Blessings from Bruges with Openhand - Easter 2019 Retreat
Hi Everyone in the Openhand Virtual Community.
Wherever you are, "Blessings", as we transition through this very poignant Easter Break 2019. I'm blessed to be hosting a rich and diverse group of souls from across the cosmos. It promises to be a real humdinger. And we'd be delighted to have you join us 'through the ether', where distance is no object. Here's how you might take part and what's involved...
What's always fascinated me (and at times frustrated!) is how spread to the four corners of the globe we are in the awakening movement. I do believe the point is to reach as many as possible. And distance really is no object when we connect beyond time and space 'through the ether'. So increasingly, Openhand is working to involve people from wider afield in our physical gatherings.
Take time out and tune into the sense of what we're doing
The sense of the work, and especially the energy, will transmit. Here's what we're inviting you to join in with...
1) Daily Meditations
2) Internal Inquiries for you to explore
3) Higher Dimensional Intuitive Reflections on what you share
The group will be convening this afternoon, 18th April for a opening dinner, afterwhich the work will commence tomorrow morning.
30 minutes in the Morning and 30 minutes in the Evening
So if you can take out at least 30 minutes first thing in the morning and 30 minutes last thing in the evening, then that should be enough to attune to what we're doing and inspire your own inquiry.
We look forwards to hosting you!
Open
Comments
a rich and enjoying sharing
Comment
Hi Anastasia - it is a rich and enjoying sharing indeed!
Thankyou
Open
DIVINE Connie
Comment
Hi Anastasia, that was a real joy to read. Amazing how you are able to interpret all signs and connect all the dots, DIVINE mother in acceptance of her higher path.
Throughout the week I had the melody of Connie and Enty in my head:
It's Connie and Enty, sharing the energies,
It's Connie and Enty, giving you time to breathe,
It's Connie and Enty, holding the space to 'be'
It's the Connie and Enty, it's the Connie and Enty, in the corniest 'ventri' Shooowww!!
Apollonius! Lol!
In reply to DIVINE Connie by Apollonius
Comment
Apollonius!
Thank you! That really cracked me up!
Can’t wait for the full live melodic experience of that piece. I’ll add an appropriate harmony to it next time we meet 😉.
Although chances are it might sound a bit CONSTRICTED 😄
Love to you,
Anastasia
à la Lumière de Notre Dame
Comment
My Goodness! What a reTREAT this was!
I have to confess, having waited for a really long time to be able to attend such a gathering, I had high expectations going into it. It didn’t meet any of my expectations but it absolutely SURPASSED all of them.
I’m almost at a loss for 3D words to express how deeply moving the communion with all you beautiful souls was, and still is. And as if that wasn’t enough, the whole experience was topped off by the most sublime and beautiful closing ceremony EVER - the spiritual ‘wedding’ between two gorgeous souls, Alex & Maria. May your joined path be blessed with pure Love and Truth all the way.
I'd like to share one of my personal experiences that this retreat helped me unravel.
While I was packing for the retreat, I was alerted to the news of the Cathedral of Notre Dame burning down. I instantly felt a sting of significance as I watched the walls of this magnificent building crumble in the flames. However, it did not occur to me then what the words “Notre Dame” actually mean...
As I arrived for the retreat, there were not just one, but two pregnant women there to greet me and I immediately got a sense of one of the themes that was looking to come through for me - Pregnancy and Motherhood. And yes indeed, during the course of the retreat, two karmic memories emerged involving pregnancy in unmerciful circumstances. One of being gang raped and becoming pregnant. And the other of losing my soul mate to death while being pregnant with his child. Both events causing great pain that I was unable to let go of back then, closing my heart up to the child I was carrying and greatly afflicting my sense of motherhood and purpose.
When we went on the Six Senses walk, I suddenly found myself face to face with a small statue of Mother Mary tucked away in the woods. I stood there frozen, looking at her for a long time. It was the walk of Sound/Listening we were on at that moment, which was the most challenging for me, as my mind constantly just kept wandering off and my heart space felt constricted. I knew Mother Mary was trying to tell me something, but as a direct reflection of my walking experience, I couldn’t tune in or focus enough in order to actually hear Her.
Finally, on the last day, in the closing meditation session, it all fell into place. Mother Mary appeared to me, gracefully accompanied by her Angel Gabriel. The two of them stood on either side of me and directed attention towards my belly. Inside of me bright White Light was growing and glowing. I finally also understood why the name Gabriel has been appearing to me everywhere in the weeks prior to the retreat. I was pregnant with Divine Light.
As I continued to feel into Mother Mary’s presence, her energy eventually crystallised into these words that afterwards landed in the scroll we each ceremonially wrote to ourselves...
"Being a Mother in Acceptance of her Higher Path"
Being a Mother in Acceptance of her Higher Path
As some of you already know, I awakened through the loss of an unborn child. After the loss, Open’s closing song “All of Me” called out to me everywhere. It was even the chosen song played at my boy’s burial ceremony. It was his way of letting me know that he loved All of Me, and that nothing is ever truly lost.
As I came out of this beautiful final meditation, I was led straight into the circle around the marriage communion between Alex & his pregnant partner Maria. As Open played my Awakening song, not only did my whole journey so far reach a full circle, but I also found myself standing right behind Maria – a Soul Sister I shared deeply with during the retreat – and it made me feel like I was her Maid of Honour. In Scandinavia, Our Lady is referred to as Maria, not Mary. It didn’t occur to me then, but as I’m wrapping this story up now, I realise that I was the Maid of Honour of Mother Maria herself.
Tack så mycket, Maria!
Having returned home now, this new energy is very much alive in me still. It feels pure, soft, a bit shy, and very tender, like a newly sprung flower bud. I feel very protective of it. Like a mother with her newborn.
I can’t thank all of you enough!
Open – with your passionate commitment to bringing us all together and helping us rise. Even though sometimes it felt like trying to lead a flock of wild geese (or was it ducks?)
Jean and Heiki – for your constant support in facilitation as well as practical matters.
The “Witchy” Circle of FIVE – Megha, Dagmar, Marije and Heiki. You ladies will always hold a special place in my heart. I still feel Your/Our energy continuing to empower me.
(Did you make it home, Megha?)
Last but certainly not least, a special shout out to my Ventriloquist Partner in (C)Rhyme - Apollonius!
“Connie” misses you already!
Well, that’s all folks! Looking forward to DIVINICUS!
All of Me Loves All of You,
Anastasia
I
Becoming conscious in the 'dreamtime'
Comment
Hi Marije - as always it was a pleasure hosting you - great to have your energy there
It sounds like you're becoming conscious in the dreamtime - awesome! I would say that's happening as the grip from lower mind is strongly loosening. Intuitively I would say the 'missing the flight' aspect of the dream due to childhood connections refers to inner child/teenager conditioning, again on the plane of the intellect, which could derail the next step forwards unless acted upon. That's my sense of it. All it would require is a deep turning into it - the kind of work we do on the level 3.
I'm sure it will all unravel!
Much love
Open
Connected on so many levels
Comment
It was a real pleasure meeting and working with you Apollonius, a beautiful dance - we connected on so many levels
See you in the ether!
Open
Stars on Earth
Comment
hi Openhanders, I simply just don't know where to start so I just in Openhand fashion go with the flow of it. So much happened to me during the retreat and it's happening on so many different levels that I cannot understand it right now. And that's okay it still feel the processes going on. I feel like doing nothing and let it all just unfold and work through me. I had quite some fears going into the retreat, fears of being among other people for 6 days continuously. But luckily i wasn't among ordinary people but angels who embraced the totality of my being and continually kept shining their beauty at me. The safe space everyone held for each other to express themselves authentically was such a gift. In it I was able to let anything happen that wanted to happen.
I can whole heartedly recommend this retreat to anyone who is ready to explore the depths of there being. It is not for the faint-hearted though but if you feel you are ready, i'd say 'jump'. Open has meticulously set out a thread throughout the retreat that helps you to dive into your own density, come through it and feel the expansiveness of your own soul. On top of that countless other benevolent energies from other planes are coming to assist to move the energies and bring clarity. So in other words: the whole retreat is a multi- dimensional event that defies human understanding.🙉
And as a bonus I met some long lost friends again who brought tears to my eyes and i have a feeling that I'm going to travel with them for some time to come. I basically feel I found a new home with the Openhand energy.
i like to give special thanks to the Openhand team: Jean, Marije, Heike and Open for letting this event run smoothly and holding the space.
See all of you beautiful souls down the flow 🌊💜
Not back home ,yet !
Comment
Dear Open and all others ,
Our gathering was profoundly moving and poignant . I had hoped for a deep experience but had truly come without expectation . And I was blown away ! And already in my 3 D life ,stuff has started to happen .
I am currently in Istanbul 'stuck ' as my flight was delayed . And feel to see the Hague Sophia. A little girl named Sophia was traveling with me . I kept reflecting to Anastasia how I didn't get any dreams . I have started having massive ones ! I dreamt of these elephants cowering down as a series of explosions rocks their environment. I am in a very dank hospital trying to take care of my patients until ones skin gets a condition and opens to reveal the abdomen . Curiouser and curiouser things are at my end . Hope the rest of you are safely ensconsed home already .
And dear roomies - Dagmaar,Anastasia ,Marye and Heike - I miss you all already ❤️
Lots of love !
Megha
Closing photos from Bruges
Comment
Well it's been a fabulous conclusion to "Blessings from Bruges". In fact it was so stunningly beautiful, it's extremely hard to capture it in words. The barriers of separation quickly fell in the group right from the go, which is pretty amazing considering how diverse and unqiue each vibration was - usally it takes a day or so. But people are ready for the shift now. It's time to dive into the centre stream of your immaculate home coming. No more just dipping in the toes!
I wish all of you profund blessings and magic on your way, and I trust that we'll connect in the physical again somewhere down the flow - for now, be sure to stay connected here through the virtual!
Here's a sense of the vibe with some closing photos - thanks everyone in the wider community for tuning in. Your love and energy was heart felt
It's all about self-expression. Expressing the soul leads inexorably back to the One...
It goes like this...
Getting back to our true nature...
The simplest things are sublime...
Playing with Shadows and Light...
Wait, Alex has found the Singularity!...
Lunchtme in the garden...
Powered by sunshine!...
Well folks, it's back to reality!...
But not before a vegan ice cream!...
The closing ceremony was deeply moving. As to all who took part, both physically and through the ether. These gatherings ripple far and wide through the field, helping usher in the new vibrational paradigm - how blessed!
And finally, I felt to leave you with the song that the Universe picked out in our closing...
"All of me, loves all of you!"...
transcending the physical by becoming intimate with the physical
Comment
hi Thomas - thanks for sharing your experiences - they seem to mirror in some ways what we're doing here in Bruge - transcending the physical by becoming intimate with the physical,
Much love
Open
Flowing in physical work
Comment
Dear Open, dear all,
thank you so much for another opportunity to accompany an event through the ether. It made me think and feel a lot during the last couple of days and the long weekend. Recently there are two situations where i found myself flowing while doing physical work (contrary to my office job).
Last week i started to build a house for the two chicken that were given to me. At first, the reflections of the concept of the chicken house gave me a sleepless night but as i started the real work with wood, screws, tools, i realized again that this is really fulfilling. After some days of short work there was a moment where every screw broke, and i was becoming slightly frustrated and wondering whether to stop and wait for the next day. I became still inside and found the inner Warrior Ray 1 waiting there for me to reckognize him. Like someone playing hide and seek, i had to giggle at myself. As i found him it was clear that i would break through and continue working.
Some weeks ago i started another project - building a terrace in front of my house which evolved bit by bit, and that was totally ok. Now, maybe related to the full moon, i found myself wanting to continue the work i begun. So the last full two days i spent on arranging all the paving stones and to frame them with cement so nothing would move. Masonry is quite something i wanted to explore for a long time. Now my skin is burned from being outside all day long, my knee hurts, my hands hurt - and i recognize it and accept the limits of my body. It is quite rewarding to be active and at the end of the day see (and feel of course) what you have done, without having had the direct objective to achieve it.These two days went by so incredibly fast, i was surprised as i had a look at the clock. And no notion of being hungry, just flowing.
Lots of love,
Thomas
Deeply memorable journies that have spanned through eternity
Comment
We're having a brilliant time here in Bruges. For me, personally, they're always fascinating experiences. You share the journey of each participant, deep into aeons of past life consciousness, and so you experience an epic "Lord of the Rings" style adventure. All of this takes place in just a few short days, and so time seems to bend and warp. It feels like you've been doing nothing else in your existence but this gathering, yet it's wrapped up in one moment of now and over in a flash!
Yesterday the group had moved into an awesome space of openness. Having broken through countless layers that bind, and deeply forged profound new gifts of beingness, the sense becomes more that you're a stream of light travalling through time and space as an interconnected part of the whole. The venue helps greatly, we're surrounded by stunning nature, which is speaking intimately to us in practically every moment. We are truly blessed!
So now there's more the feeling of the flow state. One essential aspect to accessing this state is progressively letting go of mind led intention, and instead, focussing on the subtle inner perceptions of active attention. The Universe speaks into every moment of the deeper underlying meaning and purpose. It passionately wants to share that with us all. And when we're open to us, it will animate and express through us, just like the voracious rip curl that carries the surfer (and through more gentle waves too!).
The Flow State is a curious paradox. Many of the impulses will be quiet and subtle, hardly noticeable above the din of a busy inner landscape. And so you have to pay careful attention. You have to be realxed and open. And above all, trusting. You have to trust that the subtle percetions have meaning and purpose. There's often no need to even intellectualise them, to understand them. Simply to pay attention, attune the feeling of them and let them animate through you.
What you find is that you come into an interactive multidimensional landscape where everything is speaking to you. Nothing happens by chance - the call of a bird, the weaving spider, the buzz of a bee, or the chance synchronicity of music - all speaks into the landscape with a divine invitation: to unveil, reveal and express the majesty of you, the real YOU! The whole Universe celebrates along with us when we do this.
For all those following, here are 9 key characteristics of the Flow State to pay attention to...
1) Letting go of the need of an outcome: you move into a place of complete acceptance of the moment. You may be engaged in things, but the key is to let go of any fixation around "this must be done" or "it must look like this or like that". What this does, is open your consciousness up and expands you out more so that you can feel subtle nuances and senses coming through.
2) Incorporation of Breath and Movement: at Openhand we apply the Breakthrough Breathing to get more into an open flow state, and also movement, allowing the body to move freely, often to music. So you're feeling relaxed and at ease. It's as if you become more of a flow in the things that you do.
3) Alert Attentiveness: even though you're relaxed and flowing, there's an alert attentiveness to what's going on. In fact exactly because you're not efforting for a particular goal or objective, then you can be more aware of everything going on around you.
4) Being in The Moment: when you're accepting your interconnectivity with the Universe, you move more into a place of trust. It means you become more engaged in the moment, attentive to what's going on around you and right under your nose. You come into the infinite potential of the Universe. Time seems to slow right down in the moment, yet hours can flash by in what seems like a short space of time.
5) Focus on Beingness: focus shifts more from what you have to do, and into how to "be" in this moment. The soul starts to animate through you and come through in different expressions, resonances and harmonies. You find yourself being more expressive and alive. It feels magical simply to express, and the moment becomes more about this. There's a curiosity and excitement about how much more there is of you that you can express and be.
6) The State of "No-mind": the mind becomes still and quiet. You can express through the mind, but you're not identified with it. It's more that you're acting through it. It's like the mind becomes transparent, like the sky, where thoughts float cross it like clouds.
7) The Five Senses Heighten: when you're being present and engaged fully in the moment, and where the mind is quiet, then you start to feel more through the five senses. It's like the full spectrum of colour and senibility intensify and heighten.
8) Higher Dimensional Guidance: because you're being more attentive and aware, then you're opening up to guidance flowing in from your own higher self, from guides in the ether and from signs and synchronicity in the flow itself. It starts to feel like everything is speaking to you. You feel divinely supported and blessed by the Universe
9) Creativity shapes around Beingness: because you've opened up into the fullness of the moment, then space time starts to shape and bend around you. You start to create more from beingness. Each situation that you've been engaged within, in relationships, jobs and general living circumstances, start to transform. The patterns of engagement change. Different objectives and goals start to flash in, ones that are more aligned with the core of who you are. As you step positively into them with authentic self expression, then more Right Action and Right Outcomes happen - things start to click in much more.
And here are 8 ways in which you can practice opening into your active Flow State...
1) Become the Observer of yourself in all that you're doing, and simply begin to witness your feelings and inner experience
2) Notice where tightness comes up in daily interactions and begin to let go into the tightness, letting go of the need for any kind of outcome
3) Meditate daily, using breathwork and conscious bodywork of some kind. Connect as often as possible with nature
4) Develop breathwork (like the Openhand Breakthrough Breathing) that connects you with your core inner self - the sense of 'rightness' of the soul
5) In your meditations, get to feel and know the tightness of the 'pain body'. It's there to be worked with (using something like the Breakthrough Approach), but don't allow it to define you as who you are
6) Let the soul begin to express through you, as a sense a feeling and perception. Practice letting it just move you, first in stillness, but then also to music that motivates you
7) Look for the feeling sense of rightness of the soul, and start to come from that place more in day to day life. Respond to the inner pull (especially if 'inconvenient), and look for authentic expression to come from there.
8) pay attention to supportive signs and synchronicity - attune to the feedback loops the Universe is building with you.
There is nothing like being in this Flow State. It feels like destiny being realised. As if it is meant to be.
People on the spiritual journey often wonder and work towards accessing the deep sense of core beingness, that deep peace that some spiritual teachers seem to have accessed. To us at Openhand, you cannot separate the flow of relativity in the universe from the infinite stillness of pure presence - the singularity from which all existence continues to arise. You cannot have one in isolation of the other. And to aim for the deep peace of pure presence is the very intention that creates separation from that place. But what you can do is align with the flow - the feeling Flow State. In which case, you find yourself effortlessly riding the wave back to presence inside of you. It happens without intention. You find you've been doing something for several hours and you've been so intimate with it, so ultra aware, that the time has disappeared in a flash.
Which brings me right back to now, right back to this gathering. We will shortly complete the closing ceremony. It feels like its all happened in a flash. And yet we've shared deeply memorable journies that have spanned through eternity.
Namaste
Open
Opening a space for new aspects of beingness to come through
Comment
Plenty of people find themselves in situations in their lives and want to change but don't know how?
The problem is that society conditions people to constantly fix on controlling or intentionally creating circumstances in the outer. People effort and struggle to work for and get some kind of external gratification to feel fulfilled. Be it a relationship, material things or physical situation. When you think about it, for most people in society, most of the time is spent attending to and attaining short term goals - I have to go hear and there to attain this or that.
What humanity has forgotten, or doesn't yet realise, is that we're all woven within a space-time-continuum of consciousness, which far from being static and rigid, is fluid and flowing. As you work to soften through your own internal fixations, addictions and cravings in the moment, the need for a particular outcome, then you soften the identity and the fixedness in time and space. You open internally and start to feel the subtle perceptions of the soul.
Now this might feel pretty good at times - expanded, light, interconnected, joyful, but even then, plenty still don't join the dots: that these subtle vibrations and perceptions are instrumental in creating aligned reality.
I recall a situation once where my life was quite blocked. There was an internal battle between two aspects of consciousness which essentially kept me locked in the same place, "should I stay or should I go?" I asked the Universe for some reflective help, "show me!" There appeared to be no immediate answer. I needed to open up some more (if you don't appear to be getting guidance and all is quiet, the answer is, "go deeper!").
A while later I started seeing a particular make of vehicle. It was quite a rare 4x4, always in white, and always with the same painted landscape on the side. I started seeing it everywhere I went, and so wondered if I was meant to buy it. However I didn't have the funds at the time.
Then I realised it was all about what energy the vehicle was reflecting to me. It felt like adventure, excitement, sponatneity and travel. And when ever I saw it, I felt that energy beginning to bubble up inside. I realised what was being invited was to embody that energy as and when it wanted to activate - a new sense of energy, a new vibration of soul consciousness.
So I embodied more of this vibration whenever I felt the stirrings of it by putting my attention on it and animating it through me - sometimes to music for example, sometimes a short trip out, sometimes brisk walking in new nature locations.
A little while later when I was leaving my location to do a course out on the island of La Palma, and realised I wasn't just going for the course, I was going there to live! I just knew inside that this was what I was supposed to do. So despite the challenges of leaving the old situation, I knew that in following the soul, it would serve the highest good of all involved. The synchronicities reflected it was simply right. And so I surrendered to the feeling and went with it. From that moment, everything unlocked and the flow greatly strengthened.
This can either result in big changes like mine, or else different perceptions and ways of seeing the same circumstance - you transform the same situation by being different in it. Always though, what you're looking for is some new aspect of beingness to come through - to embody that and let it express in those circumstances where previously you felt blocked.
That's what we've been working on here on Bruges. Having opened an internal space through the densities that were blocking people, we're using reflection, meditation and animation to music so as to bring new aspects of beingness alive. One meditation we've been applying is the Liquid Gold Meditation, which you can listen to for free here...
Liquid Gold Meditation
Then what you're looking for, is a new gift of beingness to come through. These will be senses and subtle perceptions of soul, which then want to grow. Here is a framework for inquiry to find those new apsects. What at Openhand we call The Seven Rays...
Ray 1: purposeful creative will Ray 1 is the driving sense of purpose to create. It is the manifestation of the divine masculine principle throughout the universe. From the place of separation, it is that undeniable inner will to find and create a higher level of harmony both within ourselves and between all sentient beings. It causes us to challenge and break apart the status quo which may be holding us in a lower level of realisation. The Ray 1 inspires life’s motivational leaders.
Ray 2: surrendering unconditional love Ray 2 initiates the impulse of unconditional love for life. It is the manifestation of the divinely feminine principle of surrendered acceptance throughout the universe. It is the empathising compassion that willingly embraces, does not judge nor need to change the inherent imperfection in all sentient life and situations. Ray 2 strongly inspires the selfless servants of life.
Ray 3: interpreting authentic reality Ray 3 harnesses and processes higher abstract wisdom delivering it in a form to provide a clear interpretation of our current, authentic reality. In other words, it’s how we know what’s really real. People with strong Ray 3 influence notice the natural patterning in life bringing the formless into form in such a way that can be understood and appreciated by many. Ray 3 inspires life’s translators, creative artists and mathematicians.
Ray 4: harmonising through right resolution Ray 4 is the divine rationalising energy which helps us find right resolution with our environment and other sentient life. It is the ray impulse which blends passion with compassion. It provides the discernment to confront unjust situations in a non judgmental way. Its purpose is to break apart the lower harmony to find a more equitable higher one. People with highly active Ray 4 tend to be life’s diplomats, politicians and teachers.
Ray 5: realising abstract higher wisdom The Ray 5 enables us to hold the infinite complexities of the universe as pure knowing within our beingness. This ‘science’ is abstract, all encompassing and rather than realised, is more sensed, as an art form, like poetry in perpetual motion. Ray 5 enables us to attune to the universal flow and harness it for co-creative exploration, deeper understanding and further evolution. The Ray 5 animates life’s scientists and creative business leaders.
Ray 6: yearning self expression Ray 6 inspires us stay continually focussed on our life’s purpose: to realise, unfold and express who we really are. It generates commitment and devotion to our cause, radiating our soul in all its brilliant colour. The Ray 6 provides the unquenchable driving force to express our innate qualities and inspire others to shine their inner light too. Humanity’s philosophers, spiritual leaders and performing artists are all driven by the Ray 6 influence.
Ray 7: shaping synchronistic magic Ray 7 provides the ingredient of pure magic on our life’s journey. If we are able to master our inner distortions and pause just long enough in the drama of life, then we can open up to spontaneous, synchronistic and co-creative magic. Thereby we catalyse and initiate the surrounding field for the maximum benefit and upliftment of all. In this way, Ray 7 inspires life’s ‘magicians’ and entrepreneurs.
So for those joining in to our Bruges Retreat through the ether, I invite you to contemplate these and see how some of them might be wanting to come more active in your life. Do feel free to ask if you'd like a reflection.
Open
Early photos from Bruges
Comment
Here are some early snapshots from our tremendous gathering here in Bruges...
Getting deep into karmic processing...
Heike ushering in the angellic energy...
Afterwards Anastasia sharing with a tree...
Marije - sometimes it doesn't always taste sweet!...
Alex, getting his feet on terra firma...
Carina, one of two pregnanat mothers - we're birthing a new humanity!...
Mick, soaking up the sunshine...
Apollonius, amongst the blooms...
Rosita, we're finding long lost friends!...
Alex, striding purposefully towards another session...
Vibrant plant-based food courtsey of Sam & Katrien to keep us sustained...
Processing karma in Bruges
Comment
The reason we're here, I mean in this incarnation, is because of karma. And by that, I don't mean 'good' or 'bad' karma based on 'good' or 'bad' deeds. There is no such thing! Karma happens where the soul is not self-realised, where it 'forgets' its connection to the One Self, the pure presence of the Source. And so the soul fragments in the fourth density or causal plane. This gathers energy around it like debris in the streams eddy current. The dynamic then manifests in the lower densities of the physical, emotional and mental. Karma is the foundation of the Pain Body, and ultimately we must get into it and process it out in order to unfold into Enlightenment and the New 5D Paradigm (karma is what keeps you incarnating back into the lower densities).
Karma can build because of all manner of circumstances. If you think back through humanity's history here on Earth then you can imagine the traumatic circumstances we've all been through - the various wars, intervention, violence and disharmony for example. Most people are carrying plenty of this in their causal body and we must regress into it in order to process it out; meaning to experience it once more. Not that you actually have to physically relive the original trauma, but rather to meditate into it and activate the feelings (it will keep recreating if we ultimately don't). You then lose your fear and attachment to the original incident.
I know this will be tough to read and take in, but I felt given to share the story of Nusrat Jahan Rafi, because it seemed very poignant at this stage (I warn you in advance, this may bring up your own karma to process). She was tragically burned to death in Bangladesh recently for reporting sexual abuse by her headmaster. Here's a snapshot of the story from the BBC...
Nusrat Jahan Rafi was doused with kerosene and set on fire at her school in Bangladesh. Less than two weeks earlier, she had filed a sexual harassment complaint against her headmaster. Her courage in speaking out against sexual assault, her death five days after being set alight and everything that happened in-between has gripped Bangladesh and brought attention to the vulnerability of those experiencing sexual harassment in what is a very conservative South Asian country.
Many girls and young women in Bangladesh choose to keep their experiences of sexual harassment or abuse secret for fear of being shamed by society or their families. What made Nusrat Jahan different is that she didn't just speak out - she went to the police with the help of her family on the day the alleged abuse happened.
In the ambulance after the attack, fearing she might not survive, despite her injuries, she courageously recorded a statement on her brother's mobile phone. Police have since arrested 15 people. On 10 April, she died. Many thousands of people turned out for her funeral in Feni.
I felt to highlight the story especially because of the desecration of the divine feminine here throughout human history, but at this crucial time, how the energy is rising from subjugation, reflecting back to those who have been ignorant. To me there seems to be a strong correlation with the recent Notre-Dame story.
For those new to karma, as hard as it may seem, it is possible for us to penetrate deep into the challenge and trauma. As real as the physical can feel, nevertheless, it is in essence a complex illusion we make real in the mind. I'm certainly not meaning to make light of the experiences! What I'm saying is that the more awake and enlightened you become, the more it becomes possible to penetrate through such experiences and find the completeness of The One within them. The suffering then ceases. Identification dissolves. The soul is integrated and forged through the experiences.
The point about regressing through the experiences that you yourself may have had, is that you then don't have to recreate them in the physical. You can process them out in a safe and protective environment. As you feel into and through the circumstances, the pain dissolves, the soul integrates, you feel invigorated, revitalised, reborn!
At Openhand we apply essentially a 9 step approach to dealing with karmic source pain. This is taken from the Openhand book 5GATEWAYS: a profound spiritual routemap:
1. Confront the situation: you must first accept and completely acknowledge the truth of what is happening in your world. Get thoroughly used to observing yourself and accepting responsibility for your feelings in relation to what is going on in the situation. If you get tight, angry or wound up, acknowledge it. If someone is steamrollering your truth and that feels unpleasant, witness that too. Do not shy away from, or paper over, any inner retraction caused by events and other people in the outside world. By the Law of Attraction you have manifested them anyway, so as to confront and break through such a limitation. Embrace that.
2. Regress deeply into the feelings of the situation: it may not be appropriate for you to deal with the feelings in the moment they are coming up - you could be at work for example, in public or looking after your children. It is important not to suppress and dissolve the feelings, but rather to contain them: you get the sense that they are inside you, but you are on top of them and can manage them. When the timing is more appropriate (and as soon as possible), regress yourself deeply into the feelings once more: see the images, feel the feelings, let them come up inside.
3. Honour and express the pain: essentially this source pain is caused where your soul identifies somehow with the illusion of separation and the need for a particular outcome – where the soul is not self-realised (not realising of the One). However, if you honour the pain by fully expressing it in some way, then you become 'as-one' with it – you relocate the lost nugget of soul gold that was buried there and you reintegrate as the One. Honouring the pain might mean shouting and screaming, crying, rolling up into a ball, beating a punch bag or cushion, writing a journal or dancing and moving. Listen to your soul, and do whatever you feel given to do.
4. Break through with presence: when the source pain is at its height, when you can truly locate and feel it within your body, such that it is becoming excruciating, then paradoxically, you are ready to become the One through it; you are on the very precipice of presence. Remind yourself that all experience is relativistic and therefore transient – it does not define who you are. What you are, is absolute pure potential, beyond the pain. At this point, there will be some key (such as a word, mantra, a visualisation or symbolic metaphor) to help you ‘open the door’ through the density and into presence. If you are not sure what that is, ask the universe and you will be shown.
5. Feel the light of the soul: when you’ve stepped into the sense of presence, then you are really processing and letting go of the density – it is like you are stirring the bed of the stream in which the nuggets of soul gold have become buried. Now you will be able to see and feel the glint of the soul as it is being liberated. It will be a sense of lightness, completeness, confidence, strength, surrender; you may feel it as a light or warmth beginning to flow into the body, through the previous restriction. Now focus on, and give energy to, this new sensation. It is like pouring fuel on an igniting flame – it grows stronger.
6. Dissolve the source pain: you are now ready to truly dissolve and fully release that aspect of source pain. Whilst staying in the sense of Pure Presence, intuit how your connection with your emerging soul, can best process the dense energy of the source pain. You have to remain soft and expanded, so that you do not tighten down out of the energy that causes the pain. So stay expanded through it, containing it within your consciousness, but then use whatever meditation comes to you to remove it. It could be a particular form of breathing, movement and dance, or it could be a visualisation. Let your intuition carry you – it already knows what best to do.
7. Contemplate deeply any conditioned behaviours: the source pain will have built up conditioned behaviours (as spoken of in Gateway 2). Now deeply contemplate what conditioning – what distortions – the source pain has caused in your life. Maybe, for example, you were needy of others? Or perhaps too competitive and aggressive. See yourself within those behaviours, being totally honest with yourself about them (reminding yourself, if necessary, that you are not to blame for them). It can help to write them down in a journal.
8. Visualise yourself interrupting the behaviours: in motivational and spiritual circles, people often speak of visualising the outcome or behaviour you would like to have happen. The risk is though, that this just becomes another level of programming. Instead, see yourself interrupting the behaviours that have emanated from the source pain. As you get increasingly sensitive, you will begin to actually feel the density and any fixed neural pathways. With a sense of surrendered will, you can begin to break these apart and literally dissolve them within.
9. Become surrendered openness, attune to authentic beingness: as the density and conditioned behaviours have been dissolved inside, increasingly you settle into an awesome place of surrendered openness: you feel expansive, peaceful, whole and complete. You are now much more able to interrupt the old behaviours in daily life and open up through them. Spontaneous acts of authentic beingness then begin to magically flow through you, which are totally right and befitting of the moment. It is like you become less an identity, and more a moving flow of consciousness through life. This is pure joy of living! (I have written more about the qualities of authentic beingness that start to come through, and to which you can give energy, in Gateway 4).
It can help greatly to work with experienced facilitators on this, but I know that people will be having karma activating anyway, and you might not always realise that it's activating. As difficult as it may at first seem to mediate through such circumstances, the faster you recognise and turn into activating karma by working with it, the more adept and skilled you become in processing through. Once you embark fully on the joruney of Enlightenment and The Shift, karma will come up in waves. This is nothing to fear, but to work with. People in the Openhand community have become very adept at working through, and so you can come through relatively quickly. And then the expansion out the other side is always expansive and empowering as you discover and reintegrate lost aspects of authentic beingness.
If you have anything activating yourself, do feel free to share here below. Often karma kicks off as subtle vibrations and strange feelings that we might not even realise the cause of. Once some arising like this then happens, I offer the 9 step process above as a framework you can work through. If that seems complex, you could simplify it with the Breakthrough Process. It's equally as effective at getting into the source...
Openhand Breakthrough Approach
Openhand is there in loving support as you process through karma
Open
Working into the "Pain Body" in Bruges
Comment
Hi Risa, Heather and everyone else tuning into our "Blessings from Bruges" retreat. You're most welcome
We had a fabulous day here yesterday, diving quickly deep into the process, and in the breaktimes, bathed in beautiful sunshine in these stunning natural surroundings. We have vibrant plant-based food courtesy of our resident chefs Sam & Katrien. It could hardly be better!
What you describe Risa & Heather sounds highly synchronous with what we worked on yesterday - exploring the "Pain Body", what it feels like, and how to align instead with the Flow State of the Mainstream of Soul, what we might call "The True Self".
Society has created an eddy current in the flow, and in that, souls have been encaptured by karmic distortion. But rather than confronting the distortion, it has instead been 'cemented' in place. The tightness that comes with being out of the flow has been placated by the soft pill of distraction or else substance consumption. The Pain Body then forms in mind, emotional body and physical body, which all originally stems from karma. The Pain Body then sinks into the background like white noise so that you don't notice it.
You only start to get a sense of it when you start to follow the soul in daily life. First we tune into the soul and experience its expansiveness, often through spiritual work. But it's when you apply this alignment into daily life where you truly encounter the Pain Body. As you start to follow the soul, you'll naturally begin to challenge the old ways of doing things. That's when you start to feel the pain, tightness, heaviness and tiredness of what you've been carrying around all this time.
But to simply drop and surpress the Pain Body when you experience it is counterproductive and ultimately doesn't work. Because the Pain Body is a distortion of the flowing truth of the soul. And so buried within it, are nuggets of 'Soul Gold' that have sunk to the bottom of the stream and gotten buried in the sediment. So we have to progressively stir up the bed, the Pain Body, to dig out and reclaim the Soul Gold.
The first step though, is to get to know the difference beteen the flow of the Soul's mainstream and the Pain Body - to realise the difference within. And to keep aligning with the soul's mainstream. That way, when you get into processing the Pain Body, you always have the mast of awareness to centre yourself in the storm of emotions and feelings that can arise.
Here's the meditation we did yesterday that I invite you to work with also...
- First begin by building up the Openhand Breakthrough Breathing
- Get to feel the lightness of the mainstream of soul and what that feels like to you.
- Now start to contemplate situations in your life that make you feel tight, worried, frustrated or angry
- Contemplate the situations, see visions of them, whose involved, notice the detail and let the feelings dredge up.
- Work to express the pain that arises, The Pain Body, as fully as you can. What colour is it? What metaphoric form do you see? Is it metallic, or organic? Is it a net, a cage, a box, for example? Intuitively see and feel the Pain Body in as much detail as possible.
- Make the sound of the Pain Body and adopt a position that best expresses it (crouched down on the floor for example).
- Put on some music and express the Pain Body in some form of movement to it (we used "Hijack" from Bladerunner).
- Get to know the Pain Body as closely as possible, but then start to breathe through and around it. Disassociate from the Pain Body - you are not it! Work instead to connect with the lighter feelings that you previously recognised as mainstream of soul.
- Crucially you're not actually processing the Pain Body at this stage. Instead you're getting to recognise it, realise it's not you, and to disassociate from it.
- Finally, we did the Openhand Bow Meditation, bending into the density of the Pain Body, but then emerging out of it into the Mainstream of Soul.
So that's the inquiry I leave you with today. Afterwhich, we'll work on the Openhand Approach of processing the density of the Pain Body out.
Fond Blessings from Bruges!
Open
Current Situation
Comment
Hi Open
I have been feeling extremely tired and disconnected for a few days. I put it down to working too hard but now I realise that there is kharma involved, I keep finding connections and releasing it...I feel ok for short time but it quickly returns, there seems to be a constant stream of it. I meditate at least twice a day so I don't think I am skimping there. Can you suggest anything to help me?
Much love Heather
Hello Open and everyone on…
Comment
Hello Open and everyone on Openhand,
I am learning to come in peace about my coming and going emotions, thoughts from my ego, and family/childhood programmings. 2019 has been a bumpy but a wonderful year. There is a noticeable increase in moments where I am confronted with old thought patterns and emotional blockages, but I am very grateful for them. Through these moments, I am slowly but surely letting the patterns and blockages go, and even though there are days where I am not feeling like myself, I am very content. I know everything is/will be alright, and I am very very very hopeful and excited for what this path is going to bring ('good' and 'bad').
Recently, I have been feeling as if living in a matrix. It is a subtle, background-feeling that I can't quite put into words. I've always been an 'observer' of life, but I've been thinking maybe it's detachment. It's a weird feeling especially when I'm interacting with others because I already kinda know what they're going to say or what they have on their minds.
Overall, I have been feeling a lot of unconditional love, great joy and hopefulness. There are frustrations now and then, but I try to embrace them all and let it go :)
Thank you for this opportunity, Open! My goal for this year is to find/create a group where I can share my spiritual journey and inspire others.
Risa
What's happening for you on the path right now?
Comment
So our intrepid adventurers have traveled from far and wider to be here for this very special Easter "Living the Shift". We have people from America, Brazil, India, Sweden, Norway, Cyprus, Netherlands, the UK and of course Belgium. It is for sure a rich and diverse group of souls. And welcome also to any one else out there who might like to join in.
Today we'll begin the formal work. And I often like to get the group to contemplate where they feel they are on the path right now:
What's going on for you?
What are the patterns that are emerging to be worked with?
What are the frustrations?
And what new aspects of beingness do you feel you're being invited to bring through?
So I invite all tuning in to take time out to contemplate these questions. And feel free to share here below. I'll glady offer a supportive reflection to get the energy moving.
In loving support
Open
- Add new comment
- 994 views
Add new comment