I don’t know about you, but in the weeks leading up to the big solar eclipse, I had some unusual periods of feeling “off.” Unexplained anxiousness and unexpected sadness. Nights of little sleep. Maybe the best way to describe my condition is unmoored.
As a generally sunny and confident person, it bothered me to feel shadowy with no known cause. I think I was feeling powerless about the uncertainty that is so present in the collective now. But, of course, we always have lived and always will live in uncertainty.
So how do we metabolize this energy?
I’m reminded of a haunting scene from the book, Erosion, by Terry Tempest Williams, that has stuck with me since I read it a few years ago. Williams met a woman named Marie from a sea-side village in Alaska who was spinning and singing in the middle of the road “like a whirling dervish focused on the sky.” When asked why, Marie said the fishing camp where her family had spent summers for generations had fallen into the sea. She had no idea what to do, so she danced.
At first blush, her reaction to the tragedy seems foolish. But what if her dancing was actually an unexpected act of courage? I believe when we find ourselves in situations beyond our control (aka always) the bravest thing we can do is to be present in our bodies. This assures that we don’t turn away from what is, and at the same time provides an anchor to our soul self that is unchanged by turmoil.
The culture we live in does not support this. It tells us to use our heads, to figure things out, to create order out of chaos. But sometimes there are no answers. We try to sort things out anyway. It seems to me this approach encourages a spiraling away from our true self. When the outside world feels out of control, I think the braver choice is to practice spiraling in.
I watched the eclipse lying on my back in my mother’s backyard in Texas. On an overcast day, the clouds magically parted just in time for us to see the moon float into position directly in front of the sun. As the skies darkened, the temperature dropped, and day shifted almost instantly into night. Minutes later, everything began to move back into its usual order.
Energetically, eclipses are portals of transformation. Some say total solar eclipses often coincide with significant times of collective transition, dramatically ushering out outdated energies to clear a path for the new.
Eclipse-related or not, we are certainly living in transformational times. And the energy of what is happening globally is mirrored in our individual lives. Like the fishing camp falling into the sea, many of us are experiencing loss, sometimes sudden. It’s tempting to try to escape from the discomfort of helplessness and grief we feel whether it’s connected to our personal journey or something we witness in the collective. When we do this, we almost always spin through thousands of scenarios in our minds, often in an endless loop. We spiral out into the illusion of separation.
What would better serve us when we feel powerless is to flow the energy from our chattering minds into our bodies where we can feel it, move it through, and remember our soul self is much more expansive than what we experience here on earth. So, dancing. Or yoga. Or bicycling. Or walking. Or singing. Or artmaking. Any practice that quiets the intellect so we can be in the flow of Oneness.
And, of course, conscious breathing! I noticed during my pre-eclipse “off” period, my breath was often shallow. Nothing about this nourished my nervous system, and it made it harder to access my higher wisdom. Since then, I’ve returned to my usual practice of stopping throughout the day to take slow deep breaths, and I miraculously feel much better. (Duh!)
My unsteady feelings ended before the eclipse occurred, but it took several days. I worked hard to spiral inward, and in doing so, understood that the practices were not there to fix me. They were tools to teach me how to fully experience the shadow, steady, knowing that all is happening just as it should be no matter how I feel about it.
I know we need a lot more answers in this world than dancing. But spiraling out to fruitless worry is certainly not one of them. We must do everything we can to fortify our spirits so we can be light bearers in these chaotic times. I’m going to keep dancing a spiral inward. How about you?
If you want to literally dance with me or support your inner power with intuitive guidance, energy healing or spiritual mentoring, check out my offerings at RememberYourWings.com.
