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Honoring and energizing our bellies with movement and breath
brings forth our inner knowing. When we move and breathe from
center we are refining, amplifying, and increasing our receptivity
to the sensations and images which convey our "gut feelings"
and "gut instincts." Attending to the intuitive knowing
that stirs in our body's center gives us access to our inner
source of wisdom and direction.
In this sense, your belly is your inner oracle.
In ancient Greece, oracles were priestesses of the Great Goddess.
They served as conduits for her wisdom as it emerged from her
body, the earth. Oracles voiced the earth's wisdom at places
of power such as caves and deep clefts in the earth's surface,
ancient trees, and rounded mounds. One Greek oracle, still known
in this day, dwelled at Delphi, a word literally meaning "womb."
The association between woman's belly and oracular wisdom is
primordial.
The experience of being guided from within
is precious to me. I grew up with the sense that everyone else
was very busily telling me what I should do and who I should
be. Now, when I continue to look to an external authority to
give me direction, I lose contact with who I am. I feel abandoned
and empty, as if no one's home inside my body.
But if I focus my attention within my body's
center when I'm seeking guidance, the sensations arising in my
belly provide an immediate response to whatever question I pose.
Sometimes my belly's response is a "yes" feeling-an
opening, a relaxation, an expansion into greater spaciousness.
Sometimes its response is a "no" feeling-a tightening
or closing or tensing. Sometimes the feeling is muddled, which
I take to mean "wait for more information or greater clarity
before you choose."
Addressing our inner source of wisdom is making
a pilgrimage to consult the oracle. Following the guidance we
receive there is yielding to the direction of she who lives within
us, trusting in her love and her protection.
The next time you need guidance or direction,
experiment with this way of consulting your personal oracle and
drawing out your inner wisdom:
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Consulting Your Oracle
- Gather together some sheets of plain white
paper and an array of colors (crayons, markers, oil pastels).
- Specify your question or request
for guidance as simply and directly as you can. Write the words
down on a slip of paper and put the paper aside.
- Clear your mind, focusing your attention
within your body, your belly, and your breath. Take several
minutes to breathe deeply into and out from your belly.
- When you're ready, come back to
sit with the paper and colors you've collected. Place your palms
over your belly and, without judging or censoring, simply witness
what's happening within.
- Notice whatever images-colors, shapes, lines,
pictures-come into your awareness. Gather impressions. What
sensations are here within this interior volume? Perhaps there
are sensations of temperature, density, texture, vibration.
Listen, too, for sounds. There may be words or phrases, comments,
even messages.
- When you're ready, regard the colors
arrayed before you. Maintaining your awareness in your belly,
let your hand be magnetically drawn to the color or colors that
appeal to you most. Then let your hand and arm move across the
page, effortlessly spilling out colors, shapes, lines, and images
from your belly onto paper.
- When you sense that your drawing
is complete, pause and regard it. Is there a word or phrase
that would serve well as a title or a caption for the drawing?
If there is such a word or phrase, write it on the page in the
color and in the place that feels right to you. Then set this
page aside and place a new sheet of paper in front of you.
- Return your attention and awareness
to the images, sensations, and sounds within your belly. Now,
posing your question or request for guidance, simply attend
to whatever shifts in image, sensation, or sound take place.
- Again, when you're ready, regard
the colors arrayed before you. Maintaining your awareness in
your belly, take the colors that appeal to you and let shapes,
lines, and images spill from your belly onto the paper.
- When you feel your drawing is complete,
pause and regard it. If a word or phrase arrives as a suitable
title or caption, write it on the page in the color and placement
of your choice.
- Breathing deeply, maintaining your
awareness in your belly center, recall your question or request
for guidance, and regard your drawing. Receive the intuitions
and insights that emerge as daydreams, whispers, breezes, hunches,
hints, inclinations. Receive from your belly and from your drawing
the guidance you've requested.
- Always allow for the possibility
that one valid choice is to do nothing. Another option is to
wait while seeking greater clarity. Your best guidance may be
"Wait. This situation needs more time to develop."
Waiting takes guts, especially if you're feeling pressured to
act. Appreciate yourself for the courage you display by practicing
patience.
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