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April/May 2008 Volume 50Welcome to this bi-monthly edition of our newsletter! You will find these columns contained in our April/May issue:
Metaphors for Life
Carla Woody, Founder Metaphors for Life  Click the photo to see a larger version. Photo credit: Darlene Dunning. This untouched photo from the October 2007 Kenosis women's retreat documents energy phenomenon that was not seen by any of us, but reported as felt by some. The moment captured was of a despacho ceremony* when one group was at the point of feeding their prayers into the fire to be consumed and released. I only discovered the photo several months later when reviewing a file sent to me by the person who took the picture, who also wasn't aware of this amazing validation. *The despacho ceremony is an offering or prayer ritual originating from the Quechua Indians of the Andes. GrowthWorks The Infinite Aspect of Natural Healing by Carla Woody One of the travelers in our Maya Mysteries program experienced a natural healing during our trip in January 2008 that has been scientifically documented. I'll call the traveler Hope to protect her privacy, even though she's given permission to use her story. Scientific Documentation Hope had been seeing nutritionist Jane Kohner* and receiving monthly testing since October 2007 using the Asyra technology. This computerized system has been thoroughly researched and shown highly effective in clinical studies to uncover patients' conditions and is being used by a variety of allopathic and complementary health professionals from the Mayo Clinic to Dr. Norm Shealy. The Asyra machine shows a range of red, yellow and green levels for physical conditions. Hope was in the red (dangerous) for blood sugar levels and cardiac stress. She was adhering to the diet/supplement program Jane prescribed. But the reading levels hadn't budged from red. Jane tested her right before she went on our Spiritual Travel Program to Mexico and immediately afterward — about a three week lapse. The timing just happened that way and hadn't been specifically intended, nor was I aware of Hope's health challenge or this process at the time. In the post-trip test, Hope showed in the green (normal) for both conditions! Jane indicated that Hope had improved on everything and was now at the green level in almost all areas, with no significant conditions showing. She has maintained those levels as of this writing in April 2008. Jane said to me, "I consider it to be a dramatic healing. These things just don't resolve that quickly! I know what to do to support the body nutritionally. But I know from work at the Gershon Cancer Center, if the emotional healing doesn't happen, then it doesn't work." I expressed my excitement to Jane about this news. Finally, here's a way to study and show scientifically what I've witnessed happening for years in the work I've undertaken — consistent emotional healings with visible physical results periodically. Now here's also a way of showing the physical healing that doesn't necessarily present to the casual eye, but does happen quietly, like a return of normal blood sugar levels. We've agreed to collaborate on documenting case studies with people who are engaged with the programs I sponsor, at least those living in the Prescott, Arizona area. While I don't think in scientific terms, I most definitely appreciate the validation that research can bring, especially when I can only describe the occurrences in esoteric ways that are absolutely real, but may not make sense to the general population. Recently, a friend sent me the link to an inspirational short video that's making its way through the Internet called My Stroke of Insight where Jill Bolte Taylor describes her personal experience of a stroke and, because of her background as a scientist, her awareness as it occurred and now fully recovered. The beauty in the film also came through her description of what happens when we're in right and left brain functioning. This allows me to point back to science to explain what transpires in our spiritual travel programs and during retreats. Those of us involved enter a predominantly right brain state — a state of higher consciousness that touches the God space. This is where healing occurs — in taking a vacation from the internal dialogue and finite impossibilities professed from the left brain perspective. Toward Non-Ordinary States In the beginning of programs, I always discuss with the participants the nature of our work and the vessel which will contain us, already extending it for them to enter. I relate the energy that will move within it and the visible to invisible levels of experience that will insert itself. That being so even when what we're doing seems quite ordinary, such as eating together or even riding on a bus. They shouldn't be fooled into thinking that nothing is coming about. Well ahead of our time together I begin to communicate to them about activating their intent, so that indeed their intent will meet them as they arrive, even if they don't consciously know or have a clue what I'm relaying. The ones who stare at me blankly are still entrenched in the predominantly left hemisphere of the brain where we are taught, in our culture, to live. Those who look at me in confusion are making a shift to the right brain state and those who tear up at my words or gaze back with soft eyes already made the transition. When people take a swan dive into this beautiful container and allow it to hold them, what seems like magic happens. But its merely because theyve given themselves permission to open to the sacred aspects of what resides there. What follows are just some examples of many occurrences over the years. Emotional and Physical Healings This past weekend a participant of my Navigating Your Lifepath program reminded me of her experience at one of the retreats I led a few years ago. She woke up in the middle of the night, couldnt get back to sleep and was fretting about it. Then she remembered what was said that day about being open to whats present, not in a way of submitting, but of acceptance. She calmed. Her mind quieted. And when that happened, she suddenly felt a presence. She heard her mother's voice clearly, saying how sorry she was that she hadn't able to be there for her when she was young. This woman felt waves of sorrow coming from her mother, spoke back to her and, in that moment, forgave her actions. A weight lifted and the presence gradually left. Her mother had passed from this life a number of years ago. I don't need to tell you the details of the emotional healing that followed for you to know the significance. In one of the 2005 Spiritual Travel Programs in Peru, a woman in midlife underwent a healing from a fairly serious chronic asthmatic condition. She is still free from it today. Her full story is on the Peru testimonials page. The synopsis is that she moved through a fear that had been with her since childhood. The powerful energy of the Peruvian jungle ate it. This past summer a Hopi Spirit Keeper had a profound healing related to alcoholism while he was with us in Peru, which he has maintained. This is what he relays, "When I was in the Pachamama cave I prayed to be a better husband, a better man for my family. And when I came back from Peru I quit drinking and it's been positive for me since then... keeping busy with my art work, tending to my family and things I need to do... We had ceremony with the Q'ero people and I had my medicine pouch blessed by them. They're good-hearted people... This trip was very moving, very spiritual. It brought my son and me closer together..." In an article I wrote in 2005 called The Entrainment of Intent published by AHP Perspective, I offered some case studies of what can happen in a refined energy state, which I will now add, coming from almost total immersion in right brain functioning. A couple of them are my own experiences, one incident from a physical accident and the other involving a protective action. The third case study was of a traveler in our group who omitted a usual allergic response, one that, back home, would have brought about anaphylactic shock. Choices Sometimes what's held in the left brain — the internal dialogue — has to come up and smack us in order for it to attempt to vacate, creating difficult situations in order to recognize what we've been denying. Other times, the release just happens, almost like the exhalation of a breath, with no fanfare. It's been my experience that what is necessary occurs in order to offer the opportunity toward whole health. Strangely enough, just the right people come together in a group and circumstances present themselves that support that process. Then it's the choice of the individuals involved whether to create the movement. Spirit Keepers such as Don Antonio Martinez of the Lacandón Maya, Don Américo Yábar and the Q'ero paq'os of Peru, and others like them are anchored in a more infinite state of being most of the time. Jill Bolte Taylor's description of the full right brain experience supports my statement. We can live in these states, too. The rub is that, as opposed to indigenous cultures, mainstream society doesn't value, understand or support this level of wisdom or the people who hold it. The quest for those of us living in Western culture and traversing those outer reaches is to straddle both worlds and integrate them.** Therein rests the magic and, in reciprocity from the gifts we've received, our service to the wider world. From my perspective, Jill also scientifically explains the trial of re-entry for those intrepid explorers of other realities. Having surrendered to a no-mind, expansive realm of infinite possibilities, returning to finite, sometimes hard-edged societal containers is jarring at best. No wonder I frequently hear, "I don't want to go home!" But return we must or, as Joseph Campbell said, we don't complete the journey. ***************** *For more information about the work of Jane Kohner, Nutritionist CCN, using live blood cell analysis and Asyra technology, contact Healing Winds Alternative Health Care Center in Prescott, Arizona, telephone 928-445-4401. **View the Kenosis programs page for Spiritual Travel Program destinations and periodic retreats. The Navigating Your Lifepath course work and private consultation are specifically intended to integrate and anchor the aforementioned experiences into everyday life. I offer these opportunities for integrity of the work and to support permanent transformation. See the calendar for scheduled offerings. © 2008 Carla Woody. All rights reserved. Carla Woody is the author of the book Standing Stark: The Willingness to Engage and Calling Our Spirits Home: Gateways to Full Consciousness and founder of Kenosis, an organization supporting human potential and global consciousness. Carla has long been leading people toward mind/body/spirit wholeness using integrative healing methods blended with world spiritual traditions. She may be reached by e-mail at info@kenosis.net or by telephone (928) 778-1058.Special Events
More often than not, the publications or music you will find reviewed here will not be new or "bestsellers." Websites or organizations may not be well known. But all are spotlighted by virtue of their impact and value.
From the Heart of the World: The Elder Brother's Warning
This compelling documentary filmed in 1990 is about the Kogi of Northern Columbia, who call themselves Elder Brother, descendants from the pre-Colombian Tairona. It contains a clear message to Younger Brother, or Westerners, about the havoc we're collectively creating and how we need to take care of the world. The Kogi live high in the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta which is a microcosm of the world containing a range of climates from glaciers to jungle — and it's dying. Elder Brother warns that the underlying network that keeps the earth in place is being torn apart and they want the whole world to listen, "The Great Mother is the mind inside nature... (With your mining) You are taking the Mother's heart... She is being stripped to pieces... You're bringing the world to an end. This looting will destroy it... We are not mad at Younger Brother... but you must learn." The Kogi believe their role to be that of caretakers of the world, "If we Mamas didn't do our work, the rain wouldn't fall from the sky. The crops wouldn't grow." They spend much of their time in ritual and prayer. I don't want to romanticize their culture. There is also a quite rigid caste structure wherein the Mamas (male and female priests) control the rest of the village and direct their labor. There doesn't appear to be a spirit of equality present. However, how can we not hear their message? There's also an amazing similarity to me between the Kogi of Columbia, the Q'ero of Peru and the Lacandón Maya of the Chiapas rainforest of Mexico that echo similar sacred beliefs and teachings of respect and some common experience. All three left their original homes and isolated themselves about four hundred years ago with the coming of the conquistadores. To me, there's an uncanny resemblance between the traditional clothing and even some facial characteristics of the Lacandón and the Kogi. The geographical origins of the Lacandón are uncertain. Wouldn't it be something if they had migrated from the lands of the Kogi? To my knowledge, this possibility has never been explored. In alignment with one version of the Condor and Eagle prophecy, the Kogi speak about how Younger Brother was given the knowledge of the machine and sent away from the Heart of the World (where Elder Brother lives) to across the sea. Of course, Younger Brother later returned and infiltrated the Americas. The jungle at the base of the Sierra Nevadas has been destroyed by settlers much as the Lacandón rainforest has been decimated. Elder Brother is separated by altitude as are the Q'ero who have managed to keep their traditions largely intact. However, the Lacandón's jungle didn't prove dense enough to keep others at bay. Hence, their traditions are suffering near extinction. Very unfortunately, this documentary doesn't seem to be widely available any longer. I have Su Rana, a subscriber to this newsletter, to thank for gifting me with a copy she somehow located. But I do want to direct you to the Tairona Heritage Trust where you can read the 2007 report from Alan Ereira about the Kogi and the environmental conditions. There you can see a graphic comparison between the glaciers back when the documentary was filmed and now. It will get your attention. There are also a number of documents on the history of the Tairona and Kogi. For folks who have worked with the Q'ero, you'll be interested in the article on the use of coca in South America, also used by the Kogi in ceremonial function and otherwise. I have been in correspondence with Alan Ereira who filmed the documentary. He assures me that his offer on the Trust's website is still valid. If you donate at least $50 in support of the Trust's work, you will receive a copy of From the Heart of the World. Then you can listen to the full message of the Mamas yourself and also support sustainability of their traditions and the environment. - Carla Woody | |||||||||||||||||||||
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