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Sonic Relations- How Sound is the World? at Triple Ecology Gathering

21/8/2015

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Triple Ecology Gathering- Sonic Relations How sound is the world? Blog 21st August 2015

© Catherine Meeson words and pictures

A Sharing of Deep Sacred and Healing Ecologies at Kinglake April 24-26 2015

The Triple Ecology Gathering came about by a collective dreaming and happened to manifest  in direct alignment with some workshops I had been offering titled ‘Healing Persons Healing Communities Healing Planet- An Empathic Visionary Practice’. This also came close on the heals of finding the Be the Change Community and doing the Awakening the dreamer Changing the Dream Symposium leader training of Pachamama Alliance. At this time I started to see just how many others were saying the same things as I was and in what fields they were active and these fields had names. They were not just indigenous and tribal peoples, but scientists theologians, activists artists, every shade and colour of humanity one could think of. This was very heartening to me as I had felt very alone in my perspectives and work for a long time. I had been presenting workshops which deal with healing of person and planet through creative arts methods and incorporating a whole lot of spiritual wisdom and scientific perspective from an artists and healers orientation.

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So the Triple Ecology Collective was dreamed into being by a small group of mostly women but a few gentleman and we began the work of event planning with a  focus on the three ecologies and also linking in to the global knowledge and lore commons around the triple theme in all its incarnations. On our first dreaming day in Warburton we planted our intention by the river with the trees as witness and the waters to hear our prayers. Our children played by the river, they who are the future  they for who we do this work, as well as the earth herself  and the whole life communities. To summarise- we defined the ecologies as-

DEEP ECOLOGY –IS DISSOLVING THE SEPARATION BETWEEN HUMAN AND NATURE

SACRED ECOLOGY –ACKNOWLEDGES THAT THE NATURAL WORLD  REQUIRES REVERENCE AND  UNDERSTANDING

HEALING ECOLOGY –TWO WAY EXPERIENCE OF HEALING BETWEEN HUMAN AND EARTH

Many people were invited to come camp out with us and host workshops along these themes. Our home ended up being Kinglake which was so devastatingly affected by fire in the black Saturday fires a few years back. Our site host lost his whole Wildnerness Park facilities and had to rebuild. The Trees spoke to us all weekend. The land has not fully recovered despite green shoots everywhere. The trees are amazing beings who must of screamed as their life force receded to the roots and the inner layers of their skins to hold on for dear life as the flames encircled and devoured their foliage to the very tree tops. There is a marked absence of bird life and song, even for autumn, I listened , there were a few birds but not  what one would expect from a lush forest. Tragic. So we were well placed to bring healing intent here to this land where over a hundred people and no doubt thousands of animals and plants lost their lives.. Please enjoy the photos of the space.

Some camped some cabined, and we had tipis for workshops as well as the main hall and the forest. We had a magnificent caterer Sun Hyland  who made absolutely divine food nourishing everyone. It was a weekend of linking head heart and hand, or the thought aspect, and the higher mind to the heart –compassion, to action and will being the  tangible means  of change making.

In alignment with this my offering was  from a Sonic Activists perspective.

Catherine Meeson is a multi modal artist/ musician trained healer and transpersonal therapist with a passion for arts eco activism. She uses creative arts therapy methods in workshops to explore person and place relations with an experiential focus using all sensory mechanisms. She has her own record label Sonic Sanctuary – for her Ambient electro acoustic folk rock and soundscape work. She is currently developing comprehensive course material in Sound Music and Healing field. 

TRIPLE ECOLOGY OFFERING

SONIC RELATIONS-  HOW SOUND IS THE WORLD? ACOUSTIC ECOLOGY REFLECTIONS

‘Exploring knowledge gleaned from a lifetime of study and life experience in the field of sound music and health, Cath will explore Sonic and power relations (acoustic ecology) and how sound affects and reflects the health in ecosystems. It’s biological, Psychological and ecological impact.  This will be experiential and contemplative using sound, image, lecture and white board with process work. She is a ‘Sonics Educator and activist’ .

My presentation was educational and contemplative as I provide perspectives and then ask you to experience engage , contemplate and dialogue finding your own answers I provide the facts from a spiritual science and knowledge of the ancients perspective, also incorporating  conventional science  findings from the diverse sound studies field and music therapeutics. I covered the nature of sound- human and animal perception, sound levels and propagation, sonic behaviour in space, environs, Masura Emoto , Margaret Watts Hughes, Cymatics and the World Soundscape Project, Acoustic Ecology. Prayer intention, Sounds affect on matter, and sounds affect physiologically, psychologically emotionally spiritually and how it impacts behaviour and explorations of how sound mediates relations. And I posed the need for ‘a sonic ethics’, challenging things like the outdoor dance parties which take over natural spaces and bring high level sound systems in affecting all life around them. Such knowledge is the staple of my work and also getting incorporated into my Sound Music Health training, equipping you with the knowledge and information to be a voice and presence for healing, sanity and sanctuary.I assert that the world( as a larger collective entity of persons  and systems) is not very sound.

The Triple Ecology Collective also had the intention to establish a community of practice by networking all interested in this work and establishing a foundation for further events knowledge dissemination and training/ workshops etc.

We are about to begin working on our 2016 gathering and the Triple Ecology  Gathering is also taking root up north where persons are engaged with organising a Triple Ecology Gathering  of their own up Byron Way.

If anyone is  interested in my work I would be happy to come  and do a presentation as a consultant or workshop facilitator  and can tailor work specifically for your event. I offer half day training and weekend workshops. Please peruse my other blogs for more information about my work  and visit my music website below.

Next series of blogs a belated review  looking at Conference Earth Shaping the Future a two day event held last year at Deakin University. Cluster  a new facebook model for Do-gooders enabling social change and mass scale networking and directly engaged philanthropy, and Exploring Eco Spirituality- Faith Ethics and Professional Life with the Australian Earth Laws Alliance plus What Counts as a Good Life for the Planet, for cities and for individuals (notice the triple theme) an event held t St Pauls Cathedral as part of National Science Week a panel of theologians and academics for senior high school  students and community . Stay tuned for these.

Also visit my Youtube channel for examples of my music, performance art- sacred theatre and arts activism. I hope to branch into documentary making and video commentary later in the year as well as film making  and have a third album Contemplating Buddha due for release soon as well as a three act play By the Mandate of Heaven well under way.

LINKS
https://www.youtube.com/user/CatherineMeeson

 www.creativetherapeuticencounters.com.au

www.catherinemeeson.com
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ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL REHABILITATION

8/1/2015

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© Catherine Meeson June 2012 & 2015

I am part of a local Friends network whom 9 years ago began the task of rehabilitating our very neglected local creek. There were a few dozen to begin with and well as with all things volunteer, enthusiasm wanes ,life and other duties get in the way and the work slows. There are many factors that contribute towards successful cooperative ventures but in the case of environment and conservation I believe it is love, love of life, love of all life, the natural order and an appreciation for beauty. What also drives efforts such as ours, from my perspective, is a deep sorrow over what modern man’s lifestyles and habitation are  doing to the environment. Mankind mercilessly continues to clear land for homes and farming, reducing the natural habitat pushing the boundaries of flora and fauna further and further into the void of extinction. In place we would plant what we would like, often misguided choices that are not sustainable in the name of vanity and show. Now there is nothing wrong with a beautiful garden and a mix of worlds, but I think it is a question of balance and now we have the know how; of  what is, appropriate. Are our actions in harmony with the greater good or just selfish desires? That is a question that must be tackled by everyone alive, it must come from the heart and the mind aligned to higher will for  the benefit of all living beings.

We co-habitate this planet, we should not dominate it. Dominion has been falsely and  selfishly misconstrued in the name of power, to corrupt and abuse at will. Our dominion in the misunderstood name of the Eternal Father has ruined the mothers balance and killed off many of her life forms. Enough said in this light for now.
This is a story , that I share of inspiration and a little knowledge that may promote a different view of the natural world and the healing process. I believe as many do,  whom are inspired by the old ways, the knowledge and wisdom of indigenous cultures and our own Western spiritual teachings that the Earth is sacred. The garden of Eden, of delights, of experience, plenty and beauty. The earth is populated with a bounty of species most of whom we will never know personally, and yet they dwell with us. Their cell stuff composed of the same earth materials, the water they consume , ours too, the air they breathe and generate; our heritage together. It is all these beings together that generate the web of life and the planetary life force. The Earth herself has an aura which science terms the Atmosphere, with  layers, the Troposphere, closest to Earth, followed by the Stratosphere and Mesosphere and the Thermosphere. They serve the same function as an aura, for a smaller being, life support and protection. It is not just an inanimate mass of rock with plants and animals dwelling upon it. There is great variety in the many types of species and habitats and ecosystems in which they dwell. Climatic variations, topographic variations, geological and  botanical, account for the diversity that has developed over aeons of time, etc. The point  in mentioning this is the need to understand what a given place can and cannot sustain, which brings into question how much we should impose our will and technologies upon adapting and changing the given to do what we want. The question has to be asked by every human being, and the responsibility for the consequences of our actions born equally by all.

In Australia we have the benefit of insight from habitat change and species introduction, being able to observe in a small time frame what such introductions of non native species has done to the plant and animal kingdoms. Across the nation many volunteers  and employees are setting about the task of rehabilitating lands and waterways. It is a long process, indeed inter-generational work, costing a great deal of effort, money, and heartfelt enthusiasm. It is take  a great deal of effort now and  into the future for coming generations who value and understand the integrity of all life systems, of all living beings, to create the needed change. The site at the beginning and in 2012 in the gallery below.


In these short years we have been able to remove noxious weeds, plants, and re-vegetate with native and indigenous plants of the region. It is important to know what is part of the region,  the local ecosystem, for the web of life that dwells there, providing food, shelter, materials and habitat for them. We took photos when beginning and now we have a transformed place. The energy is different, the community ownership different. The work is done by many in the community from volunteers in the group to various businesses, schools, Corrections Victoria people, NAB, Volunteers Australia,  Melton special School, Local council, Western Water and Melbourne Water contractors. This collective collaborative effort has wielded the results you can see for yourself.

All whom participate tend to have a sense of pride and enhanced self worth for having contributed. Many say it is a relaxing thing to do, though at times strenuous,. On a completely different level,  the title of the piece is called Community  Social and Environmental rehabilitation. As we tend to the rehabilitation of Earth and water, of our planet, we are tending to the rehabilitation of our own bodies and souls . Through affinity, resonance, relatedness and a whole complex bio energetic phenomena, involving the planetary life force that the many ancient masters speak of as chi/ prana etc. We exchange chi, life force, life energy. Our energy field harmonises with the field of place spoken about in geomantic literature. We bring our heartbeat into rhythm with place, our brainwaves synchronise with the Earth’s natural frequencies , or the Schumann resonance of 7.86 Hz cycles per second. If one even imagines the Earth inside an Aura, a bubble is  what one sees, like an egg in the first stages of cellular division. We live in this planetary egg.

For optimal states of health and well being people need to dwell in various consciousness states and be able to transition effectively between them. The life enhancing  states  support  both relaxation and stimulation. Yet our culture tends to be geared to ‘ gogo go’ on stimulation all the time, in excess. Our electrical lives, plugged into the ‘Great Grid Umbilicus’, the new navel, which runs at 60hz to power our devices. To be in those fields all the time is unhealthy . We seek out peace, quite, and nature instinctively  to restore the balance. The sounds of nature are also composed of harmonics and frequencies that are life enhancing,  covering the complete range of human hearing 20- 20,000 Hz. These sounds were created as part of the same bounty of life as we were, part of the creators bosom.  Coming to places like the creek exposes you to elements of sound that are harmonious, and renewing, such as bees, frogs, water trickling, bird call, gentle and soft sounds. One will leave felling released and recharged, even after a short time.

In Australia we have a landscape of floods and rains, as was once said by one of Australia’s early poets, Dorothea Mackeller. This means, it is quite normal for us to have extremes . I reflect on this because the old river red gums that grow so beautifully along the creek can be uprooted and have their mighty branches snap.  Many of the younger River reds we have planted have been uprooted by flooding, or vandalism but not all. The whole river has changed, and the walking courses differ from what they were before settlement. This Toolern Creek site is earmarked for development and so is the Werribee River and Melton Reservoir. This means more pollution, more  illegal dumping and less habitat for many creatures. These lands were once very different 150 years ago. But all was cleared by White man for farming and grazing.

Collectively we grieve, we grieve for the loss  that we see all around us, of habitat, of species, of life. Our culture our civilisation seems like a big monster, a mighty machine with so many cogs, so complex, that no simple solutions are enough.  How could there ever be enough to renew and replenish what we have already lost, the thousands of species slipping into the void of extinction daily..

I come here to sit and commune, to listen to nature who has taught me so much. I come here to plant and weed, to remove rubbish, I come here to vent and rage at what I see, I come here to say sorry. I come to listen to myself, to soul, to the movements of the whole which can always be discerned in the smaller systems of life. A river is like a tributary leading into the body, connecting, nerves, muscles and bones interconnecting through it’s arterial system, the whole. The rivers are the life blood of the earth. For aeons, we have depended upon the rivers and the seas, all one needs to do is look, all one needs to do is listen,  to feel,  to know. Know that the balance needs restoring; know that our actions are powerful. Know that we can be creators of great beauty and harmony as well as destroyers.

The dual nature of existence lay within us all.  Humanity is a Creator Destroyer, but the actions of our species ‘now’ are the key. Not all destruction is destructive. Destruction can lead to regeneration and  renewal. Maybe we need a great destruction of biblical proportions, to re evaluate. It is a question of balanced relations. Not all creations are creative in the sense of  the beauty of an illumined mind. We destroy the beauty and we create ugliness and in -harmony. We go against the wisdoms of the ancients. We deny our collective knowledge and heritage at our own peril. Now we are trying to recreate the beauty and reverse the ugliness. They are ALL manifestations of the being within. We are planetary stewards, stewards of life, we were not meant to destroy the delicate balance. With that I ask you to consider what your legacy will be? Because the responsibility is yours you see, and mine, and his and hers and theirs. There is no us and them in relation to a whole race of beings’ dwelling within a planetary system. There is only ‘Us’.
By listening, we hear. We enhance our hearing and our perception our knowledge. We listen to what is audible, and that will tell us a lot about the nature of any given place. Have you wondered why we don’t seem to see or hear, the birds, the sounds of the natural world any more, bees, leaves, water rustling. We have created towers in the sky. Fields of houses  replace the once green forests. Concrete runs rampant like a tumour. Our creations blind us, they block out the suns light, they cast shadow .they limit our perception of the Universe. Our creations deafen us, traffic, trains, the sounds of industry, of our electronic gadgetry. We terrify the animals with sound pollution. Our electronic illumination has not necessarily illumined our minds or hearts. We have desensitised ourselves to the planetary being and now we seek to colonise Mars!

The planet contains a living evolving energy field. I ask you,  What do you need to survive as a human being, the essentials?. Cast aside your way of life for just a moment and ponder your essence. Water, food, shelter and  relatedness. This all comes from the Earth, it is sustained by the planetary being. Whether vegetarian, meat eater, vegan, it is not just about the nutrients we ingest but the life force, the essence. We are all composed of the same stuff, and we are all dependants, though we claim otherwise. What happens when crops fail, when floods, destroy yield, when scorching sun turns crops to a crisp and  dries up lakes and rivers? Through time, through our history we moved on.  Through time and through geological history such changes happen, slowly and rapidly. We as a species adapt. All other species adapt or perish. We don’t have many places we can migrate too any more, and we leave pollution and destruction in our wake, toxicity and residue that will seriously interfere with the functioning of  ‘all species’.

So in this realisation, is a key to the future health of us all, of our planet, our cultures, and the collective of beings. It is not only our physical selves that suffer, but emotionally, mentally, spiritually we suffer too.  So do the animals. So do the plants. And so does the mineralogical layers of Earth which are strata of  all our life. True healing can not occur only at mind level, through laboratory studies and chemical trials / vaccines or pharmacology. It has to start at the level of relations. Planetary relations between all kingdoms. From the place of ‘I am that’, of kinship with all life, as the Indigenous have always demonstrated. It is only since the Industrial Revolution that we have gone out of kilter in such a dramatic way, the machine age, the age of science, which must come to the conclusion that whilst we can seek to know, we will always be humble seekers, we are given so much , so with this we must carefully consider. True healing needs a bodily integration, a spiritual insight, an energetic knowing , a relatedness. A comprehension of the whole being by the whole being.

I believe that conservation and rehabilitation should be integrated into schooling, into formal rehabilitation programs, for physical level rehabilitation and mental health programs. I believe if we create places of sanctuary and healing and allow people to interact with the environment in the multitude of ways possible, that  healing will be much more rapid . All hospitals should have sacred gardens, doctors surgeries could be fitted with plants, harmonious colour schemes, mellow music to ease patient anxieties.  . Urban landscapes should have not only parks, but many many more community gardens for people to grow food and flowers, for  all of us to learn what was once our collective heritage. . Education should have curricula centred around contact with the natural world where children are taken out regularly on field trips as part of their learning., Writing , maths all the essential stuff can be integrated into field learning, tactile contact.  To comprehend what conservation is, one needs to have  an active relation to established, honoured and  nurtured.

On a bio energetic level we need to connect to the earth through our base chakra, through the body, through the feet, through the hands. If we work on this level we will affect all other levels of being. I believe spiritual realisation is the key to integrated living and community environmental rehabilitation.. If our base chakra is blocked, we will struggle to connect to the earth, we will struggle with connectedness in relations, we will have body problems and problems on other levels of our being. Our cultural practises are very mind oriented and the global body (Earth and person) suffers with conditions such as obesity, anorexia, many diseases and traumas, which reflect our relation with and to, Earth. The better connected to the earth we are, the healthier is our state of being. If we work to heal the environment, we work to heal ourselves, in reciprocal relationship. If we work to heal ourselves, a consequence of balance is to walk balance, in all relations., and contribute to giving at a community level. But this level must include the Earth and it’s inhabitants. Human beings can no longer be the dominant species, wreaking havoc on the natural world. We need to become wise beings . We need to let the heart guide, the heart of love, not pride. The heart that is connected to the same pulse as all life,  which is connected to the wisdom of the ages. We were given these wisdoms, as a guide, the more  we ignore them on a collective specie hood  level the greater the peril we will face on a , resource level, habitat level into the future. The days of instant gratification and short term gain must cease to be motivational factors.

The question now is what will we do? How will we choose to be? Given what we now know? Will we collectively heal and restore the environment and our community or will we continue on our selfish mindless path, consumers who preach dominion at the expense of other species and who practise  exploitation as a god given right?

See Beginning Image and Now (2012) Images 3 & 4 in  the gallery below.

Your body is my body.

Social groups come together as a form of social service but the principles go much deeper. If this level of volunteer effort was embraced and actively pursued by many more, the transformation would be immense, yet one can only act from a sense of relation to. If someone feels they have no relation to, they will not act. So how do we re-establish interest, in relation, to? It is the relationships that are primary, the relations to all things, the Buddhists speak about it, all Native traditions speak about it.  We know in our collective psyche what we must do, yet our habits die hard, the immensity numbs, the apparent lack of time thwarts many a willing hand. It will not take miracles, just a little  individual and collective effort, a little love to restore right relations. A snowflake can start a snowball which can start an avalanche. Let our avalanche be motivated by love and relation.

One can just come and work on whatever level one is able. Even people who seem incapacitated, such as folk in a wheel chair, could be involved, giving out the plants to be planted that are on the table, or handing out the seeds to scatter! When engaged one slows down, connects with the body and the breath, becoming absorbed in the activity and replenishing the nervous system. It is  like an active  meditation and relaxing for most, even though digging can be really hard work, and bending all the time etc.  Even people with diminished capacity can still give what they can. Every bit counts. Administration, management of people, communications,  storytelling and teaching the young, conducting walks and exploration days. For those whom have no garden, it is a way to tend the garden, establishing in them a sense of ownership, relation and pride.

know for me this process has been very healing, very heartening. I know there is an emerging field devoted to Eco - psychology or therapy, the use of nature for health and healing. It is about life, at a fundamental level of relatedness, belonging and connection. I keep saying his because it is true. Many have grown up with little contact with nature since they were kids. Some grow up in countries living in high rise with hardly a green thing around!

I have been on a long healing journey  from both chronic  physical illness, and P.T.S.D./ Depression. I have been able to reaffirm self and relation to the wider world. It was not something I was taught it was something that was within, that was nurtured by listening and relating directly, by interacting with nature in all her elements. I have rebuilt slowly, remodelling my life, to what I want. This process of remodelling and reconnecting could be offered as intentional rehabilitation on many many levels, for diverse client populations. There are many community health concerns which could benefit from working with nature, both in environments which are in a good state and those that are not.

Concerns and  fears and phobias over snakes and spiders, or other predators/ dangerous animals should not halt our efforts. Land owners and corporations  have a greater responsibility to the collective and the  span of time, because they have the Earth to work with, they have more resources . We have together worked on a piece of land, a water way that while extremely small and modest, it is a beginning, an example of what can be done with dedication and many hands over time. Yet one needs to realise that it is indeed inter generational work ( it has taken generations to get like this ), to change the habits of our ancestry, of ourselves and replant the seeds for the future in a more ecological manner , educating our children in right relations.  These are our tasks. I  want everyone to get inspired, to care,  to heal the earth and themselves which will affect the  community level at the same time. Make connections, pioneer, build relations and inclusiveness, every effort is worthwhile. Even a small crack in a hard veneer is enough to allow the trickle of wisdom to enter.

We are a bit beyond just doing my bit with recycling. Consumer habits and practises need to change We need a fundamental rehabilitation of our whole way of life, as a culture from the ground up. We have the knowledge, we have the ways, we have the means, Do we have the Will?

The beginning and looking up the embankment (see gallery below image 5 &6)

Leadership is needed from Individuals, from Corporations and Organisations, from Schools and Governments, policy makers, all levels of society, to effect the necessary change in a timely manner. Economics can no longer be the motivating factor for action. We must take the task on, of  Environmental and Social Rehabilitation , for it is our collective  responsibility.

From the ground up it is time for direct action.

In closing, I want to apologise if this sounds preachy. My mother always criticised me when I was passionate about anything, and yet I must speak up, with the voice I have been given, with the insight I have developed however meagre and use the abilities I have to make a difference. Here is a link to a wonderful article I found which supports my proposition here, giving context within the very framework which got us into this mess, that of our own theological interpretations and societal underpinnings..
an interesting article on the same is  available at the link below

http://www.directionjournal.org/article/?922

A book I highly recommend on Environmental Rehabilitation is Earth Repair by Leila Darwish
http://earthrepair.ca/

I also recommend if you want to explore these themes and see what you can do to respond, participate in The Awakening the dreamer Changing the dream symposium developed by the Pachamama Alliance. 
http://www.pachamama.org/engage

Local Facilitators including myself can eb connected to via Be The Change Australia
http://www.bethechange.org.au/


The kingdom of Heaven is within, and if so, then  what is within your kingdom?  for that; is what you bring into the world!.

Friends of Toolern Creek 2009

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‘SANCTUARIES OF SANITY’ © by Catherine Meeson 2014

26/5/2014

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All Rights reserved Catherine Meeson 17 May 2014 
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It would seem that every day we hear of more pollutions, chaos and sufferings. It would appear to be, because the great collective believe it to be so, as part of our collective dreaming. Dreaming born out of largely unconscious dynamics, urges and power relations. That which is manifest is mirror of our mind, mirror of our emotional state and physical state. We dream out nightmares into being until we awaken.

Our sanity is being tested by our creativity, our creativity not born in balanced relation and love but a mix of curiosity, fear,  desperation, destructiveness,  and the love of power. The earth once pristine offered sanctuary amidst her wild beauty. Yet everywhere our kind has stepped, have we interfered with the natural order and wrought our own creations of destruction.

Coming out of the dark ages into scientific realizations and now consciousness realizations demands that we own our ability. If we do not start exercising wisdom born from experience, we rent our own demise. The way is clear...........choose to create sanctuary of lose our sanity.

Sanctuaries of sanity are needed which are complete zones/ spaces protected at a mineralogical, biological level, electromagnetic level, and sonic level. All life within must be held sacred and remain untouched or rehabilitated so that the minerals can serve their function as the strata upon which the plant world resides, which supports the animal and provides a rich tapestry of being for all life to co exist, where,  for us  we can come  to heal, reflect, learn and realize. In times gone by this function was served by sacred sites. SANCTITY HAS BEEN DEFILED.

National parks are not enough. They are sold off to mining explorations, or forestry operations, World heritage listings undermined. Collective agreements violated, action wrought with no consequence but for short term gain, no thought given to the decimation of species and ecological balance. Once gone the breath of a thousand years no longer transpires, the branches are gone which gave home to many.

Increasingly disease and  stress, are manifesting within us, within all species. We are constantly tuned in to the great grid umbilicus, the electromagnetic age.  For biological integrity and balance we need to disconnect from our devices and connect in to  at the biological level with other living beings, and the planets magnetic field, We are severing ourselves from it and believing if we acquire the knowledge we can go to other planets when this one fails us. We are out of our minds, behaving with insanity. Only insanity would sabotage the integrity of the whole. The corporate monster will permit us to bite off our own tail.

Our pollutions span the waters, the earth, the air and even the region of fire with the use of energy/ transformative power of the electromagnetic spectrum, and subatomic and nuclear force, and disregard oftentimes for spiritual teachings and truths. Our pollution is of the mind and emotions, the body and spirit. Mind is the correlate of air, emotion of water, the  body of earth, spirit of fire. Our pollution seeks  the ether, the force level of all things and penetrates the realm of sound. The cacophony deafens, irritates, drives us crazy, scares  away other life forms. Our symphony is changing, the voices of the living being replaced by machines and devices, Industry and mechanization. We seek peace, to retreat. Sometimes we go into these zones to stimulate, other times we seek retreat. We do not question what we hear, because it is normal to us, but we must examine the nature of that normal. What is it? Where is the balance of systems? IS it life supporting, or a son of Industry seeking to further conquer the world?


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Listen to the dunes, tellers of tales, keepers of time, messengers of myth.
STOP- LISTEN!

WE NEED SANCTUARIES OF SANITY

SONIC SANCTUARIES

WHAT ARE WE HEARING?

WHAT CAN WE KNOW?

ARE WE LISTENING?

DO WE NOTICE?

Change is every day, some within our  control,  most beyond us, within this ceaseless movement we must create rest, we need to create space within and reclaim without. Sanctuaries of Sanity, places of repose, reflection where all can come, where all is sacred, where a global convention protects the Integrity of that which we are so rapidly losing, the FOUNDATION OR LIFE SUPPORT ITSELF.

And yet such a  planetary sanctuary begins with a reclaiming our own mind and body. Our body must become Sanctuary for our soul, not slave. A welcome home, not a place of torment. Our mind, one with spirit, at one with the greater universal being that permeates all. We must realize  we are the sanctuary and extend that sanctuary field to all life, lest we all fall together into the decimation of souls, of which there is no return, no return to the state of the garden where we were.  We would instead leave survivors to inherit the corridors of nightmares and scavenge amidst the waters of our old ways. We need no less that a COMPLETE REVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS, a turn around, to an enlightened humanity where we cast aside the toys of war, and the playthings of ignorance and grow into our becoming one with, again, in The Sanctuary of Sanity.

There has long been a link to hearing, listening and prophecy and the failure to take heed. Native prophets, Christian mystics, nature mystics, daoists, Buddhists, all speak about relationship too. He who has ears let him hear. (I use the translation given not politically correct adaptations), Jeshua (Jesus), knew even then that hearing , perception, attention and comprehension are selective, albeit within a varied time, culture and worldview. Truths are eternal and translate down the corridors of time. He knew that people choose according to their context/ culture ‘what’ to give their ears to.

The fact that the ear is linked to the limbic system , to survival in it’s most primal form, has been viewed as late as an evolutionary throw off, something we are beyond ,in our sophisticated technological age, by virtue of cognitive capacity and mind over matter rationality. But the body does not lie. Yet, we ignore these auditory signals all around us at our peril. There exist tales of the gods bringing great destruction because the cacophony of man grew too great in times before, it was making even the gods crazy.

Lack of, disappearance, excess and cacophony are just as important to take head of as are lions, in the jungle, corruption in the cities or violence in the hearth.


I invite you to explore aspects of this in upcoming workshops 

1.       ‘Music and Sound in the Healing arts- What you need to know’. June 28 St Kilda

2.       ‘Healing Persons, Healing Communities Healing Planet’ July 26 St Kilda

Please check the ‘What’s on’ tab under ‘Workshops’  in coming weeks at   www.creativetherapeuticencounters.com.au

Sincerely with love Catherine

THE SONIC SANCTUARY LOGO ABOVE IS THE NAME OF MY AMBIENT MUSIC LABEL WHICH WILL FEATURE ALL MY SELF RELEASED MUSIC, AVAILABLE SOON, SEE LINK BELOW 

http://www.catherinemeeson.com/

“Seek and ye shall find...the kingdom of heaven is within”.J.C

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AN ENVIRONMENTALLY AWARE CREATIVE ARTS THERAPY

29/4/2014

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Transcribed voice recordings February 2014 ©Catherine Meeson of Creative Therapeutic Encounters

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We live in an age where ‘globalization’ is becoming the norm, and we are calling ourselves ‘global citizens’. Yet, among-st this amazing sense of expansion, we have a dissolution of relation because barriers, values and boarders have changed. We can now travel the seas from land to land, migrate co mingle- live in other countries. While we are benefiting from the great diversity of species, practices, cultures and ways, at the same time we are losing aspects of both our personal  and collective histories as we move from land to land. We are  also being affected in our body bio magnetically, as our roots sever in one place and need to be re established. Our roots and needs  are influenced by what we ingest as far as  food types that come from specific geographical regions, that the people have evolved with over thousands of years. This poses short term and inter generational concern  for migration. Of course these things always change with migrations, we’re got people from Africa moving to Australia, England to America, China to Canada, Alaska going to Europe and so on.  We take our foods with us, , we import/ export. What once contributed the stability of our foundation to planet, of our knowing and our place, in relation to the plants, the animals, the water, minerals and ores, the lay of the lands, all the old lores and ways of knowing what to do, all that is in danger of being lost completely as the elders are dying our who possess that knowledge. Much knowledge of the ancient ways has been lost to the progress of the technological era, but we fool ourselves if we think this age old knowledge is no longer relevant, we are but humans living in a larger domain of relations .

The old lore is being replaced by Industrialization, high science and abstraction, virtual reality and so forth and we are becoming increasingly disengaged from the body, disengaged from the senses and our ways of knowing. We are five minute microwavers and genetic modifiers. I am not saying that technology is bad and all of Industrialization is a bad practice, it’s that we need to  re- evaluate and take action on all the issues related of these things, with a great immediacy, in light of what we are now coming to know. And what we are now coming to know is that the relationship between all things are very delicately bound, that Indigenous people and all wisdom traditions teach us about the fragility of relationships and the sacredness of  relationship.

The workshops that I like to hold are nurturing an open arena of questioning, of discovery ,of reflection and realization, where processes are provided, and  prompts given  for you to explore this  intrinsic relation. The answers aren’t given. We explore symbolic  and symbiotic relations, through resonance, through empathy and through relation to, through contemplation. Using all of our senses, using the physicality of the body through movement, through touch. We’re using our sense of knowing and tapping ancient instinctual knowing through hearing and listening, exploring at deep levels. And then we are expressing vocally our inner worlds  through pictures and words, how we feel about these things. So  an ‘Environmentally Aware  Creative Arts Therapy’ is one that explores relationship between all things, between person and place, how the health  and state of one, affects the others, via the arts, via Creative process work/ or therapeutic practice. Vie embodied practice. We look at how we are using resources? What resources we are using?. We look at the whole concept of reduce reuse recycle and how we can be more ecologically aware? And  developing innovative practice that goes beyond the medical paradigm of a sick person in a normal society. Looking  at persons within cultures within society, within places. Because you can’t extract a human being from the context that they come from. If you take a person out of the place, the place is still going to travel with the person, in the form of customs, biology (i.e dna)  culture memory and associations.  If you put them in a new place they have got to learn to relate to that place;-  they don’t know ‘its ways and means’.

We adapt, but we don’t recognize the loss. We don’t take the time to acknowledge what it is, from where we come from, that helps to make us who we are. This loss includes the relation between a community , a community of life on all levels. The human, the animal, plant, mineral. Our definition of community has regressed in ‘concept and being’. It does not embody totality at all. We think loosely the community is the place where we live and the social structures available to our consumer mindset, or a community of interest. We need to bring those  four kingdoms back into alignment with  the natural order, as far as conducting ourselves within them.  Because unless we do conduct ourselves in a more appropriate manner all the castles are going to fall down and there won’t be a kingdom to support us, the foundation Yesod will not support us. Yesod will not support life because we have debased it. We fail to recognize the importance of foundation, Earth. And we fail to recognize that we are part of the earth. We are still embodied on form on earth. We are watery mass. We are air consumers, dependent upon right atmosphere. Our spirit, the spark of creators fire within, (the elusive creator). We have a role here as caretakers, we have a role here as incarnate beings to develop our souls, to yearn towards the greater path of enlightenment always in thought word and deed. What if this were taught in schools? Earth Ethics  101 in equal measure with math, English, the arts and sciences. We would grow a culture of care, of wisdom, of relation; such a culture would return the balance of life and restore the sanctity of all things. Sadly we are said to be living in the 6th great extinction event right now. (See http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/03/28/the-sixth-great-extinction-a-silent-extermination/ )

So an Environmentally Aware Creative Arts Therapy is a forum for exploring intrinsic relation, via creative process 21.2.2014, end voice transcript.

Transcript 2.

An ‘Environmentally Aware Creative Arts Therapy’ is one in which the relation between person and place is understood, because the people are part of a place and the place provides us with food, with the raw materials necessary to live a life, the ores, with the animals that we eat, the plants, and the medicines. All these things are part of place. The landmarks that inform our histories and mythologies of our events; all are intertwined. And now, in this age of mass migration, we don’t have our familiars anymore, those things that act as symbols as conveyors of information and wisdom, that have been staple for hundreds and also thousands of years.  We create suburb place names like Endeavour Springs where no watercourse lay. Without familiars we become lost in a foreign sea, and so what we are needing to do, is to re-establish that link between person and place . To rebuild re recognize and evolve our relationships.

An Environmentally Aware Creative Arts Therapy takes elements of the natural world around us and uses them as a guide to process, as a guide into those symbolic worlds, into the instinctive, into the genetic and ancestral memories, that we all carry. Into those areas of knowledge which are forbidden, in the shadow and  into the light. An  ‘Environmentally aware creative arts therapy considers our mode of living and then it questions the validity of our mode of living and the social norms,  do I need these things?. We aim to consider their life beyond ourselves?, What will happen to them, my tools, my resources after I have used them?. Is there a way I can do my journey and explore my process while minimizing my impact?. So what tools and resources can I use to achieve that goal? We do not have all the answers, we are endeavouring as well, and this work, this exploration is born out of the reflections of that endeavouring, or bringing to conscious awareness. If we do not ask , it is merely unconscious practice, it is ‘a norm’. But does the norm serve? How can it better be applied?.

As we are finding out  through many current fields of study, of both the arts/ humanities and sciences, the links between the many, many, levels of social environmental and economic functioning and the links between cultures and places are both growing and diminishing at the same time. New fields are growing, old ones are becoming  barren, yet what is becoming barren, is the statistically high probability of  the loss of thousands of years of ecological relation and symbiosis.  The product of aeons of growth.  Whilst things can change, ecology books, history books etc that inform us  about what was here;  what we are losing is really not beyond our control, our ability to intervene and create change. We can reflect, and take action upon, but it must be immediately. So my aim is to convey this stream of thought and to encourage as much conscious reflection in therapeutic practice as possible. Both site specifically, using elements of place to aid process work  and using those materials generated by humanity which we use in service of growth and healing.

This is of course ‘an ideal level’,. Unless one can make ones paper, or paints, the cost effectiveness and practicalities will be a  challenge at this time, so what we can do is look to, where and how things were produced that we use and their point of origin and their origins sources?. Raw materials  such as acrylics  are synthetics, paper is largely non sustainable forestry etc. ‘Creative Arts Therapies are supreme in adaptation, improvisation, and making do with what is available.’ It taps into our instinctual tool making ingenuity, our problem solving creative response. We all have these skills, but for many they just lay dormant.  The aim is to generate awareness, and do what we can,  not evoke guilt- to expand our caring, our therapeutic practice for the circle of life considering what will come after’.

An ‘Environmentally Aware Creative Arts Therapy’ also recognises that in healing, the role of the healer is not just to work with persons at the micro cosmic level; - we have community, communities of interest and of all life. Person within family, family within culture, culture within nation.  All of those levels are made up of complex relationships, the grand tapestry of earthly life, yet not confined to earth, they also be solar systemic, for the moon and sun and gravitational pull of the planets governs life on earth. They must be addressed, all of these relationships. We are not going to get results on a holistic scale, when we talk about a person’s being  mentally ill, bla bal, projecting “ it’s her, it’s him, it’s not us. , Where as, what is really going on is within  the whole.  We can no longer be isolationist or  reductionist. It’s the whole that needs healing, the cultures of denial, broken so progress can be made. It’s the whole that has problems, and we are aiming to heal this separation, aiming to heal the hurt of the collective. The hurt of the collective manifests as a symptomatology  in the individual. So by working on the individual, we heal the collective, by working on the environment, the foundation, and the structures inherent within it, we heal the circle. But in that, we must come to recognize that we are facets of brilliance that is an  individuated soul essence, and that there are forces of collectivism, that are the bedrock of civilization and without dealing with each of those areas; -  there will be no healing, we need to take a global holistic look.

Image google search  Attribution - freelyassociating.org360  the thinker





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BUILDING BRIDGES WITH ARTS ECO THERAPY ENHANCING ENVIRONMENTAL  AWARENESS of PERSON AND PLACE RELATIONS

17/12/2013

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By.Catherine Meeson © 17.12.2013 All Rights Reserved

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What is meant by Arts Eco Therapy? Creative Therapeutic Encounters use this term (it may have been used before, the author is not certain), to describe Arts Therapy based practises with a focus on Environment; - relation with and to the natural world.  So it is essentially any process engaged in or engaging with natural world systems, in an artistic, or creative capacity. It can include site specific work, going out into nature and assembling found object sculptures,  that are temporal or permanent. It can include stone, wood, earth, water, fire, air elements. There is an awareness of the objects one uses and leaves, with respect to the ability to bio-degrade . One often works in a semi ritualised context, ever mindful of the present and the focus of the moment. It can also be bridging elements of nature into spaces where it does not feature, such as the growing of seeds and tending of small community gardens, plants in nursing homes,  or the incorporation of objects into artwork and education in cross curricula in  schools, with tactile learning and sensing, and stimulating imagination and metaphoric thought.

By engaging with and  the sounds, smells, feeling  and tastes of the natural world, we learn by vibrational affinity and experience aspects of our own nature that may be dormant or little used,  those often silenced by mental activity, cultural conditioning, and choice. The dominant state of consciousness and activity of the forty hour work week in the urban domain often inhibits access to subtler states of awareness, intuition and empathy. It is important we connect in to deeper instinctual and ancestral forms of knowing, to experience kinship with all life.

Tactile sensing is often a neglected area of learning and knowing, one that once upon a time was much more the norm. Learning by doing,  the way of action, of body/ mind unity. Being and experiencing, rather than ingesting words and data from outside of one’s own localized consciousness. Nature based Creative Art Therapy processes are also a way of tapping the collective indigenous roots of a person’s heritage. All cultures have sacred practises and relationship with the earth, and all people cannot exist in health unless our environment, our earth, our air, fire, and water is pure. By interacting with nature and natural themes, we reinforce our positive animal nature, our instincts, our corporeality, whilst safely giving form to the inner worlds of soul. This does not mean regressing into primitive states, but sharpening our sensory apparatus and our instinctual wisdom, our body wisdom. This deep wisdom of the body and matter is often deliberately ignored at a conscious mental level, sometimes as a form of practise as in meditation and training, but often as a form of denial and ignorance.

The primary therapeutic element is always expression; expression in relation. Expression mobilizes the psycho spiritual force (also known as chi, subtle energy, life force, orgone, etc) which in ill health, trauma, or disease and distress often indicates a blockage in the human energy field.  There are no quick fixes in such work, there is only process. Patterns need to be mobilized and released, assisting them to shift and be re-patterned into a more desired state, or feeling outcome. Sometimes the trauma one works on is not localised but can have its origin in other life lifetimes.

This year I have been able to learn about a field called Acoustic Ecology, which has some similar philosophical leanings to Deep Ecology, another field I am also learning about, due to the fact that many authors are saying similar things to my own writing  in these fields.  Whilst we are considering the use of all the senses in learning and knowing, I feel it apt to mention Acoustic Ecology. Acoustic  Ecology is the study of the sound of place, from all domains, geophony, biophony and anthrophony (earth sounds, animal, sounds, manmade sounds). It explores the health of place by examining the  acoustic profile, which reveals a great deal about relationship and local ecology. Combining Art Therapy with Acoustic Ecology notions is a particular passion for me.  This focus is not new however, indigenous cultures have what is called Deep listening practises whereby, listening is a highly active meditative and contemplative practise whereby we learn  via sound about relation, to other. If we do not listen deeply we are only on the surface. One involves the listening to and perception of the health of local ecologies and earthly environments, the other involves the listening to and voicing of the persons creative response to health, healing and expression, in relation to all else.  So sound can be used as a doorway into greater realms of knowing, carrying immense archetypal  and relational information.

As genetic and ancestral light bearers, we enter and stand for all people in our timelines and can heal the pain of our ancestors as expressed and carried forth in the dna by evoking our I am presence, our higher Self, also known as the Overself , the forces of greater light and love, compassion and forgiveness, then we can bring about great change and healing.

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At the Platypus festival this year I decided to host the making of a Community Mural. It was themed “Celebrate the River of Life”, ‘join in the making of a community mural to celebrate water, life, and the relationship between persons and the place they live. Also learn about the Earth charter & Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth, and ways you can make a difference to your local environment. This was held on Saturday October 12th 12-4pm, at Big Red Reserve, Melton South. It was a free community give away.

This brings us back to the title of the blog, ‘Building Bridges with Arts Eco Therapy’.  The time in which we live means that many children often do not have a garden to play in, parents present to take them out into natural spaces due to the demands of living. Not many have access to local waterways and places of beauty or wildness. We must build bridges. Parks often only have play equipment and it is often synthetic, indigenous environments being re-visioned to our liking and resulting in loss of species.. There are fewer and fewer wild untainted spaces where children can explore as they once did, the wilds of nature getting to know the world around them and observe the cycles of nature, and the ways of birth and death in the animal and plant kingdoms. Fences and walls everywhere prevent clear unobstructed views. Walking is now a sacrificed pass time for many. Often where we walk the air is not clean, and there can be many sounds which drive us crazy. We must build bridges. Often the natural spaces are littered with human waste and contamination, which must not be turned away from, it is becoming epidemic and systemic to industrialised living. The sights available to us are not necessarily life enhancing, not are the materials of our living structures and the habits of our day. Therefore it is crucial to provide experiences where people can connect to this ancient instinctual part of self. We are bridging the selves of the past (historical epochs), the instinctual being, to the selves of the present with all the levels of sophisticated knowledge and technology we have adopted and developed. Both levels of self exist yet one dominates, increasingly the technological self, the mental self. We are becoming so abstracted into mind that we are not questioning our creations, and their ability to serve all life. Are they life enhancing of life detracting?   For whom ? We are forgetting the earth as we aspire to colonize other planets. These questions need to be asked. We should not embrace everything without question or challenge. We all have to find our own way and establish our own boundaries. And if we are not being taught in school and at home, these important life fundamentals we must teach ourselves. We must find our way, for the Way is no longer clear. Prohibition prevents passage, legislation restricts access, land is something one must have the rights to, being a human being does not necessarily give you these rights.  The United Nations declarations are ideals not practised in full .We must build bridges, bridges of understanding, of access, rights, potential, knowing, knowledge and compassion.

The symbology of the river of life is a perfect way to incorporate group experiential process and art therapy methods into community based action and festivities. By celebrating the connection between persons and where they live  through engagement with imagery, physical  objects/symbols ( wood, rocks, nests, feathers etc), pastel, crayon, paint, and pencil, seeds can be planted which can set a bench mark in the psyche, in the soul of perspective and vision that one can  come back to.  Such a seed was planted for me plating trees in year 6 of school (age 12), and picking up rubbish as a house captain. Having lost my country of origin and migrated to another country I am acutely aware of some of the issues faced by lack of roots and connection to place. Statistically many of the world’s people are migrants, all facing the dissolution of roots, as we move and shift for many reasons, it takes time to adapt to new places on all levels. We see the wanton destruction of our lands and resources and feel a collective despair and helplessness. This well of feeling needs to be mobilized for healing and rehabilitation.

Platypus festival is environmentally themed, run by a small Friends community group which has worked steadily over the last 6 years  on local environment waterway conservation and rehabilitation.  It is all volunteer. Through community generated action, local government, and water bodies have become more active in conservation.  If you plant it they will come. We need to be mindful of what we are planting. The Toolern is becoming a vital green wedge for the species that remain whom are affected by continued urbanisation and Industrialisation i.e., loss of habitat.  They cannot speak, and yet they do through lack of voice. They fade into memory. We can speak, we must care enough to care for them, and for the circle of life. Art Therapy activities can help nurture this caring and reverence for life, and for our precious planet.

By creating a platform of shared visioning of a community ‘River of life mural’, people participate and reflect on what they know, of their relation to.  It may be a subjective reflection or overtly expressed, in conversation and imagery.  The important thing is mobilising consciousness and awareness. They choose the plants and animals they want to include, bring them to life and give them a home. This subtle act may appear as only an art activity, to some, but requires a degree of presence, awareness and focus, reflection and exploration.  It is held site specifically so people are engaged with all senses in the theme. Motor control skill is needed for the activity, and there is no judgement of skill levels and capacity. It draws on a person’s capacity to synthesize and integrate and find a sense of place for their individual offering.
We had adults and children, working together and the end result pictured below is a vibrant mural which grew from one sheet, to twice the height, and was created by many contributors. I thank each person for their effort and hope it some small way it may be a pleasant memory of the Celebration of the River of Life. It may grow in awareness in the heart and mind to flower in some distant decade into many things. This is my hope, the mural is a starting activity but also a seed. It is both seed and fruit of the day.

The great sadness for me is to even call something Eco, as if it was something new, but it highlights the division in the mind and being state. Being is intrinsic and inclusive, is knows self and other yet does not see them as separate but as inter related in mutuality, we nurture the great awakening and realise we are the planters of seeds no matter our station in life. And that what we plant now matters for all time.

Warm regards for Ailsa Gaia   for her assistance on the day and being part of this event.

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HEALING OURSELVES AND HEALING THE PLANET ARTS ECO THERAPY WORKSHOP AT FETE LA FROG

7/4/2013

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ARTS ECO THERAPY HEALING OURSELVES AND THE PLANET AT FETE LA FROG

© Catherine Meeson Creative Therapeutic Encounters

On 23rd March I was able to contribute to a lovely grassroots festival called Fete La Frog, which was a collective celebration of Environment, culture, the arts, Healing and positive change. As always happens with small festivals , the atmosphere was warm, family friendly and pro active.

I held an Arts Eco Therapy themed workshop for Healing Ourselves and Healing the Planet.  This is an area I am most passionate about, for healing cannot occur without considering the greater relations  of which we are a part in the dynamic  flux of life. The elements which make us all up, the Earth, the Air, the Fire the Water, are teachers in process. Artefacts of nature serve as tools of awareness, for resonant practise and reflection for persons own healing and also serve as doorway to invite action for reciprocity in the larger world. For , we seek healing for ourselves, but what of the world around us? We can’t stop with just ourselves, not once we gain understanding and a greater empathy for all beings. Not once we know how things are related.  We are not talking about a level of scientific understanding of facts and statistics and clinical methods, but the intrinsic interwoven nature of the very fabric of existence, our relation to and with.


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The workshop space was  in a lovely progressive chapel, we worked on the floor in front of the Organ pipes . A while ago my son was given a globe light of The Earth, which was a beautiful centrepiece for the space, and we shared a collection of earthly artefacts, things from water, air, earth,  and fire; we have to settle for a candle symbolic of the greater spirit indwelling; for fire. Through tactile sensing and reflective practise people are able to find the message in the moment on their journey, and express in given media . For me, holding the space , it is about creating openings for people, and awareness, providing the tools and prompts for exploration.  I am thankful to the participants and hope the process was able to serve their  journey and the prompts will continue to inspire thought and action about  the reciprocal nature of healing  and relating and how we might branch out into community to offer service for healing the Earth as well as Ourselves.

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EMPATHY AND AWARENESS TRAINING  

23/2/2013

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© Catherine Meeson 23 February 2013 All rights reserved, no reproduction without express written permission of the Author.

EMPATHY, ENERGY FIELDS RESONANCE AND NATURE PLAY

Empathy  is a form of being with, which completely transcends the level of mind. It is something we register as thinking beings, but thought is a process  and product of the over residing consciousness of which the Overself is director. Empathy involves listening,  presence, sensing and higher sense perception ( Brennan, B 1987), and yet is a phenomena that is not solely conscious. All human faculties involve both conscious, unconscious and super-conscious  levels, and have varying degrees of involvement within  the different  bodies in which we dwell.

We empathise on the unconscious  levels as much as the conscious level as empathy is a resonant phenomena at the Quantum field level. We vibrate with, we resonate with, we empathize, we feel with and for.

Human comprehension is never limited solely to a moment in time, it is not static but evolving into greater levels of relatedness.  Comprehension is intrinsically related to understanding, inclusion, as a  part of.

If it were solely about Identifying with, that would imply mutual knowing and understanding, common ground. But the ground is centred within the greater sphere of being, within the field. 

As a resonant phenomena it involves a sharing of information, an association with, by virtue of mutuality. A mutual existence in the greater web of being. With empathic practise we develop our ability to know other, to attend to; on greater or more refined levels, to be conscious of and mindful. When we empathise we are in recognition,- mutuality. There is no other, there is we, although ones sole identity is still retained.


THE ENERGY FIELD

Surrounding and inter-penetrating all living beings is an energy field. It has been known by different names according to time and culture. The levels of it, often called ‘Bodies’  of different names, densities and functions, are integral to healthy function. We have recognised for thousands of years the reality of a greater sense of being beyond the physical. It is this sense, this knowing of and awareness of, that has often saved us in times of danger.

This ‘field’ is discernible with training and sensitivity exercises. It is  something  that the majority of people have experienced,  in various aspects at a phenomenological level but have not had the insight with  which to  describe or understand  it.  You sit next to someone on public transport, and although your bodies may not touch, you find yourself in a state of unease and cannot explain why, your intuitive sense is giving you information on subtle levels, asking you to pay attention.
So it often is dismissed as nonsense, hallucinations, projection of the mind, being off with the fairies etc. Cultural view, world view is crucial in understanding these phenomena. But our Quantum Physics has proven the reality of fields for a while now. Our  scientific era is beginning to catch up to the knowledge of the ancients, but we do not have many tools as yet to measure the reality of these things. One tool we can use to photograph is kirlian photography, which often shows the phenomena of the field presence after a part of a leaf has been removed for example.. The future will bring the tools with which to discern more refined levels of the subtle spheres, which underlay all matter and inter-penetrate it.


RESONANCE PRACTISES

Are any exercises or process whereby we aim to establish a sense of resonance, energetically, physically emotionally, mentally, spiritually,  abstractly, conceptually, etc. We can resonate with people places, stories, information, concepts, music, plants, teachings, to name but a few.

In essence, resonance practises are a form of sensitivity training, or a remembering of this state of being that was once natural before the age of conditioning and the forming of the protective membranes over the chakras.

In resonance practises we seek our resonance and meaning, discerning for ourselves what is the nature of our experience,  without the interference of others. We seek to make sense with a greater understanding and we learn the following.

A formula that is essential with resonance practises which involves a level of conscious detachment after the fact is -Resonate and Release.

For if one does not disengage a sort of energetic entanglement can occur as fields combine and bonds between develop. Yet this is an essential part of relating, that can not be bypassed. Bonds are literal energetic attachments between the subtle bodies and chakras. When we end a relationship to or an association with, when relationships end,  it takes time to recover, for the bonds are breaking down, we need to draw our chi our life force, our subtle stuff back within, and re establish the boundaries and repair the membranes of where we end and another begins; and yet the great paradox of ‘I’?. We have no end and beginning and certain of our bodies can extend out into the vastness of the universe, or most certainly travel to the outer regions, (A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in.Easy Journey to Other planets).


NATURE PLAY

In nature play we engage with the world of nature, of which we are part . we embrace  the natural world in site specific episodes, or bring elements of the  natural world into our process . We learn through  observation of detail and kinaesthetic awareness, multi sensory attentiveness, phenomena about ourselves and the world in which we live, our place within the greater whole which is most direly needing review and healing. The elemental nature is enhanced , a connection is made and understood. Person is with and on planet, a greater resonant transfer of information or archetypal knowing can occur if we provide the space for it to emerge.

We are again reaching back into the reservoir of more primal being , seeking to move beyond  body conditioning and psychological blockage  nurturing our at one-ment  with the world of nature. We open up to life, to exchanges at the level of mutual being.

I offer processes exploring  resonance, empathy and energy field awareness and how it may serve to heal self, deepen connection between the Self and the whole and assist in any therapeutic work in which you might be engaged.

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    Catherine Meeson

    I am a girl from the North who lives in the South...a Minstrel of melody, a wordsmith, creatrix extraordinaire! I Compose sonic tapestries and create visual delights, and tantalize with tales from other times! Multi modal Artist/ Creator with Words, Pictures & Sounds. Ambient Music composer & singer songwriter. Artist/ therapist/ healer.

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