And the animal that is our body makes use of these intelligences without our even knowing it.

Using SoulCollage® with your Animal Guides can give you direct access to these 7 intutive intelligences.

Read more about these intelligences below.

When pure light shines through a prism, it divides the light into different colors.  The chakra system in the body acts like a prism for the Soul.  Our earthly life schools us in the lessons of the seven major chakras.

Chakras function in two ways:

• Like a CD Rom with information on how to run the body and work in time and space
• As an operating system, or state in which the Soul operates the body in space and time.This state indicates the Soul’s evolution

Each chakra creates an intimate interface between the spiritual and physical world. The chakras describe the journey of the Soul from the physical levels of existence to the cosmic, first to seventh chakra.  The issues or problems we wrestle with in every day life, point to the chakra where we are practicing and growing.  Knowing this can help us understand and appreciate the challenges in our lives as well as our strengths.

Everyone uses all the chakras throughout any given day.  But we may generally be operating from one main chakra that will color our overall journey.

For example, a client came in asking about all the relationships in his life: his wife, people at work, even his animals.  His focus and growth was taking place in the realm of the second chakra – relationships, though he certainly used all the other spiritual intelligences but fore the purpose of relating.

Another client focused on developing her accounting business.  She was on fire using her creativity and third chakra skills to test her skills as an entrepreneur…  She used her vision, empathy, her emotional intelligence for example, but through the lens of learning about the use of power.

A young woman come in with sever anxiety and depression and in working with her animal guides, found out that her creative ability and peace of mind was tied up with a fight for her survival.  She found an image of a cheetah that helped her reclaim her power, and outsmart the anxiety and depression.

Each chakra has a lesson, which must be completed before we can pass through its gateway.  When we complete the spiritual and physical lessons of each chakra, like a butterfly, we emerge into a new state of being, a new focus of attention.

This way of looking at the chakras differs from other models in that it shows how the soul develops and learns by evolving through the lesson of each chakra.  The Soul requires this journey through the physical world to evolve.   We learn because of our earthly life, not in spite of it.  Each lesson builds a foundation and contributes the skills learned for the moving on to the next cycle.  As Jesus described it, we create “on earth as it is in heaven.”

The post Your 7 Intuitive Intelligences appeared first on Oregon Somatic Therapy.

One of my favorite TV shows is “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” Four comedians take cues from the audience and an irreverent moderator and make just about anything funny. Their slogan is “where anything can happen and usually does.”

Sound a lot like life?

We could learn a lot from Improv, as we face the daily challenges and opportunities in everyday life. Here’s how.

1. Yes . . . And.

Most of us approach life with “Yes . . but” rather than “Yes… and.” When we meet life with “Yes… and” a flat tire can become a comedy of errors. We wake up the morning with a vague feeling of anxiety. “Yes . . . and how will I not get caught in the same old script. letting anxiety push me around and tell me what to do.” A friend says, “Wow that red color looks good on you.” If you tend to brush off validation, try “Yes and it’s a little daring to wear it today.”

“Yes . . . and” says that we accept whatever is happening, rather than blocking, denying or trying to re-negotiate “what is.” You commit fully to living life as it comes and making comedy… or at least not taking yourself so seriously.

“Yes… and” can be a mindful practice to get creative with what is, rather than trying to fight the things with which we disagree. Like water off a duck’s back, we swim freely through life, detouring if we need to, trying a new road… because we can.

For a little video adventure into the land of “Yes… and,” watch “Yes Man” where Carl (Jim Carrey) reluctantly promises to stop being a “No Man” and vows to answer “Yes!” to every opportunity, request or invitation that presents itself thereafter

Try it for 5 minutes, or an hour. Or be daring and try it for a day.

2. Take action and respond.

This can be scary. This is where you stop playing it safe, where you are contributing to the “scene” by stepping up and engaging with the “players” in your life. Take risks, make choices, let go of waiting and engage. When we listen deeply instead of thinking, we can respond from the deep and creative reserves of the right brain, where the unexpected and the profound make life more colorful.

If you’re familiar with Byron Katie, the Four Questions will help you get out of the script playing over and over in your life and, into a new story. Who would you be without the story that you should be more productive? More kind? More organized? Healthier? Ask and find out. Meet your story with “Yes . . . and” Perhaps if you stop “shoulding” on yourself, you might take action and respond to people, events, even your body differently.

3. Tell the Truth. Be Authentic.

If you’ve ever tried improv, you know that trying to be funny, isn’t. But when you are present and can report on what’s happening in your thinking, your emotional self, even your body, it’s easy to be truthful and sometimes funny. If you are present enough to be aware of another’s point of view, emotional state and body language, guess what. You are experiencing empathy — that heart melting connection between too people where life feels vital and alive.

Debbie came in with a powerful self-defeating story that she was so damaged from her chronic work stress, she was going to have to give in to burn out and just quit. Then something interesting happened. She started telling the truth. Not confronting and attacking, but the simple truth. “I’m getting burnt out. I’m gaining weight. I yell at my kids when I get home. I hate living like this.” She stopped “shoulding” on herself and thinking, “I should be able to get my work done. I shouldn’t be so cranky with the kids.”

She used the Four Questions,

1. Is it true I shouldn’t be so discouraged and irritable? Yes
2. Can I really be sure? No, I really am discouraged
3. Who do I become and how do I act when I tell myself I have got to do this for 15 more years until I can retire.” Cranky, exhausted, unproductive . . .
4. Who would I be without the story that I should be able to do this job and be a great mom, and lose weight and volunteer at my kid’s school?

This last question gave her a bit of trouble. In fact she burst into tears. She had never even thought outside the script of her discouraging life. Through her tears she said “I’d be someone who was happy, and creative. I’d look for another job. I’d have adventures with my kids on the weekend instead of beating myself up every waking minute.”

After a few weeks of working with Question Four, the dark cloud that had been surrounding her started to life. She started being a worker, a mother, who did Improv with life. She started thinking outside the box. She looked at her work differently. She started applying for new jobs . . . She started to feel alive again. Life was starting to feel like an adventure, just a little, enough to give her a feeling of possibility.

Bonus Improv Technique:

There are No Mistakes. Watch Whoopi Goldberg and Colin Mocherie on Whose Line Is It Anyway. Notice how they go with anything. They evolve, they make loose associations, they interact intimately and they take themselves lightly. They are so present, so connected that we can’t help but be right there with them, laughing. No Mistakes.

Like Byron Katie says, “It sounds a lot like Namaste.” No Mistakes.

Get help saying “Yes to Life” 

The post Life as Improv appeared first on Oregon Somatic Therapy.

“Carl Jung believed that our minds come coded with patterns, like magnets attracting iron filings. These archetypal patterns shape us. They and direct us to perceive the world in a particular way. He called these predispositions archetypes. They have some interesting characteristics:

They are often present at birth and have the power to command our attention and lead us to action. Carolyn Myss suggests that archetypes have to do with a Sacred Contract that The Soull made before we were born.

Archetypes act like magnetic fields. These fields reveal themselves only when we place metal filings around them to reveal their shape, power. Then we notice what they attract.

The Archetype takes our life force and gives it a direction, provides focus to help us realize our potential.

When the archetype chooses us, it commands our attention and leads us to events, people, and opportunities that we might otherwise never notice. We have a built-in mechanism to notice the things in its domain.

Like a bee drawn to a flower’s nectar, the archetype is a light that draws us to develop and grow according to the Soul’s Purpose.

Archetypal drive energizes us so that we can work through challenge to their resolution. For example, staring at a blank canvas, the Artist pushes through to creativity. Without the archetype to energize us, we might give up and do something easier, more natural. Even though The Critic pays us a visit raining down a storm of judgments, the Artist Archetype gives us endurance to push past The Critics roadblock to persevere. When others might give up, you persevere.

We gradually learn who we are through the challenges and accomplishments gifted us through the archetypes. They also lend us faith when confusion and chaos strike. They help us know what to do when the manual is missing.

Like the Hero’s Journey, our struggles have heightened personal meaning when the archetype has chosen us. We shape and develop ourselves with the passion endowed by the archetype, as the blacksmith’s forge tempers fine steel. We are refined into authentic, resilient human beings. The challenges we face in the archetype’s domain, make us question, face and ultimately shed our fears. And the True Self is born like the acorn and the oak tree.

The archetype moves us from our familiar place in the world of the known and the secure and the predictable, to the world of the possible.

Most great literature, film, poetry, or plays capture us through the lens of the archetypes. These powerful stories reveal the Archetype’s Journey:

• The Castaway with Tom Hanks: Surviving against all odds or Alien with Sigourney Weaver
• Indiana Jones: Thrive in challenges and being victorious,
• Fatal Attraction: How the shadow of a suppressed archetype, in this case the The Lover, makes errors in judgement over and over that leads to their demise

We listen to these stories, learning from their successes and fearing their mistakes. The very nature of our identification and fascination with the story, hints at the degree to which an archetype has claimed us.

The post Understanding Archetypes appeared first on Oregon Somatic Therapy.

by Suzie Wolfer LCSW with thanks to Lee Greer!

Materials:  paper and pen

Preparation for the Journey

• Close eyes, tune into your breath, body sensations, sounds in the room, feeling of chair and floor against body. Be here now.
• Let your breath flow deep into your belly. Breathe into the count of 7 and exhale to 11, or 5 and 9. Let this be gentle, slow and easy.
• Grounding.  Notice the area just below your ovaries (first chakra in women) or base of the spine (first chakra in men) and notice the powerful flow of energy into the earth and to the center of the planet of your grounding. Let the exhale breath cleanse and clear your space.
• Upper Grounding. Next be aware of the golden network surrounding the earth, like a honeycomb with a cell for each person and allow the energy from this cell that is uniquely yours to flow down into your space through the top of your head
• Cosmic grounding: now the earth current to flow up through your body and join with the cosmic energy while at the same time the cosmic energy feeling the cosmic flow down into the body and marry with the earth energy. Then feel one continuous flow from earth to cosmos and cosmos to earth.  Notice how your body responds to this flow of energy. Notice your breath.
• Center of your head: let your awareness move to the very front of your skull, against the forehead.  This is where were we strategize, analyze and figure things out . . . not the most helpful place to reside on the Journey.  Next let your awareness move far back in your head to the center of your head.  You may notice a feeling of spaciousness, neutrality.  Here we can calmly observe what happens with curiosity and openness.

Meeting your Guide on the Journey to the Source

• To prepare yourself, remind your body that the journey will be though non-ordinary space and the laws of the physical world, logic and normalcy are suspended.
• Prepare to meet your guide, remembering the guide will be choosing you. The guide may be an animal, a person, an inanimate object or one or more images from your SoulCollage® cards.
• Feel your cosmic grounding and be in the center of your head.
• Ask the question “Who will guide me on my journey to the Source?” and simply notice who or what comes and greets you. Take a few moments and simply observe your guide.  Notice anything and everything that happens.  Notice and enhance your willingness to be guided.  Let go of any thought of needing to control or know what is going to happen.  Let yourself be curious and open to whatever happens.  In the realm of deep imagery, every nuance is significant.  After you have observed invite your guide to communicate using the “I am the One who…” and listen deeply.
• Next ask “What needs to happen next?” and simply follow the lead given. Be willing and curious.
• Give yourself some time to experience the Journey. Ask questions, notice everything you see, feel, and think.  Everything is relevant.  If you get stuck or confused, just ask, “What needs to happen next.”  Then wait and watch and engage.
• Ask your guide “What would you have me know?” and listen deeply, with your mind, your heart and your body.
• At some point your guide will lead you on to the next part of the journey or return you home. Notice any sensations in your body and let them speak up using the “I am the One who. . .”  Thank your guide in whatever way feels appropriate to you.
• When the Journey feels complete, notice the sounds in the room and sensations in your body, open your eyes, move your body, stretch, cross your arms and legs over the mid-line to anchor the work and completely move back into ordinary reality
• Use your paper and pen to record the experience. About 5 minutes

Sharing

• Either pair up or go around the circle inviting anyone who’d like to share their experience.

The post Journey to the Source appeared first on Oregon Somatic Therapy.

Last week, a client asked me, “How would you define mindfulness?”    And it got me thinking.

I experience mindfulness as an alert, sustained, flexible focus of attention on “what is.”

Using our SoulCollage cards in a mindful way, working with our cards becomes part of our spiritual practice.  We might begin our “ritual” with a little prayer or blessing, invoking The Source to help us find a healing voice through the cards; to bring compassion into our lives.

Mindfulness is easy when everything’s going great.  But in challenging times, when our minds and emotions froth like a stormy sea, your SoulCollage cards can offer that still small voice of calmness and neutrality about “what is” and then begin to calm the storm in the mind.

The 3-Minute Breathing Space

As an example, your kids are screaming, the house is a mess, you’ve got a project due in 3 hours.

• Draw a card you like from your deck and ask, “What would you have me know?”
• Listen. Just be.  Let the words come to you without seeking.  The simple act of listening will start to calm the mind.  Kindling receptivity signals the body to breathed.
• Let a tiny micro smile come to your lips and watch the tide of wellbeing start to flow from your nervous system to your body.
• Now ask your card 3 simple questions:

1. What is?
2. How can I be more present?
3. What’s next?

Listen for the answers.  Let the message come to you.  Stop seeking.  Be open and receptive like a flower opening to the sun’s warmth.

• Alert
• Sustained
• Flexible
• Focus of attention on
• “What is.”

Now go back to what you were doing.

Be prepared to be more peaceful and productive.

See the similarities between SoulCollage® and Mindfulness

The post Mindfulness & SoulCollage® appeared first on Oregon Somatic Therapy.

SoulCollage® may improve your physical wellbeing.

First, the aesthetic quality of the work produced can lift your mood, boost self-awareness, and improve self-esteem.

Second, research shows that physiological functions, such as heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration, slow when people are deeply involved in an activity they enjoy.

In addition, making art also provides an opportunity for you to improve eye-hand coordination, and stimulate neurological pathways from the brain to the hands.

Because SoulCollage® uses a language other than words, it can help us express things that are not well articulated yet, such as our fears, hopes and dreams, as well as strong emotions and frustrations in a safe and contained medium.

In working with imagery, you can discover thoughts and feelings that are often hidden from the conscious mind.

Most people are delighted to see how fast their stress dissolves while doing SoulCollage. Studies have shown that repressing strong feelings can lead to a buildup of stress, and that stress can intensify pain and intensify the symptoms of various diseases.   Most people find that a few hours of SoulCollage® can significantly reduce stress.

Because working with imagery helps people access their unconscious mind and release pent-up emotions, it has been found to be very useful in treating those suffering from stress and stress-related ailments.

People recovering from trauma or serious injury often find SoulCollage® particularly beneficial.

And best of all, it’s easy. Anyone can do it.  And it’s green, using recycled magazine images and non-toxic glue.

It’s Green and it’s Good Medicine

The post Neuroscience and SoulCollage® appeared first on Oregon Somatic Therapy.

In SoulCollage, we connect-up with both our troublesome parts, and with our wise and playful parts to invite Soul into the human experience.

We often encounter difficulties in communicating effectively all the different parts of ourselves and try to eliminate some and emphasize others.

Do you struggle with “The Depressed One,” “The Anxious One?” Do you Fear the “Critic” will immobilize you? Want to have more harmony in your Inner Family?

Your SoulCollage cards help you to sit down and have a conversation over a nice cup of tea, like we would with our flesh and blood friends.
How do you do this?

Learning to be a Soul Whisperer means that you listen wisely to all the different point of view inside you. You can have a lively two-way communication with them.

A Soul Whisperer realigns her expectations and releases judgments so she can listen with compassion and curiosity to both the fearful, angry parts, as well as the Wise Council Members who can point the way to higher ground.

Monty Roberts, the Horse Whisperer, spent years observing wild mustangs and learned to speak their language. He adopts a sympathetic view of the motives, needs, and desires of the horse, based on modern equine psychology.

The Soul Whisperer understands that fear, pain and distrust do not create a trusting relationship. Just like a wild mustang quickly learns to feel safe with the Horse Whisper, so too, do we learn to invite and bond with the shadowy parts, and the creative, happy parts.

We become in Cesar Millan’s words, “calm assertive” with whatever arises, so as strong leaders, we create a happy pack.

As many clients have noticed, learning to be a Soul Whisperer can lead to remarkable, positive changes in their lives.

Ready to start?

Begin by approaching your cards with these qualities:

• Compassionate curiosity: listen with your heart
• Empathy for the motives, needs, and desires of each SoulCollage card
• Begin this spiritual practice with calmness, patience, and presence.
• Recognize fear as a call for help
• Hold your ground with quiet strength and resolve with difficult cards
• Give yourself the option to stop or engage at any time
• Be a caring leader of your Inner Pack

As Soul Whisperers we learn that with kindness and a desire to understand the needs and wants represented on our SoulCollage cards, we can develop and nurture our aliveness, joy and creativity.

If you’d like support to be a better Soul Whisperer, join a SoulCollage group, take a workshop or make an appointment to work with your cards individually.

So you can become a Soul Whisperer.

The post The Soul Whisperer appeared first on Oregon Somatic Therapy.