As things become more and more wobbly on the planet and within people, what can we do to be a positive source and contributor to a healthier, more stable future?
The first step is to allow things to be shaky, uncertain, and falling apart. We have to accept what is. Not in the sense of giving up and falling into hopelessness. But really in witnessing and accepting that some things, maybe most things, are falling apart at this time. And that falling apart is OK…it is part of the process. It is the precursor to renewal. But if we cling to the falling structures and lament their coming down, holding on tightly to some semblance of control, we are countering the natural flow, making it harder on ourselves in the long run.
There is a practice in the Andes that impacted me so much when I was studying there, and that I use regularly to this day. It is a practice of allowing the unnecessary, excess, heavy energies in your mind, your energy field, the collective, etc, to fall into the earth to be transmuted. Imagine this now! Anything that feels un-useful, excessive, unhealthy, combative, frustrating, impossible, depressing – allow it to fall down into the earth, the soil, allow it to release from your own personal energy field.
The earth’s energy is amazing in its capacity to recycle what is not healthy for us and to create new soil and new energy with what seems heavy to our minds and hearts. The heavy energies, called Huchas, need to be cleared from our field regularly in order to feel uplifted and free in our lives. While we tend to know that it is important to cleanse our physical bodies, the same is true of our energy fields. Otherwise emotional, spiritual, and physical toxins can build up and create stagnation which shows up as depression, hopelessness, lethargy, confusion, fatigue, anger, anxiety.
We may feel ashamed to give these heavier energies to the earth, we may feel “the earth is dealing with too much already, how can I offload my inner garbage too?” But actually this is not how the earth perceives it. Actually, our energetic waste is more like a nutrient for her. Think energetic compost. The energies we release actually can benefit the earth, in part because it is so much easier for her to deal with a cleansed, lifted person living on her surface than someone holding everything in, compacted with aggression, depression, fear, and stress.
You can do this practice for your personal energy field regularly, imagining the heavy energies being eaten up by the earth and transformed. You can give the earth your anger, your frustration, your confusion, your fatigue. She knows how to relieve your burdens and transmute them. She can help you let go and feel new again, each day. If you tune in you’ll find that there are new possibilities emerging in your own life and collectively, and that letting go of the old ways of holding tension need to release to make some space for this new growth. This is the natural energy of Earth, to reverse negatives and engender positives. It is within our nature as well as part of the Earth, if we can detach somewhat from our own emotional attachments, agendas, and biases. It is only our human arrogance that thinks “I have to fix everything. It is all up to me. I am alone in this.”
Try doing this emptying meditation once daily for a week to start with. As you do, you may notice that some of your coping strategies (think vices, emotional or substance-oriented, or habits) will start to shift or become less necessary. Often we reach for something to soothe us when we feel too pent up and full of stored emotions and heavy energies. When we practice emptying these things out, and inviting in Earth energy, we may find theres more space to be creative, spontaneous, present. We start to feel less bogged down and irritated.
Lately it is easy to contribute to collective negativity by becoming entranced in anger and fear. The seeds of division have been sown but it is up to us not to grow those seeds, tempting as it may be to blame one another for the imbalances and difficulties on the planet. It’s important to remember now that our divine roots are as sovereign, free, unique beings. Like all divinely created beings there are no two fully alike. There is no right answer to life, only our answer, only the path that feels true to each of us. Now is the time to strengthen these innate connections to Source, to Earth, and to our own uniqueness. Doing this release practice regularly can help you to feel those natural divine sources of support. From a cleansed space it is much easier to feel connected, happy, and free – and to create our impact from that place.