The Traditional Medicine Wheel, used for thousands of years by indigenous peoples as a sacred mirror into which one could gaze and see aspects of the Self otherwise invisible, teaches a simple path to vital aliveness. The Elders taught that every human who was ever born or ever would be born is made up of the very same four aspects: The Mind, The Body, the Emotion and The Spirit. Further, they taught that the Path to vital aliveness and health is to develop and / or strengthen each of our four aspects and to keep them in relative good balance.
These days, as we place more emphasis more the rugged individual than the collective, (I can't see this lasting forever) we each have our own ideas about how we personally define these aspects. So as we begin the Wheel Work, I ask my clients to define each of their four aspects in ways that work in their worldview(s).
Then I ask them to relax and spend some time reflecting on the wheel - their wheel. Next they list, next to each aspect, what they are currently doing, on a regular basis, to develop and / or strengthen each aspect. Quickly each person / couple's strengths and weaknesses become clear!
Often, when doing this work, clients will tell me they have a weakness in the Spiritual area of the Whole Self.
World spiritual traditions offer a wide variety of devotional acts. Prayer can take an infinite number of forms from Christianity's bowing of heads, folding of hands and kneeling, to Native Americans' spirit dancing and awareness of the Divinity in all living things, to the Sufi's whirling and the Hindu's chanting of mantras, to the Orthodox Jew's swaying his or her body back and forth, to the Muslim's kneeling and prostrating to the Quaker' silence and we have only just begun...
These days, as we place more emphasis more the rugged individual than the collective, (I can't see this lasting forever) we each have our own ideas about how we personally define these aspects. So as we begin the Wheel Work, I ask my clients to define each of their four aspects in ways that work in their worldview(s).
Then I ask them to relax and spend some time reflecting on the wheel - their wheel. Next they list, next to each aspect, what they are currently doing, on a regular basis, to develop and / or strengthen each aspect. Quickly each person / couple's strengths and weaknesses become clear!
Often, when doing this work, clients will tell me they have a weakness in the Spiritual area of the Whole Self.
World spiritual traditions offer a wide variety of devotional acts. Prayer can take an infinite number of forms from Christianity's bowing of heads, folding of hands and kneeling, to Native Americans' spirit dancing and awareness of the Divinity in all living things, to the Sufi's whirling and the Hindu's chanting of mantras, to the Orthodox Jew's swaying his or her body back and forth, to the Muslim's kneeling and prostrating to the Quaker' silence and we have only just begun...
Gaining enlightenment is like the moon reflecting in the water...
God help us to live simply
To move slowly
To look softly
To allow emptiness
To let the heart create for us
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