Transforming Your Pain Into Power

Watching your world crumble

Have you ever felt like your whole world just crumbled in a matter of seconds? I know I have. The universe yanks the rug from under your feet in the most destructive fashion. Kali energy come to burn it all down. It feels like you lose the balance that you’ve been working so hard to maintain, and if you’re not careful you might lose your mind too. You may feel in those moments as though you’re left with nothing, that this feeling will never go away, and you’re completely alone in that feeling because the world can’t relate to your experiences. People can only offer some kind words, but the physical and emotional feeling is all on you to feel and navigate your way through. You find yourself lost and alone in the midst of extreme pain whilst still trying to keep up with your responsibilities. It can feel completely overwhelming. 

For the last 5 years, it feels like I’ve been trapped in a never-ending cycle of initiations. Every time I thought I had clawed my way back to the light with everything I had, something else would fall apart and I’d be plunged back into the darkness. And when things fell apart, I fell apart with them too. It’s been the most challenging time of my life, but paradoxically, it’s also been the time where I’ve grown the most. It’s been full to the brim with pain, loss, and loneliness. I’m pretty certain that a literal river of tears has been cried in that time. It’s pretty hard to look back on any of that fondly, but I somehow do. I am able to because woven into the sheer pain and shock of the last 5 years, I have grown exponentially, and I’ll bet that you have or will too. It’s easy to feel utterly helpless in the face of so much adversity and pain. And in all honesty, there have been many moments where I have wondered if there’s any point in continuing to travel this journey of life at all if it’s just going to feel this way for what seems like an eternity.

A glimmer of hope

I know how despairing and miserable it can be when your whole world is crumbling around you, but I want to offer you a glimmer of hope. First of all, know that you are not alone. Many of us are struggling right alongside you, battling the whirlwind of life in the metaphorical washing machine that’s on the spin cycle. And whilst you are the only one carrying this uniquely painful experience on your shoulders, swimming against the tide, you are not alone in experiencing suffering. Listening to your body during these times is important, rest when you need to, and allow your feelings to come without stuffing them down. 

But let me tell you what I have learned through this process. While it doesn’t feel even remotely possible right now, something beautiful is being birthed from this painful experience. Sometimes it just breaks you, and sometimes it takes years to recover, but by allowing ourselves to feel the pain, to cry when we need to, to scream when we need to, eventually we tire ourselves out and we surrender to our experience. 

We let go of clinging to our old story. We learn the art of detachment because we have to. In this moment of surrender, something really powerful happens, an alchemical process begins. Your body and your mind now understand the darkness well, and at some point in this process, you realise that you are not that afraid of the darkness anymore. You make friends with the dark. Through these incredibly painful experiences, the empath can be born. A kind, compassionate person who has the ability to place themselves in another’s shoes and offer the warmth and understanding of a person who has risen from the darkness and back into the light. The power of a person who has transmuted their pain into gold is limitless.

Finding the strength to keep on going

And while at times it may not feel like it, you’ve made it this far, and somewhere inside of you is the strength to carry on. The strength to keep on getting up in the morning and doing what needs to be done for yourself, for your family. Somewhere inside of what may feel like an empty shell, there is an unshakeable strength and determination to change the narrative of your story. And that is the beautiful part, the knowing deep inside of yourself that you deserve to feel happy again, and the determination to feel that happiness no matter what you have to do to achieve it. Each time I find myself in the chaos and destruction of the next initiation, my determination to use my pain as a force for good in my life and the lives of others is created. 

There comes a point where enough is enough, you know that lessons are going to keep on coming because life keeps on happening, but you choose to allow those experiences to break you open instead of breaking you down. You choose to channel that grief and pain into action. You begin searching for ways to make positive changes in your life. You refuse to merely be a bystander, watching as this painful experience destroys you.

My world is yet again in the process of crumbling around me. But what I have learned through my experiences, is that a new world is being built at the same time. I have no idea what my future will look like at this point, but all I know is that the crumbling of the old story has to happen in order for me to grow and be birthed anew. 

Birthing your new life

This journey is far from easy. The road to becoming who you are truly meant to be is one of shedding endless layers and feeling the full depth of the human experience. Sometimes it feels as though the universe is squeezing you so tightly that you cannot breathe, eventually letting go so that you can experience the expansion of your being, and be propelled onto the next stage of your journey. The loneliness of your experience is one of the most important components. The solitude propels us onto the path of change because there is no one there to fix us, save us, or show us the way. We spend time going inwards, facing our pain, questioning our lives and how we found ourselves here, how did your light become diminished and how can you reignite the fire within? You become your own best friend. How can you birth a new life into being if you have not lost your mind, fought on the battleground with everything you have, surrendered to your pain, and found your own way in the dark and back to the light without the support of others? You realise that the answers were inside you all along. You don’t need someone to show you the way, because you already know what you need to do if you dig deep enough. The pain that you carry is not in vain. Life is one big learning curve full of obstacles and setbacks, but the rewards that come from learning to navigate those experiences on your own are immeasurable 

I refuse to let pain be the end of my story. Do you?

Standing In The Face of Truth

I am weaving constant patterns into existence. The canvas is my spirit. My tools? All that is. 

When I am present in this moment, as the coil of time unwinds its grip, what is it that I will find? 
I will find me. Pure essence. Spirit in its entirety. 
I am. I am. I am. 

All of the darkness, the baggage, the memories of my past, the trauma, the hatred, the pain - It may feel as though these things were designed to keep me in a perpetual state of fear, depression, and disdain for this human experience.
But the truth is, these things bring me closer to God. 
Because God is truth. 
And truth is the full spectrum. 
Truth is all that is, all that was, and all that ever will be.
Truth is not what you want it to be. It just is. 
Are you ready to accept truth as it is and surrender to it? 

This is the hand you have been dealt - and it is perfect. What are you going to do with it? 
Are you going to fight and resist it until you exit this earthly existence having learned nothing? 
Or will you peel back the veil and see beyond? 
Will you open yourself to the possibility that this balance is perfection? 
That the center of your storm is where pure truth lies? 
That it just IS and no matter how hard your ego tries to mold reality to suit your idea of comfort, It cannot be achieved? 
It cannot be achieved because we cannot dance on one side of truth. 
Are you willing to accept that you are seeing exactly what has been designed and that what has been designed is all for you? Even in its most horrifying and desolate spaces? 

To live fully - to live truthfully, we must witness, accept, and dance with all polarities of existence. We must dance with all of God. 
Because this is who we are. 
When we deny that we have this balance inside of us, we are not being true to who we really are. 

Life will keep on breaking your heart. It will bring you to your knees and break it and break it until eventually it breaks wide open and allows the light to get in. 
Once your heart is truly broken open you will begin to flow with your existence without resistance. 
You see the heaviness, the darkness, the pain. 
You witness this phenomenon. You witness the unfolding. 
You learn to love your suffering because just as you are “I am” - it is. 
How incredible it is to be anything at all. 
The astounding beauty 
The crushing pain 
You see and feel the pure magic of this miracle happening before your eyes.

Once you become the witness to life's ever-unfolding and changing scenery, you free yourself from those old stories. 
They were but a passing moment in time.
The play unfolding around you is simply unfolding
Can you allow it?
Those moments were but a predetermined expression of the divine come to meet you, to touch you, to teach you. 
But if you cling to those old stories, you remain stuck. You resist letting go and you don't allow yourself to flow. These old stories become distractions from the divine. Distractions from your destiny as a being of pure love making the journey back home to the source of all life. The journey back to God. 

We find ourselves in challenging times. Our fear feeding on the stories that are designed to conceal the light. 
An attempt at division by relentless forces. Forces that create chaos and confusion and distraction from God.
Can you be the witness? 
Can you stand in your centre and resist the bittersweet touch of those distractions? 
Can you trust that harmony and peace will prevail? 
Can you allow harmony and peace to be your new story? 

You were sung into the existence of ferocious love. Love is not always neatly packaged and pretty. Sometimes love is painful. Where we find ourselves is caught up in God’s whirlwind of ferocious love.
Your spirit is strong. It is ALIVE. It is vibrant - always. Even amidst the chaos - It is vibrant. 

You are God made manifest. 

Your soul just needs to be unfurled like a flower. Blooming petal by petal. 
Trust the wisdom that is inside you. 
Listen to the still remaining whispers of your ancestors. 
Follow the glimmer of light in your heart. It speaks for you. It loves you. It is your warrior spirit. Your voice of wisdom speaks if you allow it space to.

Forget the noise - those old stories. The ones that just popped by to meet you at that moment. It is not who you are. That noise keeps you chained. It is an old noise. It served you well, but it is time to leave it behind as you continue onwards. As you keep spiraling outwards into existence. 
Eventually the collective situation that we find ourselves in will be old noise too as we continue on the spiral of life. 
Your warrior spirit is loving awareness. She will open you, she will guide you back home to God moment by moment if you allow her. She is powerful. 
She is God. 

I suppose what I am trying to say is - This is it. This is life and it is a miracle. You are a miracle. Relax and watch as the universe unfolds in ecstasy at your feet. 

You are free. If you choose to be.

Further Conversations With The Mushrooms On The Origin Of Everything

The mushrooms gave me another piece to the puzzle

In recent weeks many synchronicities have been occurring in my life and old theories have come back to me. The sort of theories that you scratch your head over for months, but then you leave them to fizzle out as you continue to meet dead ends in your thinking.

A few years ago during a magic mushroom experience I was shown a new kind of vision, it wasn't the usual type of fractal image, but a crystal clear vision of the dawn of time. I simply closed my eyes whilst laying in my bed, and off I went. This vision felt more real than reality itself.

What did the mushrooms show me

Here is a snippet of what I wrote in my diary just after experiencing this intense visual:

“I can try to understand all of “this”... all of existence. I can continue in my attempt to explore every avenue of existence, but ultimately, I don’t know and never will know the whole truth. Not during this incarnation anyway. 

Then why have we been given the opportunity to explore these possibilities, to try and figure this out if we always reach dead ends? 

Is it another cosmic joke perhaps? 

The “why?” will have you banging your head against a brick wall for eternity. 

Perhaps we aren't supposed to understand. If we understand then are we no longer needed? Would none of this be needed because the universe would finally understand itself? It would finally have the answer to its question. If the universe's exploration of self ends then does the very fabric of reality collapse? 

Do we understand more as we ascend to higher dimensions? 

What then, is the end game? 

Does each “strand” go back to source as it reaches the final, true understanding of itself? Of this? Does this singular point of consciousness then just swallow itself whole and disappear into the void space? 

Void….a place of nothingness. Void is consciousness of its nothingness, but feels no desire to be whole. 

What I saw during my vision was that the swirling, chaotic energy of void created consciousness. There was a coherent energy path contained within the void. The void already contained infinite possibility; a matrix. All the codes waiting to become coherent... sensical. 

A singular occurrence of coherence within the chaos of void created consciousness. The coherence was simply an energy of stillness. One point of stillness amidst all of this chaos in a lifeless but very much alive void space. 

Does this even make sense? 

This single point of consciousness needed more depth. It was curious. 

Something about curiosity feels important and powerful. I was just shown in my vision that the thing that triggered all of creation was chaos, then coherence, then curiosity, then expansion - in that order. It seems to me that this is how we as humans also grow: on a repeating loop. 

Chaos - coherence - curiosity - growth. 

Is all of this really only for the sake of experience? 

Possibility because of probability. 

Probable became possible with the expansion of the singular consciousness. Because of the chaos. Because of the coherence. Because of curiosity. 

Curiosity did not kill the cat... it created it. 

Many more perspectives of experience could be gained by the singular consciousness splitting itself off into infinity. Allowing the probability and possibility to multiply, infinitely. 

‘The One’ (God) will be able to fully comprehend all experience once we (all experience) return to the one. 

From fragmentation to wholeness, to stillness. 

Then is it time for a new experience? 

In the search for God, be prepared to meet the devil first.”

Synchronicities and looking for guidance

I want to tell you about two of my recent synchronicities relating to this mushroom experience that I had. A  few mornings ago I woke up, went straight back to sleep and had a very clear dream. In this dream I was taken right back to the visual that I had during my mushroom experience years ago. I was shown in this dream that the ‘chaotic energy’ in the void space that I describe in the diary entry above was actually time. As we know, time is not linear. It isn't a straight line or a spiral… if I had to describe it in one word, it would be ‘chaotic’. 

Two quotes come to mind here: 

• “All great changes are preceded by chaos.” - Deepak Chopra 

• “In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.” - Carl Jung 

So in this void there was infinite possibility, a singular point of consciousness and there was time. It seems like the perfect recipe for creation to me. I feel that in this dream I was given the final piece to the puzzle I had been searching for. This morning I grabbed a random book off my shelf in search of some guidance. I often do this and the pages that I turn to are always completely relevant to my current situation. The book that I grabbed this morning was called “The Universal Soul” by Chris Thomas. Normally I will flick through the book and land at a random page, but this morning I felt compelled to just open the book on the first page. What I read confirmed to me that the vision that I had on mushrooms wasn't simply a “hallucination” (although I knew that anyway) I was being shown something very important about the origin of everything. 

The universal soul

The first paragraph of the Chris Thomas book that I picked up this morning read:

“Curiosity, this is how life begins. 

A curiosity along the lines of ‘what if?’ Together with the energy potential to imbue a lifeless void with the souls who are to explore the ‘what if?’ on behalf of the one who asked the question. 

With sufficient energy potential, any question can be asked. 

The next question is where?

The nearest analogy would be a cartoonist’s ‘thought bubble’, an envelope of energy into which the energy potential can be generated and contained. 

As other thoughts occur, other ‘what if’s’, new envelopes are added until curiosity is satisfied and new thoughts can be given free reign and explored to their conclusions. 

So far, a total of eleven ‘thoughts’ have been brought into active exploration. Eleven universes each imbued with the energy potential to answer the creator’s questions. 

Our universe explores the ‘what if’ of freedom of choice. Every soul that exists within this universe has the right to choose their own actions, their own directions. The only ‘law’ that applies is that no one can choose to act in such a way as to remove the free choice of another’s free choice to act.”

Knowledge is available to those who actively seek it out

Although the nature of reality seems infinitely complex, it seems to me that if we are open to finding answers - actively seeking them, even - there are countless ways in which this information will find us. This is the process of evolution of consciousness. We may never have all of the answers, just as I mentioned at the start of this article, as this could render our experience pointless. Yet what it serves us to know will always be available to us if we make ourselves available to it.

In October of last year I wrote a blog about a mushroom experience that taught me about the nature of reality. Here it is if you would like to give it a read.

Moving through fear and into love

My personal experience in this current reality

I’ve been so aware recently (as I’m sure we all have) of the intense suffering, fear and anxiety that is sweeping across the planet quicker than Covid-19 is. The fear and grief in particular are palpable. 

Healers are not exempt from experiencing crisis points, and I myself have had about a week or so of crying from the depths, anxiety, overwhelm, confusion, fear, anger...you name it, I’ve felt it! I’m sure that so many of us are feeling the same. It’s a pendulum swing from one emotion to the next. It can be difficult to remain calm, centred and grounded in the midst of so much chaos. Empaths will be feeling this more than ever as we are absorbing the energies of everyone that we are energetically linked to and also the energies of our local community and the world at large. 

We are living in uncertain and scary times. The virus and its ripple effect is affecting all of us in completely unique ways. Many people believe that we are at the dawning of a new world, but I’ll give my perspective on that later on in this blog.

I’ve been finding that old triggers have been coming to the surface. I had a few days of distress at the fact that I hadn't been in a strong enough state to write anything of value to my followers and I could feel the clock ticking and the pressure building as I scrolled through articles and saw so many people trying to lift the spirits of their fellow humans. Why couldn't I do this in such a time of panic? I reflected on this feeling and recognised that my ego was in a terribly fearful state too. That anxiety had gripped me and that old wounds surrounding not feeling good enough and feeling out of control had resurfaced. I was not in a state of trust and surrender. I was resisting my current reality with everything that I had. I’m sure that many of you can relate to this too. I realised in that moment that I still have so much work to do, and that this is ok as we are always in the process of learning and evolving.

A journey of discovery

A few nights ago I decided to journey with the intention of uncovering more about what is currently happening on our planet. What I discovered was obvious…. this virus is bringing fear and panic into the collective and has spread like a disease of its own across the whole planet. I was feeling it myself more intensely than ever before. I was shown just how interconnected and dependent we all are. 

I was shown that this fear was always there inside each of us, lurking in the shadows waiting to be triggered. This is a fear that has been repressed for generations. I was shown that we had lost sight not only of our individual places in the web of life, but we had lost sight of what it is to be human. So caught up in our habitual ways of living, excessive consumerism and the general rat race. I saw that so many of us disconnected from our heart space and that it is crucial to get back to the heart space during a time like this.

Coming back to the heart by honouring your fear

I began asking myself how often do humans get the opportunity to sit for this long with themselves to slow down and reflect? Many of us will never get the chance to do this again. I managed to begin reframing the situation and seeing this opportunity as a gift to look deeper within. 

I could sit here and say “Don’t give in to fear and panic”, “choose love instead”, “trust the process” But personally, I don't find any of these things to be all that helpful. Whilst it is a nice idea, In my experience, it is important to acknowledge your fear, your anxiety and your pain without avoiding them so that you move through these feelings and in turn begin creating the space for the light and divine love to enter into your being. Love doesn't mean repressing or trying to diminish your fear, love also means to face and honour your fear. 

Before I could reframe my personal feelings surrounding this current crisis and invite the light into my being, I had to allow myself to feel every heavy feeling that I was experiencing, allow it to teach me and then let it go. I spent a few days exploring each “negative” emotion that arose, allowing it to bubble to the surface and to move in the way that it wanted to move. 

Afterall, the path to heaven is pathed through the belly of our own hell. This is the rebirth process. in order to reach the light, we cannot bypass the darkness. 

Fear can be debilitating and is not an easy thing to overcome. Especially when the entire planet is feeling it. Fear is a symptom of something much greater. Fear serves its purpose to protect us and alert us of danger. Being in fear is not a comfortable process at all. Moving through fear isn't as simple as “don't be scared”.

We want to honour the spirit of fear, feel it, let it touch us and then let it teach us. On the other side of fear... is fearlessness. It is courage.

What can you do to come back to centre?

I would like to offer some insight on what has helped me to move through the process of fear and back into love with a bit more ease in the last few weeks:

• Focusing on what is important to you. Sit and write a list of all the things that really matter to you. On my list I have family, freedom, friends, community, sovereignty over my body and mind, health, human connection, kindness, nature, love, sustainable living, caring for mother earth 

• Ask yourself: “What can I learn from this situation?” 

• Create a self-care routine and try to connect with the divine each day. My morning routine consists of yoga (even if I'm crying on the yoga mat!), a long walk in nature, breathwork and meditation. Although it is important to note that creating a routine is a suggestion. You don't need to use this time to hone your skills, educate yourself or learn a new hobby. If you want to spend this time allowing your body and mind to rest. Please do that. This is your personal experience. 

• Try to feel all of your emotions, honour them, write them down and express them. If you feel angry then scream, if you feel sad then cry. Do not be ashamed or scared to freely allow those emotions to move through you. 

• Ask for support when you need it

• Hold space for those who need it where possible

• Try to remember that compassion is also being triggered in the collective and it isn't all doom and gloom out there 

• Avoid excessive consumption of the media. The media is designed to feed your fear and to keep it alive 

• Write a list of things that you are grateful for each day 

• Try not to lose sight of the magic and beauty that is all around us. The bird song, the sunshine, the wind whistling through the trees, humans helping other humans and kindness from strangers (I’ve seen so much of this lately)

• Try to reframe the situation if you can

• Take up body work if you feel called to

• Try not to lose sight of hope

• Remember that fearlessness is born out of fear

I have also created a worldwide meditation each evening at 7pm GMT. Many of us worldwide have been joining in this meditation each evening and it feels incredibly powerful. Please feel free to join us. Together we are stronger.

The great awakening

I’ve seen many articles recently suggesting that we are on the cusp of a great awakening here on planet earth. I am praying daily that this is the case. And now I have moved from the fear state, the more that I enquire with my heart whether this is the case, the more I believe that we truly are going through a metamorphosis. 

The way I see it now is that we are currently in the birth canal. Birth of any kind is a scary and painful process. Rebirth is equally as destructive and painful. 

I wrote a blog last year regarding the rebirth/awakening process that you may find helpful.

As I said earlier, I believe that we are currently being given an opportunity like never before. An opportunity to look within. An opportunity to look deeply at our shadow side and to look at the death of this situation instead of the rebirth and to reject the comfort of spiritual bypassing. An opportunity to truly embody the warrior within and without turning away; experience the decay, the darkness and the breakdown before our collective breakthrough. An opportunity to counterbalance that darkness with our light. What I have learned through my years of shamanic practice is that the key is to love it all, even the deepest darkest parts of humanity. We owe it to the darkness because without it we would not be able to see the light. 

Our suffering makes us fully human. We came here to experience the whole spectrum and our pain is the gateway to awakening our most sincere compassion. Emergence and emergency are two sides of the same coin. 

From a spiritual perspective, where there is darkness, there is an equal amount of light created. I am seeing deep compassion being ignited in humanity in recent weeks. There is so much kindness on this planet and it’s important to try not to lose sight of that. 

We can hope and pray that a new free world is what we will be born into. We can pray that oppression and conformity will soon be our old story. Our new story being one of freedom. Each and every one of us is here for a reason. Deep at the centre of your being lies a well of infinite love, and that love is the most powerful force is the whole universe. Once we have moved through our fear, we can access this well of infinite universal love. We can embody this love and watch as it reverberates throughout the whole cosmos, rippling through the web of life and changing the course of our destiny as a whole. 

You are life itself. You are infinite awareness. Your wings may be tattered, but at your core you are whole divine love. 

I truly believe that we are the light that we have been waiting for all this time. And now is our time to rise. We are powerful beings dancing in balance between the light and the dark. What a gift it is to be anything at all. Even in these uncertain times. Trust the medicine within. Trust in your own power as a divine being of love and light. Hold on to the love. 

Infinite love is the only truth. Everything else is an illusion. 

With love,
Rachael

Embracing The Treacherous Path To Your Awakening

When you awaken spiritually, do not expect some clinical, organised and pretty endeavor. There is no instruction manual on your rebirth. It will be an unpredictable, painful, messy rollercoaster. You will feel the entire spectrum of human emotion. Your heart will burst, you will cry, you will laugh like there is no tomorrow. There will be moments when your knees completely hit the floor, and moments when you will feel more alive than ever… More alive than life itself.

Forget the love, light, rainbows and unicorns that are being portrayed...light chasing will get you nowhere. True spiritual awakening is about learning how to dance with the light and the darkness and ride those waves of chaos. The universe is inherently turbulent.

Through choosing to really see your darkness, you are becoming courageous. You are no longer fearful of what they told you about the dark. Now you see that it is a divine gift, just like the light. It is all for us. Choosing to see only light creates distortions and illusions that do not serve your highest good. Your inner light will not be diminished by diving into your darkness, exploring it and exposing it. This way of thinking gives the light no credit at all.

Our own bullshit cannot be avoided, and nor should it be. Exploring those deep corners will expose your unacknowledged fears before they manifest into something much bigger. We must be fearless about discovering those fears. We must throw ourselves into the abyss and trust that the universe will catch us. Even if the arms that it catches us with aren’t what we want or expect.

To awaken, we must face up to everything that we are. This includes the good, the bad and the downright ugly. All of those things you dislike about yourself…can you make peace with them? Can you even face up to and admit them? Are you ready to make a conscious relationship with the darkness inside yourself so that it can become fertile soil for your emergence when you rise like a phoenix?

The Power Of Dance

“Dance, when you’re broken open. Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you’re perfectly free”

— Rumi

Whenever I face challenges in life, I turn to the healing power of dance. It is one of the most powerful and freeing spiritual practices that I have under my belt, and is my go-to meditation.

Dance, in my opinion, is underrated. It is the oldest form of prayer and practice in healing rituals. There are many examples of this; One being the native american ghost dance; Those who practiced the dance believed that it would connect them with spirits of the dead and bring prosperity, unity, and peace.

The dancing form of Shiva - Nataraja; meaning “the lord of dance” represents dancing in order to release yourself from the trap of illusion. It also represents the dance with the universe. What really resonates with me, is that the point where the dance takes place in this depiction of Shiva is in the heart centre. Dance is a practice that for me, blows my heart wide open.

Dance takes us on an internal journey

As humans, we spend so much time in our external surroundings. When do we take the time to really dive inside? The dance gives us access to what is really happening within us right now. We all have a yearning to connect with something much bigger than ourselves, to explore those mysterious and unknown places inside and to discover much more about who we really are.

What I’ve witnessed at the retreats I host is that when we hold our dance sessions; guests generally begin shy and a little introverted and are soon really losing themselves in the music. It often ends with some strong energies being realised. I'm lucky enough to have manifested a best friend, Caroline who also loves to dance. She is also my retreat co-host so dance meditation is naturally one of our favourite sessions on retreat. 

As well as releasing energy, we also create energy when we dance and we can use that energy to manifest. Once in a trance like state during your dance; feel the energy rising in your body, visualise it, set your intentions and hold them in your mind, picture what it is that you want to manifest, send that energy and intention out into the universe and then let go of any outcome and expectation.

Dancing in the spirit 

I often dance alone. Music on loud, eyes closed. Feeling nothing but the music and immense universal love. I dive deeply into myself until I lose sense of the physical and I feel universal connectedness. I don’t only dance when I am happy or in the mood though; I dance when I am sad, angry, frustrated, tired & cannot be bothered. I have to drag myself into the dance sometimes but I always benefit in the end and I always learn something.  If I am tired, I dance tired. If I am sad, I dance sad.

Gone (almost) are my days of dancing in nightclubs at 4am. Though that was my first true introduction to universal oneness and love.

Surrendering to the now 

Dance takes us into a trance state. It helps us to let go of tension in the body, free the mind and it connects us straight with god/source/creation. There is an ecstasy to be felt in truly surrendering to each moment when we dance. We begin to discover that the medicine we need is within; that we are powerful beings. We can transcend the physical and the restrictions of our consciousness and become one with our spirits. A divine unity.

We can be totally swept away in the dance if we allow ourselves to be. As we head deeper and deeper into the music, the movements, the now. Our vibrations raising. Skin shedding. Reaching the ecstatic places within.

Why not try dancing your way to freedom? Dance for peace. Dance for change. Dance for love.