moving water as a reminder of the power of FLOW and to hold your INDEX finger.   

“Relaxation means releasing all concern and tension and letting the natural order of life flow through one's being”
~Donald Curtis

Attitude Changes Everything!

Attitude Changes Everything!

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes."
~William James

     Attitude is the way you mentally look at the world around you. It is how you view your environment and your future. It is the focus you develop toward life itself.
     In Jin Shin Jyutsu, we know that the body is affected by the air, food, activities, thoughts and stresses that we experience each moment of living. Our attitudes dis-harmonize the flow of life energy in our bodies and disrupt the pathways which deliver the limitless supply of life energy to every part of our physical being.  Attitudes keep us from freely being all that we have the potential to BE.
    MY DESTINY IS IN MY OWN HANDS: One of the simplest ways to utilize Jin Shin Jyutsu on ourselves is to hold each of our fingers, one at a time. To reverse the affect that attitudes have on our bodies and our lives, we simply need to HOLD our fingers. 

    Each finger harmonizes an attitude as well as the organs that are affected by that particular attitude. Hold your fingers not to suppress attitudes but to express or release them. HOLD each finger for about 5 minutes or until you can feel a gentle rhythmic pulsing, even and clear. Breath easily. Relax the shoulders and smile from the very heart of you.
     Take charge of your attitudes. It will make such a big difference in your life and in the amount of stress that you allow to accumulate in your being. Holding your fingers to harmonize limiting thoughts and attitudes is the simplest, most readily available tool you have to cope with whatever life throws at you.

“We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do is play
on the one string we have,
and that is our attitude.
I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.
And so it is with you-
WE are in charge of our Attitudes.” 
~Charles R. Swindoll

Love!

Love!

This is the piece that my beautiful daughter, Rebecca Molaro, wrote for our ceremony.  

Two gears in one man's workshop. Used in many clocks and projects but never together. And one day, the two gears were put in a box, the same box, same row. They were driven down the road and left in the grass for a new project...together. The man was surprised how wonderfully his project worked. Each groove in each gear fit together like the sun and the moon, the fire and the flame. 

These two people are much like those gears. Why they had to wait was only for their own knowledge of life and how it turns. Round and round, and round and round. Never ending, only making new beginnings. The beginning of a family, the beginning of a song. A forever going song. An always continuing song, a song so short it's over in a blink. ~Rebecca Molaro 

Choose Love

Choose Love

Hold your index finger to clear the chains of fear and to bring flow and love into your very BE-ing!

When we feel connected to others, the negative aspects of fear have no place to hook in to our BE-ing. Fear is a paralyzing force that hinders the body's natural-motion principles. Fear includes feelings of mental confusion, frustration, depression, timidity, perfectionism, and criticism. Fear is also associated with drug addiction. Fear brings disharmony to the muscular system and affects both bladder and kidney function energy which together are responsible for the regulation of the movement of water throughout the body. Fear limits the body's ability to move freely and translates into back discomfort and stress, and affects the functions that revitalize bones and bone marrow.

The INDEX finger is the key to FLOW and LOVE. When you are in the FLOW, you are in HARMONY. There are no obstacles, no limitations, no feelings of lack, no judgment. There is perfect circulation and balance. To balance Fear, HOLD your INDEX finger for 5 minutes or until you can feel a gentle rhythmic pulsing. Even and clear. Breath easily. Relax the shoulders and smile from the very heart of you. As you hold the index finger, you ease back tension/stress and facilitate the flow of life energy throughout the body. All fears begin to melt away. Assimilation and elimination functions begin to improve. Toothaches and teething issues are eased and healthy circulation is restored. Exhale. Smile. Relax.

Movement

Movement

“I came to see that movement
is one of the great laws of life.
It is the primary medium of our aliveness,
 the flow of energy going on in us like a river all the time, awake or asleep, twenty-four hours a day.
Our movement is our behavior;
there is a direct connection between what we are like and how we move.
As people begin to move in their own way,
they are faced with feelings of surprise and delight
 and often of anxiety and embarrassment.
Judgments, corrections and explanations are of no use.
It is their movement, and it happened just that way.
~Mary Whitehouse

Self-Help Tip:

Spring Greens

"This outward spring and garden
are a reflection of the inward garden."
~Rumi

     Ah, Spring, that transition period between winter and summer, the season of rebirth, renewal and regrowth. The birth of new ideas, inspiration, and creativity restored by the longer sun-filled days.
     I am drawn more and more these spring days to be out in the garden among the fresh growth and delicate flowers all brimming with possibility. Small wonder that the color for harmonizing the body in Spring is GREEN. The seasons of Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter, like the tides, have an affect on our body's energy flow. Each season has a connection to a pair of organ functions. The organs of Spring are the liver and gall bladder. The attitudes of imbalance are anger, frustration, and insecurity. When in balance, there is harmony and well being. Imbalances of the liver and gallbladder as well as the associated attitudes can be harmonized by simply holding the Middle Finger.
     In addition to holding your middle finger for balance, it is wise to eat plenty of greens to help the Liver detoxify from the long winter. I am finding that I have great cravings for greens of all kinds at this time of year. As I work in the garden, I munch on the tangy arugula and pungent garlic tops that always manage to make it through the winter, a hopeful bit of green showing through the snow. The abundance of the color green in Springtime should be a reminder to us about the need for these greens in our diet.
     We have been eating salads of arugula and tender young herbs, sauteed mixed greens (chickweed, arugula, collard and kale), and chopped greens added to stirfrys and steamed rice. The photo above shows and abundance of green from a previous year's Swiss Chard bed in my wonderful garden. I love knowing that eating local, in season foods work with my body to keep the organs of the season in harmony. Nature is so intelligent, it is a shame that science thinks that it can do any better by engineering our foods.
     Here are some tips for getting the most out of Spring to bring harmony to Body, Mind and Spirit:

• Eat lots of green foods.
• Eat Local, In Season.
• Eat Organic.
• Get outside and play in the dirt.
• Plant a garden.
• Get plenty of exercise.

"But each spring a gardening instinct,
sure as the sap rising in the trees,
stirs within us.
We look about and decide
to tame another little bit of ground."
~Lewis Gantt 

Root Yourself to the Earth

Self-Help Tip:

Root Yourself to the Earth   

“Remember to breathe.
It is after all, the secret of life.”  
~Gregory Maguire

Breath is the simplest and most perfect of all the tools we have for health and balance. It is the purified essence of life and provides over 99% of our oxygen and energy supply. There is a strong relationship between our emotional state and the quality of our breathing. Poor breathing depletes energy and negatively affects mental alertness as well as causing or worsening all dis-eases! The first step in healthy breathing is to become conscious of how we actually breathe. 

The breath can be used with awareness at any moment to balance the life energy and bring us into a place of harmony and healing flow. Within the breath lies the key, our power to transform our lives and the world. The breath releases endorphins, helps to clear and focus the mind, strengthens weak abdominal and intestinal muscles, and has deep purifying effects on the respiratory and nervous system.

In Jin Shin Jyutsu, we are invited to focus not on the inhalation but instead to observe  the Exhalation, as it is the key to clearing the body. "The Meditation of the 36 Conscious Exhalations" is a great way to access this Limitless Life-Power.  Sit with your hands folded in your lap. Drop your shoulders. Bow your head and SMILE from the very soul of you. Begin by counting each exhalation.  One, exhale, inhale. Two, exhale, inhale....... Allow your breath to unfold naturally.  When we EXHALE long and deep, we release all of the stale air held in the lungs. Imagine that your exhalation is even longer than the inhalation. Observe the pause that happens just before the inhalation begins. Inhale deep into your belly. Instead of  expanding your chest, expand your belly. You will begin to realize that once you have fully exhaled, the next inhalation "just happens". No effort is necessary. Again observe the pause that happens just before the exhalation begins again. Just by focusing on these pauses,the breath becomes deeper and slower. Bring your attention to these pauses. If you lose count, just begin again. This exercise can be done all at once, or broken into 4 session of 9 breaths each. In time, your breathing will automatically become deeper and more rhythmic. As you count each breath, your attention is focused on the counting and this in turn serves as a way to quiet the mind.  As you EXHALE, unload all the dust dirt and greasy grime that is held in your body. Exhale from head to toes. INHALE from toes to head. RECEIVE the Cosmic Energy of Abundance and connect to the Cosmic Energy Force. 

Receive each breath with awareness and gratitude. Breathing is the best way to root ourselves to the earth, to stay centered even during chaotic times. Welcome to the effortless reality of your life. 

"For breath is life,
and if you breathe well
you will live long on earth."
~Sanskrit Proverb

Let Go of Pain

Self-Help Tip:

Let Go of Pain   

"All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on."
~Havelock Ellis

     If this weekend is any indication, Spring is definitely upon us. And for me, Spring means getting out in nature. This weekend we hiked a few miles on the Mountains to Sea Trail on Saturday and then I came home a worked for 3 or 4 hours digging in the garden. Then today, another 5 hours building raised beds, digging and planting and raking. Wow! Sounds like the potential for some sore muscles and pain. But I know that I can hold my ankles and let go of the pain from my joints and muscles!

     Here's how to do it. Place the fingertips of your right hand on the inner ankle just below the ankle bone and Place the fingertips of your left hand on the outer ankle just below the ankle bone. Use the same hand configuration on either foot (right hand on the inside, left hand on the outside).

     I love this simple one step flow any time that I have pushed myself, be it in a yoga class, on the hiking trail, or in the garden! My goal is to hold each foot for 20-30 minutes to move the energy. This flow brings stillness and balance. It is remarkable at easing pain-especially joint pain, it is helpful for swollen legs, headaches, stiffness, and relaxes the feet. Also helpful for arthritis and fibromyalgia. This flow brings back movement and keeps us limber and supple, so it is a good one for everyday maintainence. Give it a try! 

"In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you."
~Deepak Chopra