“I choose gentleness…
Nothing is won by force.
I choose to be gentle.
If I raise my voice may it be only in praise.
If I clench my fist, may it be only in prayer.
If I make a demand, may it be only of myself.”
Max Lucado
Truly beautiful and I deeply appreciate the profound strength of gentleness.
I come from light
Born with the infinite in me
Learning through it all
To move from deepest insecurities to dare
To rise like a phoenix beyond fear.
To see the world in a heartbeat
To turn the tide of pain to pleasure
To awaken the dormant awareness
To hope beyond despair
To give hope to the hopeless.
And when the mood strikes
To take flights of fancy in the light of imagination
Into the world of creativity and dream on
In surrealistic idealism.
To revel, celebrate and enthuse
In the creativity of thoughts words & deeds
To be conscious of my glorious truths
To feel free and yet deeply interwoven
To the fabric of conscious intentions
To denote the goodwill in the endowment
To mark the fleeting time with grace.
To leave footprints in benevolence.
In joyous acceptance of the potential within
Of endless beginning in possibilities
Of Infinity expressing itself through me.
The question is are we strengthening our weakness or weakening our strengths .
Or are we balancing them in self awareness
And improving productivity by conscious effort.
While coming to terms with ones weakness
Or while beginning to tap into ones strengths
What is important, is to realize.
that these very qualities in their own combination
Makes the human unique.
Weakness can be turned into strengths if one is ready to step back and understand where and how one can improve and evolve.
Strengths can turn into weaknesses in the way these resources are utilized.
The perception of weakness and strength is also often case a subjective matter.
With consistency of effort and cultivation of an attitude towards positive transformation, the very thing that is a weakness can be turned around to become a strength.
When the spirit delves into the soul
Seeking an understanding of the self
The emerging picture reflects the true nature of every being.
The turbulence and turmoils ,
The arrogance and attitudes
The anger and greed
The hatred and revenge
Clothed in ignorance ,
Accumulated over the eons,
Vanish without trace.
When it senses the real Truth,
The transience of Nature.
Maturity and wisdom teach
The lessons of life in experiences
Peace and tranquility
Harmony and health
Inner joy and oneness
Are all one seeks
Resonances in eternal time.
Why confine the self to notions that binds.
Trapped in soul cages.
Wiser to unshackle and be free when the way appears
Untangle the chains to fly free in the unlimited space.
Channel the evolving energy in more ways than one.
Develop humility, compassion & loving kindness.
Value the learning in the letting go
Realise the potency of your own Unlimited energy.
Sharing these above reflections which originated in a deep conversation with my own mother about life. These are her heartfelt musings. I simply reconstructed her thoughts with suitable pictures.
Cos I would love to know more about you, my dear reader.
Would you be so kind as to share if you are fond of dancing…
Do you dance?
And if the music is right …
Would you prefer to dance solo or with a partner?
I do believe dancing from the heart has much to do with your wellbeing.
As a dance trainer over the years, I have come across many people to whom movement and music have made a huge difference in their lives.
Have always seen that it is not about the level or the intricacies of the steps or advanced techniques…
Rather it is about how you feel as you dance from within and how you make and leave another feeling even after the dance is over.
A few minutes of enjoyable dancing can leave lasting impressions on every cell of the being for the better.
Whatever the music or dance style that appeals to you the point is it integrates your healing mode and brings forth a positive transformation in the mind and body.
This is my humble attempt to bring the like-minded together and motivate you to take a step and dance some more.
As you dance you are creating health in and around you.
Do share if you feel dance has touched your life in any way…
Would be great to hear your insights and experiences.
Have shared many of my personal experiences over the years with my Dance for wellness workshops.
Just like the sounds of music in the spaces between the notes, there is dancing in the spaces between the steps. It is only when we become aware of the value of the spaces between the thoughts that we can truly reflect, revel and live with ease through our lives.
The pinnacle of access to our realization of the creative entities at work would actually be in the silence, in the intentions, in an emotional journey of profound fulfilment. The trick is to find that point of the immense creative surge and be able to nurture it.
Rest and activity go together just as much as night and day… and like the yin and the yang, the pauses in between two breathes, inaction in between the action, brings forth the clarity, purity, and the intensity of that which is evolving.
It’s disheartening that our world has become so hyperactive. Multitasking has become the order of the day, people spend time having dinner in front of televisions, reading is done with music, and very often we have mobile phone calls that cut through a real conversation. So much has there been an abuse of our bodies and mind that we truly have forgotten the importance of non-activity and quietude.
The stillness between your actions or movements are the bridges to our conscious experiences and the greater your awareness the greater the creative potency of the action itself.
Savvy
Dancing socially de-stresses the body mind and spirit holistically. Taking a momentto value the steps you dance together, valuing the music you are dancing to, appreciating this moment & appreciating the partner you have at this moment will only cultivate the value for oneself and will help in centring oneself deeper in the action with a joyful heart and soul.
When you dance, if you still your thoughts to simply learn to flow with the partner, the atmosphere, the music you will undoubtedly enliven yourself in the process and what you have is a beautiful dance of togetherness bridging the spaces between the steps with a conscious awareness …… And that is when dancing feels like a miracle that’s happening!
Start the day with a few minutes of silence and observing the breath
Take time to pause and watch nature and try to be one with it . .. Maybe a sunrise, a sunset, a beach view watching the waves, the stars in the sky, the moon, the sky, or a rose or any flower or potted plant, or maybe a tree in your garden.
Make sure to have moments where you are free of your cellphone, tv, computer, or any electronic appliance.
Make a point of actually listening and understanding as others speak and allow the other to speak as much as yourself.
Accept every moment in the life you have now and cherish it for what it is…cultivating an attitude of gratitude.
Is the form you see
Exactly the form I see
Perhaps they differ
In the way we choose to interpret.
Is form the mark of reality
Does being formless makes it unreal
Is form the contention
To know the real and unreal.
Forms are shaped by intentions
In dedication & deliberation.
For forms become fleeting memories
Perishing in the sands of time.
While the formless evolve in the heart
Holding up to unfathomable faith
They may live on in the silent knowing
Of unspoken trust in the being.
Discernment of the forms
In the inner recesses of the heart and the mind
Waltzes the consciousness of the being
In States of knowing ,of the truth of light
A light of wisdom
That takes many forms
Million times over
To show the path of truth.
The path is lit
As the steps are taken
The forms manifest in the interactions
Of vibrations in resonance.
Between these Illuminating illusions
Of the form and formless
What is real and unreal
All are just reflections in the dimensions.
In the beam of even one moment of truth
Is the convergence of envisioning
Forms and formless become one
Conveying the message safely home.
Stillness within
The whirling wisdom
Centers within
The search for being
In a knowing balance
Of within and without.
The gaze is never a stare
The moves are never a dare
In fact the flow is sublime
One leads unto another
Nothing marked nothing missed
Nothing focused nothing lost.
In such a state of flow
Where wholeness of being
Is the strength of a circle
That creates unto itself
There is a knowing
Of a space within
An inward glance
Into the souls calling
Springing forth
The sounds of Silence.
The average length of a hug between two people is 3 seconds. But the researchers have discovered something fantastic. When a hug lasts 20 seconds, there is a therapeutic effect on the body and mind. The reason is that a sincere embrace produces a hormone called “oxytocin”, also known as the love hormone. This substance has many benefits in our physical and mental health, helps us, among other things, to relax, to feel safe and calm our fears and anxiety. This wonderful tranquilizer is offered free of charge every time we have a person in our arms, who cradled a child, who cherish a dog or a cat, that we are dancing with our partner, the closer we get to someone or simply hold the Shoulders of a friend.
A famous quote by psychotherapist Virginia Satir goes, “We need 4 hugs a day for survival. We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth.”
Whether those exact numbers have been scientifically proven remains to be seen, but there is a great deal of scientific evidence related to the importance of hugs and physical contact. Here are some reasons why we should hug::
1. STIMULATES OXYTOCIN
Oxytocin is a neurotransmitter that acts on the limbic system, the brain’s emotional centre, promoting feelings of contentment, reducing anxiety and stress, and even making mammals monogamous. It is the hormone responsible for us all being here today. You see this little gem is released during childbirth, making our mothers forget about all of the excruciating pain they endured expelling us from their bodies and making them want to still love and spend time with us. New research from the University of California suggests that it has a similarly civilising effect on human males, making them more affectionate and better at forming relationships and social bonding. When we hug someone, oxytocin is released into our bodies by our pituitary gland, lowering both our heart rates and our cortisol levels. Cortisol is the hormone responsible for stress, high blood pressure, and heart disease.
2. CULTIVATES PATIENCE
Connections are fostered when people take the time to appreciate and acknowledge one another. A hug is one of the easiest ways to show appreciation and acknowledgement of another person. The world is a busy, hustle-bustle place and we’re constantly rushing to the next task. By slowing down and taking a moment to offer sincere hugs throughout the day, we’re benefiting ourselves, others, and cultivating better patience within ourselves.
3. PREVENTS DISEASE
Affection also has a direct response on the reduction of stress which prevents many diseases. The Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami School of Medicine says it has carried out more than 100 studies into touch and found evidence of significant effects, including faster growth in premature babies, reduced pain, decreased autoimmune disease symptoms, lowered glucose levels in children with diabetes, and improved immune systems in people with cancer.
4. STIMULATES THYMUS GLAND
Hugs strengthen the immune system. The gentle pressure on the sternum and the emotional charge this creates activates the Solar Plexus Chakra. This stimulates the thymus gland, which regulates and balances the body’s production of white blood cells, which keep you healthy and disease free.
5. COMMUNICATION WITHOUT SAYING A WORD
Almost 70 percent of communication is nonverbal. The interpretation of body language can be based on a single gesture and hugging is an excellent method of expressing yourself nonverbally to another human being or animal. Not only can they feel the love and care in your embrace, but they can actually be receptive enough to pay it forward to others based on your initiative alone.
6. SELF-ESTEEM
Hugging boosts self-esteem, especially in children. The tactile sense is all-important in infants. A baby recognizes its parents initially by touch. From the time we’re born our family’s touch shows us that we’re loved and special. The associations of self-worth and tactile sensations from our early years are still imbedded in our nervous system as adults. The cuddles we received from our Mom and Dad while growing up remain imprinted at a cellular level, and hugs remind us at a somatic level of that. Hugs, therefore, connect us to our ability to self love.
7. STIMULATES DOPAMINE
Everything everyone does involves protecting and triggering dopamine flow. Low dopamine levels play a role in the neurodegenerative disease Parkinson’s as well as mood disorders such as depression. Dopamine is responsible for giving us that feel-good feeling, and it’s also responsible for motivation! Hugs stimulate brains to release dopamine, the pleasure hormone. Dopamine sensors are the areas that many stimulating drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine target. The presence of a certain kinds of dopamine receptors are also associated with sensation-seeking.
8. STIMULATES SEROTONIN
Reaching out and hugging releases endorphins and serotonin into the blood vessels and the released endorphins and serotonin cause pleasure and negate pain and sadness and decrease the chances of getting heart problems, helps fight excess weight and prolongs life. Even the cuddling of pets has a soothing effect that reduces the stress levels. Hugging for an extended time lifts one’s serotonin levels, elevating mood and creating happiness.
9. PARASYMPATHETIC BALANCE
Hugs balance out the nervous system. The skin contains a network of tiny, egg-shaped pressure centres called Pacinian corpuscles that can sense touch and which are in contact with the brain through the vagus nerve. The galvanic skin response of someone receiving and giving a hug shows a change in skin conductance. The effect in moisture and electricity in the skin suggests a more balanced state in the nervous system – parasympathetic.
Quite a bit of indepth information on the healing powers in a simple hug.
Such is the magic in a warm embrace
Embrace, embrace with your heart.
When you are hugging a child, always be the last one to let go. You never know how long they need it. ~Author Unknown
The need for more,the lack of contentment, the hoarding mentality the greed of the times we live in, the desire to possess for the sake of simply owning better than the best, than for any use, the brand consciousness for all that overmarketed hype in the name of fashion, the feeling of never having enough …all amounts to a lack of real value for anything we truly have … the sad truth of times indeed that calls for awakening before it is too late.
When our individual insatiable expressions of life in the living take flights of fancy without any heed, we need a reconsideration of the ramifications.
Until the value of the bigger picture is seen through the heart rather than immediate gains which can be self anihilating it is an uphill task at hand.
And that is when a need for responsive change through transformations are the call of the moment across the world. Then it is the play of balance, of proportions and disproportions that the self creates, adjusts and develops as per the needs of the times hopefully.
Till then we can try our best to take one step ahead in time with responsibility and accountability.
In such a state of flow
An inward glance
Savvy Raj 
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