Birdie Transformation Program

Week Seven – Play

This week, we explore play.

If you have a young child or a pet in your life, it will be a great help.

First, what is play, what is playing?

What is the difference between playing a game and “just” playing?

In the divine play of incarnation we are playing the earth-game, being a human. As humans, we are all playing one or more games here on planet Earth.

We are doing this program to play a certain game better, the game of evolution, the game of developing an harmonious human being, the game of living an inspired life, for which we need to investigate our internal structures, beliefs and conditioning so we can then choose to be empty, more free, to allow inspirational energy to flow through us.

But back to the task of the week.

Play. Take time to play this week.

How about playing in the beach sand, playing making a blanket fort, playing with paints, painting with fingers, or toes, playing with paper, rocks, wooden blocks or building an obstacle course and imagine going on an expedition, pretend being various animals?

Those are just some suggestions. It could be that you end up just sitting there for a while, maybe even getting bored.

In this play there is no goal to win or to be the best or to create something worthwhile selling or even keeping.

For this daily play, it is exploring and having fun, being curious, experimenting, alone or together with someone else.

Share with us what happened for you with this one.

Birdie Transformation Program week Six

Gratitude

Yes, there is always something to be grateful for.

Investigation: what IS gratitude? What is an attitude of gratitude?

Find information on how a focus on gratitude changes the brain/us. Share it with us.

Here are the two explorations/tasks for the week

One:

For this week, every evening, write down at least 10 things you are grateful for.

Include at least one item from that same day.

Go over the list and mark the ones you also FEEL grateful for.

For the rest of the week, you can play exploring the difference of being grateful for something and feeling grateful for something – what is the difference for you?

As you go about your day, notice when you are or feel grateful.

To give you an example: a while back I used to wake up in a lot of pain. It went on for a couple of years. A hot morning shower felt so incredibly good and helped with that pain a lot. I felt – and still feel it every single day – so grateful to live in a place where there is hot running water. Thank you!!!

Two:

This is easily done when already in bed and before going to sleep, but you can do it any time.

Think of, sense or touch areas or organs of your body and thank them for having been with you all this life, worked for you, served you, protected you, …and so on.

Imagine your body’s cells or organ’s responses when appreciated and cared for or when complained about, blamed or neglected. Imagine how it would be if all the cells of your body were accepted and welcomed as they are. How might that feel?

Whether or not you have found evidence of benefit in appreciating your physical body and it’s varying parts, for better or worse, together your body as a whole and its specific organs and various
parts, have gotten you this far.

Another example: there was a time I really really thanked my heart for having had to feel so much and yet, there it was still beating.

Sometimes the gratitude for certain events can’t be understood and felt till years later.

A long time ago a friend wrote this at the end of an e-mail:

Always remember gratitude.

Birdie Transformation Program

Week 005 – Moving like a Baby

This week we will get in touch with our body in a new way. We begin to move. Maybe it would be better to say, we will begin again to move like we used to. I know, you already know how to move. You have moved all your life and your muscles, tendons and bones are in a particular habit. Maybe you even power through some exercises every day, because you know it is beneficial, or you like it or it makes you feel better. That is all okay.

We start at the beginning again, learning to move again with a different attention. Things might slow down quite a bit.

We will pretend to be a baby, with no agenda, no demands, just there, just following the impulses of our bodies.

If you have a 4-6 month old baby in your life, observe how it moves. Or, watch the video below.

Explore moving like a baby who does not know how to crawl yet, does not walk, does not yet stand.

It can look around, bring the hands together, arch, tilt its head back and to the side, move the legs, turn and push itself up, maybe get on all fours, maybe scoot forward, but not crawl yet.

Lie down on a surface comfortable for you. If you have a yoga mat, that works also. You can put on some gentle music, or not.

Lie down, feel where your body touches the ground, then – just lay there.

Maybe nothing more wants to happen for a long time.

Or, at some point, maybe you feel like looking around, or look at your hands or do little movements as they want to occur. Play with it, feel your legs, your back, your arms, your head, your neck. Maybe a stretch wants to happen, or a start of a turn, or maybe hardly anything at all. Start listening and let your body tell you where to stretch, what to move and where to open. Let the impulse come and follow it. And remember, babies do not judge how they move. They also burp, fart, sneeze, hick-up, sigh, whimper, cry, smile, frown and laugh as it comes.

Do this every day for as long as you want.

“Everything we feel and everything that happens to us is in the body.” – Angela Farmer

To live an inspired life, there needs to be internal space for energy to flow. The clearer the vessel, the more freely the energy flows. It we are tight, full of held stress, full of unconscious frozen energy blocks, energy can’t move and we are stuck and chronically stressed out. Anything more that happens can stress us out enough to explode, just to relieve pressure.

We need to feel to heal, we need to be able to feel our bodies.

Enjoy the exercise of this week.

Video.

https://youtu.be/D9Ko7U1pLlg

addendum

For those who would like to go further on sensing and listening within, you have a few options: one is the financially cheapest: practice listening to your body’s impulses, your sensations, your body’s way of saying yes or no, its way of telling you there is danger, or to relax, despite what your head is telling you.

If you have intuition, this sense or curiosity to go further with a trained professional, below are listed three method’s good to research, and if you have a good practitioner available in your area, give it a try.

Somatic Experiencing, which focuses on one’s perceived body sensations (or somatic experiences). It was created by trauma therapist Peter A. Levine. Very good for any kind of past trauma and chronic pain still held in the body.

Hakomi. The Hakomi Method of Experiential Psychotherapy is a body-centered approach to therapy developed by Ron Kurtz. I combines somatic awareness with experiential techniques to promote psychological growth and transformation.

The Feldenkrais method, invention of Israeli physicist Moshe Feldenkrais, is a way of retraining the body. There are two modes of this retraining. The first is group classes called Awareness Through Movement or ATMs, group classes where the instructor simply stays where he/she is, not touching the participant or doing demonstrations.. The second mode, Functional Integration or FI , is more capable of causing dramatic improvements. They are done with a trained practitioner. In one-on-one sessions. You remain fully clothed on a low table and the practitioner gently moves or presses your body in different directions to make you aware of a subconscious tension and holding patterns that make your movement less efficient, and can help you learn more efficient ways of coordinating your body.

Are there other methods to help with developing this kind of body awareness, discovering pattens and beliefs held in the body? There are, but I don’t know enough about those to be able to recommend them.

Birdie Transformation Program

Week 003

Daily Morning Minute

The beginning of daily morning practice and connecting to what is deepest in you. Setting intention for the day.

First: In the first next day or two of week 3, find an item, could be a little statue, an image, a book with sacred texts, a painting…something, just one object that signifies to you a representation of the sacred Being, God, consciousness and that you feel connected to. It is not just about finding an object that in your head you know is supposed to represent the divine, but something you have a feeling for and through which you can access a more expanded state than just your own body-mind.

This object should be small enough to take with you in a backpack, small enough to put up in a room that is shared with others.

Most likely, you already are using such an item in your altar. If you don’t have an altar, you can read more about purpose of an altar below.

Second: Place this item in such a way that it is visible and easily accessible where you live. It should not require for you to go into a special room or house or shed, but be right there where it is available to you.

Third: Before you go about your regular daily life chores and activities (after your bathroom routines) , stand before this item, put your palms together and hold them in front of your chest. There is a sacred space created by this connection that will surround you and the item.

What happens next will depend on you and the day and what is going on in your life.

Take 30 seconds to one or 2 minutes and, for example, express gratitude for this day to be alive, or visualize a light inside yourself that slowly gets bigger and radiates all around you. Or, see a light connecting your to the core of the earth and all the way up to the heaves. Or state your intention to be more present in this world today. Or ask for help from the higher to guide your words and actions towards being kind, or be of benefit to all beings, or ask for help in being present when your are triggered by what is happening around you. Or ask the universe to bring you what is most needed for your transformation. Maybe you want to send love to some people of animals. You can imagine your energy being getting larger and larger till it extends to infinity. As you stand there, it will be apparent.

The purpose is to connect to the higher and deeper in you and consciously set your intention for the day.

Do this every day.

As your ability to access deeper states of being increases, the nature of this minute will change.

As you do this practice, notice how your days will change and how you are being in this world.

It is a matter of a one minute practice. Not having “time” is no excuse not to do it. You might feel internal resistance. Investigate within yourself what that is about. If you are not ready, that is okay. There is no judgment. Just know it is available always.

Daily practice is very important and useful on this path. For now you could just take it as a given, or you can also do some research on it, or, you can try it out and find out the truth of that for yourself!

Many people don’t yet have such a practice, at any time of day.

This will establish a first daily morning practice, and one minutes is not too much time.

If you forget one day, just set your intention right where you remember.

If you already have a daily morning meditation practice, that is great. Maybe all you need to add is setting your intention for that day.

Function of an Altar Space

Excerpted from Let The Healing Begin

Commonly, “altars” are places that mark a space as not common to everyday life, but indicate that something is happening or practiced here that is of a spiritual, non-everyday, non-ordinary nature. You can find such special places, altars, in all corners and cultures of the world. Many people have an altar type place in their homes – their sacred place, a place of stillness for letting go of the mundane to connect the deeper part of themselves and with higher vibrations and spaces, angels, spirit guides or deities.

Altar objects are items of special spiritual significance to the person involved. If you have an altar, you most likely have several items on it. Some items, like prayer beads, especially blessed ones, can definitely acquire the status of sacred.

Depending on religious practices, beliefs and insights or tendencies, different people may choose different objects to place on the altar. These altar objects usually hold a very special meaning and are held in highest regard. They may be useful in accessing altered states of consciousness and often are imbued with special energy. They can function as connecting devices to a deity, spiritual school, group or space and more.

Altars do not have to be expensive to function or convey a sense of the sacred. Basically, anything you set up for the purpose can function as an altar.

Why would one want such an altar space?

“One” would want it to help facilitate non-ordinary states of awareness or awakening, to have a place to pray or sit in stillness. A place where non-ordinary states of consciousness are invoked and the ordinary worldly concerns are left behind. It is where we intend to access higher spaces, the divine, the sacred, unity or higher guidance. It can be used as a centering device, for invocation, to pray, to slow down and access a space of going with the flow, an open heart and compassion.

One of the most important conditions for accessing altered states of consciousness is the switching from beta brain predominance to other brain-wave states. This can be induced with the help of sounds, scents, moods, meditation, relaxation techniques.

Some altars are special purpose altars, such as Labyrinth Readers’ altars.

While the connection between reader and voyager is non-physical and requires nothing other than the essential tools which are natural to all beings, attention, presence and will – our experience as readers is that a properly equipped altar dramatically assists in the process of reading.

Over time, the reading space, or generally, any altar space that is used as such, gets charged, and merely sitting down can trigger the body to change states.

Consider creating such a space in your home.

Ultimately, we will realize the sacred space is something that is part of us and accessible anywhere at any time. This will take practice.

Addendum

Sharing my item for the morning minute, week three, which has been with me for many years. I grew up catholic, and even though I no longer subscribe to any religion, and even though there were goddesses from other religions I felt drawn to in the past, this image holds Divine Love, unconditional love, nurturing love for me – and provides the space to expand and include all to infinity, the space to ask for help, the space to surrender

I don’t seem to have an item that I have felt it embodies the sacred Being for me. What could I do then?

an item that inspires you to more than the ordinary? something that reminds you of that with is infinite? Love, grace? an image of a goddess? the ABD? a candle? . and maybe you don’t need one…and can stand in your sacred space and don’t need an item? maybe you would feel drawn to playfulness, or dance…as in dancing shiva? maybe THOR…the nordic god 🙂 maybe it is a small item that was given to you by your grandmother, signifying total acceptance…who knows…even without an item, take the minute, put your palms together to connect with …that which is…could be the item won’t show up till you start

you have done so many readings…you can stand there and create the 8 pointed chamber and stretch it to the infinite…and so your item is the (to others) invisible chamber….

you have done so many readings…you can stand there and create the 8 pointed chamber and stretch it to the infinite…and so your item is the (to others) invisible chamber….

Since I read this third-week task, I was pondering about what you said about the object: “It is not just about finding an object that in your head you know is supposed to represent the divine, but something you have a feeling for”
My mind is quite agile and that has been helpful in this lifetime, but it also is dominant many times when it is not completely necessary. I wish we can address this subject too in this program, or maybe all the process can lead us to a place where the mind eases a bit and let space to see and feel from the heart.

I like your suggestion about the eight points of the chamber and the one about placing my hands on the chest. I will combine those.

and ye

Addendum

Sharing my item for the morning minute, week three, which has been with me for many years. I grew up catholic, and even though I no longer subscribe to any religion, and even though there were goddesses from other religions I felt drawn to in the past, this image holds Divine Love, unconditional love, nurturing love for me – and provides the space to expand and include all to infinity, the space to ask for help, the space to surrender

I don’t seem to have an item that I have felt it embodies the sacred Being for me. What could I do then?

an item that inspires you to more than the ordinary? something that reminds you of that with is infinite? Love, grace? an image of a goddess? the ABD? a candle? . and maybe you don’t need one…and can stand in your sacred space and don’t need an item? maybe you would feel drawn to playfulness, or dance…as in dancing shiva? maybe THOR…the nordic god 🙂 maybe it is a small item that was given to you by your grandmother, signifying total acceptance…who knows…even without an item, take the minute, put your palms together to connect with …that which is…could be the item won’t show up till you start

you have done so many readings…you can stand there and create the 8 pointed chamber and stretch it to the infinite…and so your item is the (to others) invisible chamber….

you have done so many readings…you can stand there and create the 8 pointed chamber and stretch it to the infinite…and so your item is the (to others) invisible chamber….

Since I read this third-week task, I was pondering about what you said about the object: “It is not just about finding an object that in your head you know is supposed to represent the divine, but something you have a feeling for”
My mind is quite agile and that has been helpful in this lifetime, but it also is dominant many times when it is not completely necessary. I wish we can address this subject too in this program, or maybe all the process can lead us to a place where the mind eases a bit and let space to see and feel from the heart.

I like your suggestion about the eight points of the chamber and the one about placing my hands on the chest. I will combine those.

and yes, the space of the eight pointed chamber and touching your chest…is a space where you can do any invocation for the day

about week 3, the daily morning minute: the main point is to do the daily morning minute every day before starting the rest of the day. – setting intention for the day, and/or connect with the highest in you or god/Absolute. if you don’t need a focal point, an item, a little altar, that is ok

yes, the space of the eight pointed chamber and touching your chest…is a space where you can do any invocation for the day

about week 3, the daily morning minute: the main point is to do the daily morning minute every day before starting the rest of the day. – setting intention for the day, and/or connect with the highest in you or god/Absolute. if you don’t need a focal point, an item, a little altar, that is ok