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Community Events

Kalani: A Recapitulation

Aloha Dear Community,

We have just wrapped up an unforgettable experience at Hawaii. The retreat—the first 5-day event at Being Energy—was an ideal setting for the focus theme of the workshop: the recapitulation technique. Over the course of the five days, everything we did, the Being Energy® movements, the recapitulation sessions, was highlighted by the forces of nature. The lush vegetation, the black lava, the tropical heat and the rain, all gave their distinct bodily experience and were an integral part of the experience at Kalani.

Because of the distance to get to Hawaii—its position in the middle of the ocean is part of its special nature, everyone who came had a great disposition and strong intention. We were lucky to have such a wonderful group. Participants came from the mainland US, Alaska, Argentina, Switzerland, England, Mexico, Lithuania and Russia, a crisscross of backgrounds that allowed us as a group to access a wide variety of views.

Besides the workshop sessions, the group got to start each morning bathing in a local hot springs by the ocean. See our photo with everyone doing feet Being Energy movements at the hot ponds!

During the workshop, we began with the question: Who am I? Peeling layers of how we see ourselves: our deep beliefs. The journey throughout was for each one to discover new layers, to add or expand those definitions or break free from some of them. Details over the recapitulation included guidelines on different types of recapitulation: Observing where does my attention go, Recapitulating how did I wake up, Recapitulating our behavior at work, Recapitulating relationships and Recapitulating a specific event. 

The ancient seer’s code gave everyone the chance to experience stopping the flow of their thoughts and leave the ind more readily pliable to see differently and change. These are indeed powerful movements, and they very much resonated with the powerful feel of the Big Island.

On the fourth day, we took those old ideas about ourselves up to the volcano. We took them to Pele, who lives in the lava, to help our individual intentions. For most of the way up, it looked like a storm weather was going to prevent us from making it, but at the end, we descended through a fern forest into the crater floor. It was foggy and mysterious as we hiked across the lava. This is pure earth energy as it gets. In geological time, the lava has barely cooled down for humans to walk on it, but one can still feel the force of the earth coming from deep below the surface under ones feet. This is what Carlos Castaneda called getting a boost from the earth. We each took in this boost to help us turn our wheels—our starting point of Who am I?

It was great to see Being Energy teachers begin to guide some sections of the movements –thank you Keiron. We want to see more and more of this happening at our workshops. We are thankful for the opportunity to have lived this retreat and we want to extend and share this feeling with you, all of the Being Energy community.

Here is a guideline for an easy to follow exercise for you to have a feel of the recapitulation:

Recapitulating how I woke up: Every day we are born again!

  • Practice any Being Energy® sequence of movements
  • Close your eyes
  • Bring your attention to your body, to the sensations in your physical body
  • Travel in Time: go back to feel how you woke up this morning
  • Stay present with the physical sensations and feelings that arose
  • Breathe in and out several times
  • Open your eyes and keep breathing
  • Close your practice bringing your hands to your heart. Try not to make any conclusions about it. Just enjoy the feeling of pausing to remembering the way you woke up

Aerin Alexander, Miles Reid and everyone at Being Energy

Categories
Community

World Peace

Dear Being Energy Community,

It has been shocking to read some of the stories in the news again after spending five days in our retreat in Hawaii. We have been inhaling pristine pure air, eating organic foods, celebrating mother nature, and connecting deeply into our souls while in different parts of the world hundreds of innocent civilians were killed in an ongoing battle amongst ego-centered identification groups of fixed beliefs.

I couldn’t hold back my tears when reading about the sixteen civilians killed in Gaza while looking for refuge in the one place they presumed would remain safe, a United Nation’s school. The conflict between Israel and Palestine touches me deeply. The grief inflicted on both sides is so deep and long lasting, sometimes it seems it will never end.

I didn’t sleep for days after finding out about the three Israeli teens killed by a Hamas terrorist group. I thought about their families, the unbearable sorrow, and the unfairness of it all. In a second I was transported 30 years back to when I was living in Argentina under a dictatorship. I was also a teenager and had witnessed dead bodies in the streets. The Argentinian army took over the government and killed more than 30,000 innocent people labeled as “different” or “subversive.”  College students and teachers were tortured and killed. For more than a decade I lived under fear.

Other news stories were about the conflicts in Syria and Turkey, the Sunni militants in Iraq, the violence in Honduras, and the Ukraine disaster of the Malaysia plane with 290 passengers. I put down the paper. I wanted to run and scream, how can I reconcile all the suffering and the contradictory feelings within me?

I did what I have been doing for years. I brought a hand to my heart and breathed; I closed my eyes, and stayed with the agitation that the news stirred in me. I kept breathing and connecting with the feelings until it got quiet inside, and somehow I was able to hold it all. I didn’t deny it, and “get busy” doing something else. I woke up to it.

How can waking up help to build a more peaceful world?

In our retreat in Hawaii we reflected on how we identified ourselves with our roles, with our economic and socio-political position in society.  Instead of saying “I practice medicine,” we say, “I am a doctor.”  Instead of saying, “I get to enjoy taking care of you,” we say, “I am YOUR mother.”  We fall asleep in the safety of what a particular status may bring. We stop thinking clearly: we act on autopilot, believing that we are what we think, without questioning it.

On a larger scale, this ego-centered self-identification creates a psyche that contributes to building cults, extreme political parties, unbalanced religious factions and terrorism. When we succumb to self-identification and labels, we become sleepwalkers.  When we stop questioning, we end up hating anyone that is different from us, anything that contradicts our unquestioned belief system. Cult leaders and dictators feel superior and tend to separate themselves and their groups from the rest. They behave in ways that create fear designed to dominate people, limiting individual freedoms of self-expression. These leaders like to intimidate and dominate through fear.

A path with heart, a place within ourselves where we can take a moment to really look at our actions, our self identifications, our fixed ideas and sit with them, is a path to a different state of consciousness.

Every second, every minute we can dedicate to sitting or moving in silence, meditating on our actions, questioning our belief system, is a step towards peace. We find, as we did in Hawaii, that we are much larger than our thoughts, than our self identified roles. We find that there is a web of energy or love that connects us all. And that is not just a catchphrase, it is scientifically proven.

We invite you to join us and practice:

[checklist]

  • 3 minutes of silence every day
  • Recapitulate your day
  • Look at each person you meet in the eyes. When someone is talking, put your cell phone down, and really connect with that person, even if it is for a few seconds.

[/checklist]

We don’t know how much time we have left. The only time we have is NOW. Use all of your energies to awaken and start building a more peaceful and interesting world.

In Being Energy, our prayers this week go to all people suffering to find relief in meditation and in silence,[separator top=”40″]

Aerin & Miles

Categories
Community

Beth Hartley in the Spotlight

Dear Being Energy Community:

My name is Beth Hartley and I am currently an Alaska Statewide Mentor, a position funded by the State of Alaska and run by the University of Alaska to support beginning teachers that have moved to teach in rural Alaska.

The vision of the Alaska Statewide Mentor Project (ASMP) is that every student in Alaska has the benefit of a great teacher. The mission is to give new teachers the support they need to succeed. Not only are these young adults new to teaching, they are new to village culture and the unusual exigencies of living in rural Alaska, often partly off the grid (inclusive of “honey buckets” i.e., indoor, rustic, non-flush toilets).

The resiliency the teachers demonstrate as they rise to the, often, unexpected demands of teaching in the bush is truly inspiring, even as I help wipe away tears, shoulder burdens that can’t be shared otherwise, and still praise and push their practice on behalf of the village students that depend on them for academic success.

I have lived 25 years in Alaska – an adventure from the start! I came up as a Bilingual/ESL (English as a second language) specialist and trainer serving villages around the state then settled into the larger community of Anchorage to serve as a bilingual/ESL teacher and specialist, and finally to “retire” to take this new position with the State.

Aside from my primary work, I love to work as a Special Olympics Alpine Ski Coach, and as a driver for the Horse Drawn Carriage Company; both great ways to stay active in the blustery winter months.  James, my partner, and I love to travel the world and experience new places, people and cultures in our “free” time. World travels – along with moving to Alaska – have been dreams manifested.

Which brings me to the practice of Being Energy and the legacy that engendered it. As I have reflected and dreamed in our Path with Heart classes, I have come to realize that my work as a mentor is serving as a recapitulation of my career; that I have accessed intent and intent has accessed me to move me in this direction, cleaning up my path and dusting my link with intent along the way to make me most suitable for service to this unique constellation of students and teachers. Participating in the various classes provided by Being Energy has also provided a network of friends and resources all over the world – one of the best gifts a “warrior traveler adventurer” could ask for!

Categories
Community Events Stories of Power

A Crack Between Worlds – Returning Home

We just arrived in Los Angeles after a week in Chichén Itzá, the most enigmatic City legacy of the Mayas where we taught our workshop and training called “A Crack Between Worlds”. We are truly honored and thankful. We are filled with colorful images and sounds from the jungle around us, and we are experiencing “the crack between worlds”. As Javier, a professor and psychologist participant of the workshop said it last Monday: “I feel energetic and at the same time fluid, allowing daily events to show up and flowing with them. I am quiet and at the same time enjoying all”

We mentioned in our announcement that “the crack between the worlds” is an opening in our consciousness that makes way for new experiences of being and states of heightened awareness. And that is what we all experienced there and still vibrating right now.

Chichén Itzá welcomed our offerings and received us with love and respect. From the hotel staff to personal at the archeological site, all greeted us with delight. Our venue, a “palapa” (dwelling without walls), was surrounded by tress and vegetation, brimming with crickets and birds. The food, the large rooms, the carved wood furniture, details in the windows, vivid paintings, musicians playing rancheras, everything seemed orchestrated by the universe to come to enhance our experience of spiritual growth and heart opening. We even enjoyed swimming in the fresh water pools!

We meditated on the Observatory, also called “el Caracol” , where a large black bird sat at the very top expanding its wings. This temple, aligned with the movements of the planet Venus, inspired us to see our lives as cycles. We identified and wrote about cycles from before we were born all the way after death. It helped us to see the trajectory of our lives, our path with heart, and our legacy.

On Sunday evening, we sat at the pyramid of Kukulcan, the feathered serpent, astonished by an indescribable sunset in silence and awe.

We felt alive by the beauty we could see with our eyes and the presence of the temples buried under the ground. We breathed in knowledge described not only on its monuments and buildings by also on its mystery and unknown layers of existence.

We saw the butterfly resting on the Chacmol’s chest, and felt in our foreheads a band of stars. Thank you to our ancestors for allowing this event to happen. Thank you to all our teachers, students and friends walking on the Toltec paths with us.

With infinite love,

Aerin and Miles

Categories
Community Events

“A Crispy Click”

GLISTENING-IN-DREAMING AT OUR RECENT WORKSHOP IN MOSCOW

We just came back from a very profound experience in Moscow. This was our third workshop and training in Moscow, in the same martial arts studio. Each participant came with different  personal intents, in search of wellbeing, silence, answers to questions, in search of uplifting, inner calm and confidence.

Two hours into the workshop and the room was filled with light exuding enthusiasm, openness and hope. We practiced three series of long sequences of movements that allows us to find our own pulsation, our core vibration.  We sat for long minutes to listen to ourselves and find our treasured golden light. Eyes were beaming as we kept calling and honing dreaming attention, finding focusing in our dreams, what do I want, what I am here for, what my priorities are.

And by Sunday the sun came, warming up not only the room but inside and outside our souls. Or hearts opened, we vibrated with each click of the sticks we used with the movements. We found out that each moment of our lives is a click. We can click heavily and opaque, or we can click a crispy sound, we have a choice. This is what our life can be, “a Crispy Click”.

Everyone took home sequences of movements to renew their body and soul and techniques to redirect their attention and align their daily life priorities.

We received so much love and awareness from this event. Thank you all of you that made it possible,.Love,
Being Energy

Categories
Community Events

An Experience with Real Life Warriors

REGRESAR AL BIENESTAR (RETURN TO WELLNESS)

I was honored to be part of a remarkable event last Saturday, September 14, in support of women with breast cancer. It was the first of four monthly events in downtown Los Angeles organized by The Cancer Support Community – Benjamin Center specifically to offer friendship and support for Spanish-speaking women and their families. It was powerful. I am certain the remaining three events will be just as remarkable (the dates will be October 12, November 9 and December 14; for details, see http://www.cancersupportcommunitybenjamincenter.org).

It was a joy to participate on Saturday, and to speak my mother tongue (Spanish) and work with the local Los Angeles community. I’ve been invited to return to again present the work we do with Being Energy—the energy enhancing mind-body practices and educational information that are an integral part of our programs. I so look forward to returning to offer our work to these wonderful Latina women and their families.

As I entered the Mercado La Paloma (in downtown LA) on Saturday, I was greeted by a cheerful, colorfully decorated indoor market. Inside, a multitude of Mexican stores sell everything from tailoring services to food and clothing. It was 10 a.m. and the enticing aroma of tortillas and chocolate caliente filled the air. Many people were enjoying breakfast. I felt at home.

The Cancer Support Center meeting took place in a large room. I was the first presenter and I was a bit anxious. Around 40 people were just concluding their first group support session and were looking forward to getting out of their chairs and moving their bodies.

I started by explaining that Being Energy is a system of movements that help us to regain our vitality and energy. One of the well-received highlights of the presentation was when I spoke about our “spirit”—our intangible part—that is not touched by the cancer. I also talked about the ways that we can revitalize ourselves from the inside out so that the experience can be met as a challenge and not as a curse.

I talked about finding a new description for our bodies and minds, and about moving and positive thinking! We practiced the Gathering Energy form and counted the number of repetitions to help focus our minds on the present moment and connect mind and body with the purpose of joyful movement. In spite of the heat and through the sweat, everyone counted and enjoyed the moment, applauding vigorously at the end.

All participants received a printed copy of the PowerPoint portion of the presentation, and a copy of “Guided Visualizations of the Heart” that are part of Being Energy’s daily practices.

Quietly, connected to our hearts with hands held to our chests and eyes closed, we felt the heart beating and visualized the heart as a center for processing information—the heart as a brain connecting with our loved ones in a sincere and caring way.

“I can give all the love I have,” said one person.

“We felt both very connected and empowered,” said another.

One participant said, “I am usually very negative with my thoughts and attitude, I fear death. This exercise helped me to connect to life and to the love I have for my children. That keeps me alive.”

This is but a sampling of the experiences in the room. At the end, no longer strangers, we exchanged hugs. I was able to see once more the power of connecting from the heart and offering our best, and how it affects people in such beneficial ways.

Two years ago, my mother died of cancer and last Saturday in downtown LA I was somehow honoring her as well.

Hooray to all these brave warriors, and to all of us who are going through challenging times, finding as we face our challenges our true strength and spirit.

And for all of you Being Energy teachers and our community of practitioners, this is your call to jump up and share what you know. Your light will shine through to help others in ways that you can’t anticipate.

Much love to all, Aerin