Receiving the Sacred Root

RECEIVING THE SACRED ROOT

I recently received an osteopathic treatment. Biodynamic osteopathy looks at balancing bio-electric, bio-chemical and tissue so that one may experience what is considered to be our natural state, balanced flow. These sessions are a gift to me, a time to dive deep within, to let go and open to the healing presence that is available, ultimately, in every moment.

Being a giver by nature, receiving has not been my strong suit. I have learned, on the road to living a balanced life rooted in I AM consciousness, that giving and receiving are part of a dynamic whole and are not separate. A true act of giving is receiving and the converse is also true. For many of us, myself included, giving can be a way of hiding, avoiding the vulnerable yet powerful state of openness found in a true energy exchange.

This osteopathic session revealed gems of insight. Healing began with the practitioner’s hands on my head. I quickly realized that me becoming overly wilful during the previous days, faced with a heavy project timeline, was the source of the tension headache I brought to the session. As a Yoga practitioner, I practice the release of the limited sense of "I" or ego as the doer, and instead, open to the notion (much to the ego's displeasure) that when in a state of expansive balance, "I" am in service to a creative flow that is beyond my limited ego or will. I was being reminded of this.

Soon after, the therapist moved her hands down to my feet. My immediate reactive thought was: “what are you doing down there?” Notions that my feet were a waste of time or dirty as compared to my head came in waves of judgmental thoughts. I witnessed and allowed those thoughts to be, letting go of the potential to judge the judgment.

What followed was an expansion experience, which illustrated that I needed to touch down and both receive and be received by the Earth. The earth is my mother, providing me with nourishment for my body, sweetness to fill my heart, and a lush expanse to inspire my spirit. What I was resisting was taking root, on this earth, allowing myself to BE HERE. I knew developing that sense of beingness to be the foundation of spiritual practice. I was now deepening my experience of such. In resisting being here, on this earth, at this time, I was sabotaging the possibility of my own state of balanced evolution.

I allowed myself to settle in deeper. My body/being came into a broad and deep sense of relaxation. I saw waves of colours all around me. I felt both spiritual expansive and rooted and vital. This was where I need to be. This was home.

As the session came to an end, I thought of the offer I had been recently given to pay homage to my guru Amma by a traditional ritual called padapuja. In keeping with a life following a Satguru, events unfold with a remarkable sense of alignment. For months prior to this auspicious offer, images of Amma’s feet would come to me in moments of expansive adoration while meditating or while moving through my day. At one point while out doing errands, the whole world was her feet and I was just a speck of dust floating along them.

Realizing the parallel between the offer to do padapuja and now becoming more aware of the gift of a life rooted on Earth, I spontaneously felt a desire to do padapuja to my own feet, showing gratitude for the gift of this body, this life, this Earth, where I can evolve and learn. What a gift to learn to walk this earth so that I may experience the rich balance in the energy exchange through giving and being received.

The osteopathic session ended and a few days later, I found myself at the feet of my guru, washing and anointing her holy feet. It is said that padapuja to one’s guru provides the aspirant with the opportunity to worship being established in pure consciousness. In this way, the aspirant may cultivate the qualities of such a state of being, through the release of one’s ego, developing qualities such as humility, devotion and faith. By offering our selves, we are purified. In this ritual, I saw faces of my ego that have been eclipsed to my sight. The perfect guru showed me where I need to grow. Touch down. Surrender more and then more. Rest in the Knowing of I AM. In allowing myself to receive, I am received. In giving wholly of all I am, I receive and am born again and again, moment by moment, until I am eternally home.

May each one of us feel inspired by our unique, sacred rooting on the Earth, in service to The Divine and to the Planet, our Mother. May each one of us live with respect for each other, our brothers and sisters who walk along side us as we travel the path back to the One.

Jai Ma,
Parvati