Nurturing Receptivity and Surrender through Deep Listening
I've been recognizing lately just how much my life is supported and nourished by tendrils of deep listening.
Deep listening to my body, deep listening to the energy that moves through myself and Life, deep listening to the plants, the land, nature beings, and other spirit guides.
Honing this skill of deep listening, or intuitive knowing, is one of the primary skills that my work seeks to nurture.
It is through this practice that we become receptive vessels for energy, guidance, and healing to flow through us.
It is how we become receptive to hearing requests and feedback from the land and our more-than-human relations.
The key word here is receptive. Allowing ourselves to receive.
This summer has been teaching me a lot about receiving and surrender. You see, true receptivity requires surrender.
So I’m over here in earnest and humble learning, listening to my guides teach me (again) how to surrender my grip more so I can receive on a deeper level, and therefore have more overflow to offer the world.
One of the images I was shown in meditation recently was an image of me tightly gripping a large energy straw, trying to suck through it. The more I felt like too little was coming through, the tighter I gripped, thinking I needed to do more in order to receive more. My guides were showing me that all I need to do is loosen my grip in order for the energy to flow again through the straw.
Can you relate?
Have you ever been in a situation that wasn’t as you’d hoped, and instead of opening into a space of trust, and letting yourself be guided as to when action was needed, you buckled down with your ego in grip, control, or preemptive forced action?
This can be applied to any realm of life: love, relationships, money, creativity, business, your energy and health. You name it. There is a delicate balance between our own direct action and being in a space of deep surrender and listening to what is needed.
It seems as though our world has gotten really good at the action-oriented side of things. The thinking brain. The part of us that thinks we know best. The part of our culture that believes more is better, and that growth is linear.
We are in desperate need of cultivating this other side: Surrender. Receptivity. Softness. Deep listening.
Remembrance that life doesn’t move in straight lines and sustained growth. She moves in cycles and spirals.
What is being asked of us now? What is being asked of you now?
In order to hear, we need to practice softening into our receptive state.
How about we practice this right now?
Take a moment to soften your body.
Shake your body gently and loosen anywhere that doesn’t need to be gripping.
Practice allowing your breath to flow ease-fully in and out of your body.
Try not to force it. Just allow it to come. All it to go.
Feel your body soften towards the earth.
Down-shift your inner speed.
Feel the pause between the breaths.
And listen.
Are you ready to take a 6 month journey in learning how to listen? First to your bodies and your energy. Then to your ancestors, the plants, the stones, the land, the elements, and the seasons.
We practice listening to how our energy meets the energy of these nature beings. And what we can learn from these relationships...
Applications are open for the next round of the Golden Stone Wisdom School.
